Before & After: A Breakfast Nook Gets a Bold Blue Look Under $600

Project by: Lauren N. Sellers/Trust the Vision Decor
Location: Yardley, Pennsylvania

You know those beige breakfast nooks that sometimes show up in the corners of otherwise lovely homes? Don’t start your day off boring when you can surround yourself with bold. Designer Lauren N. Sellers of Trust the Vision Decor turned this nook into an exciting place to drink morning coffee with only $600 and just over a week of time.

From the designer:

We completed this space for $600, furniture included. All the work was done by our two women team, and we completed it in a little more than a week. The butcher block table and black chairs were purchased off Craigslist for $90 (not a set). We cleaned them up and painted the table legs black to match the chairs. They were originally hunter green.We bought all the dishes from our local Dollar Tree totaling $12, and splurged on three sets of Ikea curtains for a total of $130. We used two sets of Ikea’s Emmie Kvist curtains in blue for the windows and we actually used Ikea’s Werna curtains to cover the bench-top and cornice.

The tie backs from the Kvist curtains are the accents on the cornice, which we also made for $40 to offer more continuity throughout the space. The bench was another major splurge, but we still saved big bucks by repurposing an Ikea shelf and adding legs, storage inserts, and a top, all for a total of $170.

We bought two gallons and four quarts of Behr paint for the wall, furniture, and trim totaling $110 and one piece of 4ft x 8ft luan (floor underlayment) for the trim bordering the space in light blue as well as the trim around the skylights. The luan was about $15 (we had it cut at the store). We also used a $5 table runner from Ikea and spiced it up by taking one mosaic tile from Home Depot and cutting it in half with scissors. This cost another $5.

The clients already had the vase and the flowers were picked fresh from the yard for free! All of these numbers total right around $580, and when you factor in the little things like brackets, screws, paint brushes, drop cloths etc., our grand total came to $600!!! Our creative ideas saved money and we still took the space from average to amazing!

Thanks, Lauren!

Re-edited from a post originally published 7.27.2014 – cm

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