A little insight into our dining room transformation...
The dining room has been a gradual process over a year and half, which although considering how impatient I normally am to have something finished, has worked out perfectly. I really feel like this room has evolved over time and will continue to evolve in the future as we grow.
This was the space that sold the house to us, the open plan kitchen/dining space at the back of the building in which I immediately started imagining entertaining friends, having romantic meals and generally hanging out here. We live on a fairly busy road so this space is an escape and perfectly private. The romantic meals might be few and far between but the parties and fun are definitely not!
The first thing we did was get rid of the red - the previous owners had a hankering for all things red and pink. I, on the other hand, am obsessed with grey! The room and kitchen were in pretty much brand new condition so I just went with painting the chimney breast. This is something which may change over time but it was quick fix for me to paint quickly myself. It's Valspar "Bottlenose Dolphin" which I think we got inspiration from spotting a grey paint feature in an interiors mag. We spent the first 2 months in this space on camping chairs with a coffee table whilst we waited for the sofas to be delivered and for the tv connection to be installed in the living room. Very glam!
The Instagram favourite piece is the wall art above the fireplace which I bought whilst working as a Visual Merchandiser for BHS. It was such a bargain, we hadn't even found a house at this point but I couldn't resist it. The fairy lights were added for the housewarming as the OH isn't too keen on "girly things." At the time I was obsessed with an internet provider ad which showed a house party and Chaka Khan was playing, there were fairy lights everywhere, the house was filled with people and it just looked like the best party ever. That's what we tried to recreate and I maybe bias but it came pretty close! Once the lights were up, they never came down!
Our table and bench set is from Next - I had a very clear vision from the start in terms of a dining table and this fit perfectly. We ordered the chairs from eBay which I was terrified of doing but it turned out to be the most seamless transaction I've ever done! It became very apparent we were creating an industrial look without thinking too much about it, but the dark woods and the metal legs became a running theme.
The pendants are good old IKEA and we had to wait a while for an electrician to fit them but they were absolutely worth the wait.
The OH sourced the bookshelf as we struggled for ages to find something which would fit in the alcove and with our interior vision. In the end we found it on Maison Du Monde.
The next big purchase was the sideboard which is rarely seen in my Instagram posts, partly due to my struggling orange tree and partly due to it always being hidden from the camera as it's tucked behind a return wall. It's from made.com and is definitely a work in progress.
The final piece of the puzzle came from the infamous green velvet chair from made.com. After Pantone announced their colour of the year 2017 - Greenery, my day job meant I was surrounded by all things green and I wanted to inject some of this into our room. We waited the longest time I've ever waited for something - I think it took 5 months. But once it arrived, the whole area was dreamt up in a day.
All artwork and photographs are a result of my love of trawling craft fairs and makers markets and finding pieces that resonate with us and our life. I also like to think of myself as an amateur photographer so there's also loads of pictures I've taken of Manchester and the North West dotted around.
This space is still our favourite room in the house and we've managed to create exactly what we imagined when first viewing it all the way back in November 2015. It will no doubt see more changes as my day job dictates I can't stop faffing and I can't wait for more dancing on the chairs with cocktails in hand to easy 90's with all our friends.
