Cutting down the chairs makes such a difference! Love the ombre paint job too.

Big difference, and very nice.

So amazing what paint and a bench can do!

Wow, those chairs look so different. A great job on the space.

Lovely. The paint colors and design detracts from the floor in a great way. Love the striped walls.

Wow... normally I can't stand chairs like that, but they're kind of fun painted red. Agree with @rlmesq - I feel like this space could get 25% better with some colorful original art on the walls. But it's already 200% better than the Before.

Beautiful!

The only part I don't really get is the pillows. Why all the pillows on a breakfast bench?

I love the look, but personally I find banquets awkward to scootch into, especially if there is a fabric cushion. And at my house those pillows would constantly be on the floor. Maybe for me a non-corner type bench would work for an arrangement like this. Of course, others may not be challenged in this way!

Anyhow, the color choices are nice and I love the red chairs.

great makeover!
I've seen those chairs also painted turquoise or very dark blue, nice!

Looking at the before picture I thought "this room needs a bench and she should get rid of those chairs" - et voila! Love the bench and what she did with the chairs. Shortening the backrest was a brilliant idea.
I agree a round table might look even better but wouldn't be as functional with a bench as a rectangular table is, especially if you want to use the table as a craft table for kids.
Love the overall results!

It looks a lot better but I don't think the wall colors work with the floor tile.

I had to go to the blog before I even realized that the chairs had part of their backs removed. Great redo!

I would've grouped all four framed pieces on one wall to make bigger impact. A great basket or bowl on the table would look great too. Love the chairs!

Yup, that's nice. I would also add a red accent to the bench, maybe on that corner where the little owl cup is, to balance the red chairs.

Great re-do!

I love the walls!!!

Really great job.... that paint job is brilliant!

Nice work.

ugh the walls were so grody before, gorgeous now

I too am not a fan of bench seating simply because people aren'tl the same size and will require different distances from the table.
Regarding the re-do: FABULOUS dispite my dislike of benches. And I appreciate the patience it must have taken to paint the walls in the different shades of grey.
Bravo.

gorgeous!

Wow, this is 1000x better! However, the space above the table is a little cold. I would try to mix in some more natural textures like the seat of the chairs above the table. Instead of white frames, opt for wood, and a basket, wood bowl, sisal placemat, or some kind of wood candle holders for the table. Perhaps also a little bit of black. You need a touch of a grounding neutral. Great transformation.

It's definitely an improvement, but the warm beigy tiles with the cool gray walls don't sit well with me. I know gray is trendy, but a warmer wall color would have worked better. Love the chairs - great color!

So excited to see our nook feature here - thank you!! This is only the 2nd phase of our kitchen redo, so we still have a lot left to do - floors, backsplash, countertops, and a couple more updates to this corner - but it sure is nice to have a bright spot in the room as we work through the rest!

Is that just a standard type ceiling fan you can get at Home Depot in the before photo? I'd like to replace my clunkier one with one of those. Any info will be appreciated.

It came with the house, but the brand is Hampton Bay and it looks similar to this:

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Fans-Ceiling-Fans/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbvlq/R-202670045/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UPms_2fY9Xs

Definite improvement! So much brighter now. I do think the cool tones clash a bit with the warmer toned tile. That could easily be off-set if there were more wood tones and greenery in the design. Perhaps if the table were left in its wood finish and a couple of houseplants were added here and there would add a little warmth to the space and blend the floors in. Unfortunately I have those same tiles with the dark grout but probably won't be replacing them, so seeing this re-do has given me some direction.

That's a terrific red.

The bench seating isn't my first choice either but lots of people like it and it definitely has it's benefits. Here's a solution to the scootching. In NYC they are pretty clever about getting the most out of the little space they have. Wait staff would pull that table out, let the customers sit down and then push the table back in place. Get the kiddos in place and then do the same with the table. And this is the right kind of flooring for this solution.

love it.

Love the look but lose the LED and go back to incandescent.

Lovely. I think it needs a rug or something to warm it up, and maybe another bit of red somewhere. Maybe it's just the picture, but those chairs are so bright your eyes are just glued to them and you don't see the cute artwork.

incredibly beautiful transformation. I love how happy the red makes that little corner.

I wish it had its own light source, either a mirror to reflect the room's light, or a lovely goofy/sparkly chandelier...

Was the Before a rag painting technique? I certainly hope so because that was really grody otherwise.

The After is screaming out for a rug. Better lighting would work further wonders as well.

I love it so much! Chairs look amazing. Although I wouldn't change the back of the chairs, I think it would make them more "crabby" - there is something nautical about them.

Very nice and clean. Great job!

Love it! 1000% better.

You got rid of half the chairs! Looks better with only two instead of four "rungs"
I love the look of benches but I find them hard to get in and get out, unless I am the last one in!

My friends adopted seven infants in six years and used this type of bench. I think its still there, but the kids are all adults or in college now. And it still looks good!

Kids can scoot into these benches easy, especially when they are younger, and the adults get the chairs. My brother has a built in bench, more up-scale and I love it! Lots of people fit on a bench.

I like the red chairs. But the rest is too cold & white for me. I would have gone with a buttermilk or light pine stain for the table & bench and an eggshell color & brighter prints for the walls.

Minimalism clasisism order simplicity willing thinking ...TIME.

Nicely done, great color choice.

Really cute redo.

Another idea to consider is to paint that cute owl red and the frame of the pics red. That might tie it all together nicely. Maybe a pillow with a bit more red in it.

might be the fault of the camera, but the blue-white lighting makes the lovely little cool grey nook seem really harsh. like its a lovely elegant little space thats going to be the ironic setting for some horror movie, Shining style. switching out the bulb color/wattage and/or adding a floor lamp nearby to diffuse and bounce light back to make it less starkly top-down. all minor fixes!

Kitschy cottage pieces meet fresh mod accents. Perfect combo for a bright fresh space. I really like it. Great job.

The make over is cool, they maximized the useful of the table so that more people can occupy the space. I think you can paint all the chairs with red color and the pillows you can get red of them. But the total is good.

nice makeover...i might have left one more chair and only had one bench and the redo on the chairs is great but I think the table could have just been resanded and stained lighter or painted differently...tooo white.

A little austere for me, but a great improvement.