I love it! Notice the chair rail in the after pic? I love small little details!

love the before. I am into visually quiet.

Fabulous transformation!
Is the lighting over the dining room table a collection of the Sundance Meridian pendant lamps without the shades? Can't find these online anywhere and would love to recreate the look! :)

Ssshhhh!! You have to be quiet in the library.

Very nice! Love the new room!

I adore what you've done. It's cozy even with bare bulbs! Love.

love the transformation. modern, but cozy.

I think the new room is beautiful. I love the bookshelves.

This room is so inviting!

Beautiful, thanks for posting it. I'm also thinking of putting up bookshelves in the dining room since I'm running out of walls in the rest of the apartment and this transformation is definitely encouraging.

I love it!!

oooh!

Excellent! The before looks like a nice space to eat in; the after looks like a nice place to be in. I'll bet you hang out in there more now.

me likey!!!!!!! loooove the bookcases and rug choice

This is so nice! Love the monochrome walls and trim and the rug is perfect.

And thanks for not organizing your books by color!

Are those Besta bookcases?

Sssshhhhhh! Be quiet in the library! LOL

I love the transformation. I admire multi use rooms. Now it's a dining room slash library slash home office.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of exposed bulbs. That kind of ruins it for me. I would find it hard not to offer money to finish the room, assuming funds had run before the purchase of the light fixture. I would like to see a crazy (*)(*) glass chandelier in here, something in red perhaps. The room is so linear. But I still like it.

You'd think adding something to a space would make it look smaller but it looks bigger to me. The bookshelves accentuate the height. Love it!

Love the lighting.

Glorious..

Love it! I added bookshelves to my dining area for the same reason. Much better!

Beautiful!

Yowza! The bookcases and pendant lamps really emphasise the height of the ceiling, while the new rug grounds everything.

wonderful

Awesome! The bookshelves definitely accentuate the ceiling and I like the choice of brown for the other wall.

the bookcases are lovely but a little out of place in a dining room. i too, preferred the simplicity an lightness of the original photo. thumbs up on the new light fixture though.

what's going on with the wall? it that a mini chair rail?

I second Blandwagon's comments! Great use of the vertical lines of the bookcase to make the room seem much grander!

Thank you all for the comments!
ilissa: the light fixtures were indeed bought on Sundance, but were discontinued and are no longer available.
Chicity- yes, these are Besta- tall and short units stacked on top of each other (and secured to the wall).
Thorndale- the rug was bought on craigslist.