Dinning Room Before

I'm in the process of reworking my dinning room and kitchen. Well, all that's really changed in the kitchen is new towels and a new rug. The kitchen has gone as far as I can take it without doing major work. But the dinning room needed a change. The red curtains and rug were making the small room feel dark and heavy and lately I want everything to be light and airy and bright. And the red and brown was looking old and too formal for what I really want.

The table and chairs I received from my grandmother 2 years ago. I needed a new table set and I liked hers, so when it was time I got it. It needed some refinishing and the fabric on the chairs needed something new but I was happy with it as is so I left it till I was ready. The chairs have a piece of plastic over the fabric to keep the fabric in good shape. Hey, my grandma came from a different time! At first I wanted to rip it right off the chairs but she stapled those suckers on really well! So they stayed.

You can see the plastic reflecting back.

Then I started to like them! When you have a toddler or any small children eating at a table with fabric covered chairs you like having a sheet of plastic covering things you can't wipe down! So my plan was to change the fabric and keep the plastic.

After searching for fabric I finally found one in a green and whitish pattern that I really liked and it was outdoor fabric. When I realized that the fabric was outdoor I realized that I wouldn't have to reuse the plastic! The outdoor fabric is super durable and easy to wipe off (the pattern helps to hide things too). And I ended up ordering too much fabric so I have extra in case something happens that can't be fixed and looks too hideous! Ok just a bit too dramatic!

Here's the fabric I ordered from Joann's for the chairs.

Now curtains. I'd been looking for a while all over the not expensive world for new curtains and just wasn't finding anything I was looking for. I wanted a pattern but nothing too crazy or bold. Pattern is big enough for me so it had to be something I really liked/loved and not something too trendy because I didn't want to hate it in 6 months. I also wanted them to be blues/greens/white/tan kind of colors. Cool summery colors. But like I said I couldn't find anything fitting that bill. So I started looking at fabric thinking I could just make some.

Here's a pic of the red curtains. Sorry, it's kind of a dark pic.

I found some at Joann's online and kept looking at it to make sure I really wanted it to come home. The only problem with this fabric is that width wise there wasn't enough to make one panel. So I knew I'd have to find something else to put with it. But I waited until it came in to take it to Hancocks to find a coordinating fabric to put with it.

Here's the curtain fabrics.

The stripes go up and down not left to right.

Now I just finished making the curtains and I'll share about those later and I'm in the process of recovering the chairs (not a quick process) which I'll share later as well. But I have plans to paint the table and chairs. This for me is a big decision because I have a sort of personal rule about painting wood. Usually if it's solid wood and in good condition I will strip and re stain the wood. Particle wood or cheap ugly wood I paint. But in this case the only sane way to strip the stain off of the chairs is by dipping them and that is more money than I want to put into this right now. However that may be something I do in the distant future.

I also don't want them to match and the wood just isn't working for me right now. I am taking this as I go and nothing is set in stone. I'm going to see how the chairs look with the new fabric and take it from there. So, I'll let you know how that all works out. I'm hoping to have this project finished by August but we'll see!

Wow, I've got a LOT to do!

Comments make me Happy!