Dining room dreaming has been on my mind. Perhaps that’s because this is the current state of our dining room amidst the first stages of demo and reno.
Insert hilarious laughter or gasps of horror.
I KNOW! We tore out a closet and Matt discovered an extra chimney that was a complete head-scratcher. He tore the whole thing out, which was a chore. It was a ton of work…and there was dust like you’ve never seen swirling everywhere. The good news is, despite the state it’s in now, I can already visualize the finished dining room. And, after three years’ worth of renovations, I know patience to get to that stage is in order. You can only go up from here!
You Gotta Take A Breath
I’ve seldom found that rushing through anything of importance is the best decision. Remodeling and renovating our farmhouse is not an exception. Not only is rushing through a big project more stressful, but it often means the likelihood of mistakes happening will increase. When it comes to this renovation, much as I would love to wave a magic wand and have our dining room be done now, we get a lot more satisfaction when we take our time and do renovations right. For example, remodeling our upstairs bathroom was a process, but we’re thrilled with the results.
Dining Room Dreaming Inspiration
Matt typically does most of the demo and construction heavy lifting while I get to dream up the decorating details. Several years ago, I would have ripped pages from magazines and saved them in a folder when decorating inspiration struck. These days, thanks to technology, I turn to Pinterest. You can also use anything from Microsoft Word to a free version of PicMonkey or Canva to create mood boards. For me, mood boards are the modern way to pre-determine a finished room and its details, like lighting, rugs, and furniture.
How I Created My Mood Board
When I start putting a mood board together, I first look at using what I have. Several years ago, we bought dining room furniture from Arhaus. It’s certainly tempting to buy something new, but we still like the classic style of this furniture. Plus, it’s really durable, quality furniture. A lot of what is made today unfortunately isn’t meant to stand the test of time. Instead of always buying new, I’ve found in many cases the best decorating pieces are the ones you already have! With a little refinishing work on the tabletop, it will be as good as new. This table I found online is very similar to the one we have, so I saved the photo to my desktop.
We also have a matching armoire that housed our TV, and vast movie and CD collection. We’re planning to repurpose that piece, too. This time around, it will store blankets and display contents, though. The armoire we have is similar to this one.
I’m planning to add a nice rug under the table, and I’m really drawn to blues in our farmhouse. Again, I am going for a timeless, classic antique farmhouse look.
Of course, we’ll be adding classic shiplap, but just to the outside walls, like we did in all of our bedrooms so far. Matt made it himself, and it’s wider than shiplap you can buy pre-made in stores. I also like the fact that you can see some of the knots in the wood. The wider board sizes make all of our rooms look bigger.
I have a few ideas for the lighting. Right now, there’s a tiny ceiling light in there with no redeeming qualities. I really like this one, which has a lot more personality.
My Dining Room Dreaming Mood Board
On my mood board, I took all of these images that I found and pulled them onto a PicMonkey canvas I created at a 1000 x 800-pixel size. Here’s what my dining room mood board looks like.
As you can see, once you pull the elements together, you can visualize the finished room. Whether you’re moving, redecorating, or just want to try out a look, mood boards are a fun tool to have in your decorating arsenal. Give it a try!
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