You may remember seeing the handiwork of Amanda & Ben of Our Humble A(bowe)d before on Apartment Therapy - we featured their entertainment area makeover before and after back in January. They're back with a redesign of their dining room this time — get ready for a big change…
Here's what Amanda had to say: We started with Ben's western inspired decor (if you can call it that). Then we added new trim with a plate rack. We swapped out the oiled bronze chandelier for a more modern drum shade. A large part of the transformation came in the form of our DIY welded steel and marble table. Once the table was in place, we decided the room was too dark, so we repainted, completing the transformation.
Check out Amanda's post for more pics and info on the redesign: Our Humble A(bowe)d | Dining Room: Updated
Thanks Amanda!
Images: Our Humble A(bowe)d
Ellen's Thirties Style Small Space
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Commercial Flour Sa...
10 Picnic-Ready Salads to Eat Outside
Recipe: Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
or maybe a large part of the transformation was adding the paneled walls...maybe. looks great!
Love her blog, great seeing her dining room here :)
Love the new wall! Looks so pretty with those white serving dishes...
but i would have kept those dining set..colored them white or something neutral.
Wow, this goes to show that even traditional style can be contemporary and fresh. Bravo!
that looks beautiful! i agree that a huge part of the change is the paneled wall. Not a fan of the platters up that high though (looks dangerous and a little plain).
Wow! Great job.
So much better!
Love!
snazzy! I feel a little uncomfortable with the paneling covering so much of such a small space, but to each his own, and overall it's awesome!
I like it but would have liked to see a rather longer, warmer more generous rustic wooden dining table. If you are going to have a dining area at all, why not plan for more than four dining guests. (And maybe curtains hung a little higher).
Fantastic! But I agree the curtain rod needs to go a bit higher.
Hmmm....really really pretty, but I feel like the paneling wall could use something. Like someone said above, it's a lot of paneling for a small room and it kind of seems to overwhelm the space with "whiteness". Despite my love for all things white and molding-ed, it's lacking a pop of something for my personal taste.
I think I would have just done the panels up to the chair rail and then done the high chair rail for the plates but without doing the white paneling in between. Would have given a similar effect and lifted the eye up, but would have provided more contrast and wouldn't have been so overwhelmingly white. Still really really nice work though!!
Definitely better, brighter and prettier.
I agree with RNM that the paneled wall overwhelms the space. Too tall, too white, especially with the pretty, but WHITE platters on top. It reminds me of a wall of IKEA wardrobes. It takes up a lot of visual space.
But great job. It looks professionally done. I couldn't have done it.
Well done job on the transformation, but I have to admit it feels a little sterile. Maybe it's the camera angle and the rest of the room has some visual interest. As it is, it looks like a catalog shot of a room no one has ever lived in.
I love love love the table, wish there were details on how it was done...
To monarda: I wish we had the space for a larger table, but our dining room is 9 feet wide by 10.5 feet long and opens to our living room. We can comfortably seat 6 at the table and we pull out a folding table when we need more space.
To sillysimple:
Here are a few links for more about the dining table process:
http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/adventures-in-building-a-dining-table/
http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/furniture-feature-dining-table/
To everyone else: I agree that in this angle, the paneling does seem like a lot, but it's the only wall with that much paneling. To the left is a wide doorway to the living room, opposite the plate rack is open to the kitchen and the window takes up the rest of the right wall. Come on over to our blog to see more angles of the room (and the rest of the house). :)
It definitely is an improvement, but I think they went overboard on the paneling. I love the blue color they chose with the white. What I would have liked to see is the dining set from before and a painting and globe replacement (maybe with edison bulbs) to the old chandelier.
Let's see: light blue walls, lots of white, and a bird...yup, it's trendy all right. When are we going to see something new?
It looks great. The other room was nice in its time, but dated. Love the use of white - the shapes speak sufficiently; no fancy designs required on the plates.
WOW! I want you to come do our dining room next! Great job. :)
What kind of trim did you use and where did you get it? I LOVE the panel walls!
I love how many comments are harsh critiques and complaints..onlynotreally.
Question: just how many of you whiners have gotten anything YOU'VE done posted on here?? Yeah, that's what I thought.
It's one thing to make a suggestion, but another thing completely to go psycho because THEIR house doesn't fit YOUR taste.
Well done ditching the light fixture and the table. You have rescued the room from the 80's.
Very nice.
i love this, I did work on a house for a woman who had this same exact size paneling custom built in with a shelf for her plates. her panel pattern is different less boxes but same idea. I think it is lovely. well done.