Décor on a Dime: Dining room re-do + first ever party!

I am so excited to share this project with you and to host my very first ever “Décor on a Dime party!”

This was our dining room last November.  When we bought our house it already had the chair rail (and I think navy paint on the bottom?)  We painted it burgundy and tan paint, put up some old curtains I bought when we first got married and we used it as our exercise room! :)  Doesn’t the chandelier and chair rail look great with our exercise equipment?

We didn’t have any dining room furniture, didn’t have the money to purchase furniture, and didn’t want to buy some on credit.  So this room stayed like this for about 5 years. 

UNTIL, a few months ago, when my mother-in-law got new dining room furniture and asked us if we wanted their old set!  Of course I said, “Yes!” and immediately started working on getting the dining room ready to be a dining room!

 

I wanted the paint to be a little more neutral so it would go with whatever tableware and decorations that I wanted to use.  So I chose a darker tan color.

(The furniture actually ended up getting moved to the dining room before I was all the way finished, since her new furniture arrived early.)  We still had cheapo plastic blinds in the this room even though I had already upgraded all the rest of the blinds on our lower level to the faux wood blinds.

We changed out the blinds…

and installed a new chandelier (so much better than the builder basic BRASS fixture that glared so bad.)

And then we started installing faux wainscoting!  This is done by using trim and cutting it into pieces with mitered edges to form a box.  (Caulk is a miracle work and fills in any gaps in the corners!)

 

I decided to add a stencil design in the middle of each box in a metallic color that just barely shows up at the right angle.

 

Then the decorating began!  First I unpacked my grandmother’s china (that she had given me when we got married) and put it in my new china hutch.  Isn’t it pretty?!  It is from the 1940’s and was made in America.

Then I “shopped the house” for art and pieces for the walls!  The mirror on the left I had used in my living room for many years, the picture on the right I had in our hallway for a while but it had been changed out for something else.

The brown wall pieces are actually stone trivets from Southern Living (that I got on clearance special for less than $10.)

View from the kitchen into the dining room.

 

And now it is all finished!   The centerpiece is my version of Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick’s centerpiece.  I will share in a future post exactly how I made this.

Here a few pictures at night by candle light!

         

So here is the before and after:

Before

After

It doesn’t even look like the same room!  And I love it!

I don’t have exact amounts on the cost but here is what I can remember:

Trim, paint, nails, caulk – under $80

Furniture – FREE ! :)

Accessories: bought 2 new things for the wall under $20 total and shopped my house for everything else.  Napkins – the ONLY item I own from Pottery Barn!  They were $0.99 each at the PB outlet. Placemats - $1.50 at Kohl’s with multiple coupons.  Centerpiece – under $12.

(You can see all of the rest of my Décor on a Dime projects here.)

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Now it is your turn!!  

Link your post below about any frugal décor or frugal project that you have done for a “dime!”  It can be any frugal find, as long as you got a great deal and did not PAY FULL PRICE!  Tell us what you did with it – spray painted it, used it as is, revamped it, etc. and BE SURE to SHARE PICTURES! 

Then link back to me, Christina @ Centsible Savings, by grabbing the Décor on a Dime party button below and posting it in your post with a link.

I can’t wait to see all of your projects and will be featuring some of my favorites next week!

Linky party will be open until Saturday the 21st, so link away!