Before & After: Lisa’s $1,000 Dining Room Makeover

With some smart color choices on the walls and the floor, Lisa took her dining room from a little bland, to bold, bright and inviting.

From Lisa: My husband and I bought a 1900 American Foursquare over the summer and have been steadily working to make it our own. The house hasn’t had any significant updates since the 90s so the work was much needed. The dining room was particularly sad with a nasty acoustic ceiling, some funky built-in bookcases that served no useful purpose in a dining space, and matte-beige everything (including the radiator).

We demoed out the bookcases and ceiling, did a boat load of patching work, replaced all the baseboards, and added a (faux) tin ceiling and new lighting. The whole project took us a little over 2 months and around $1000… not too shabby for a pair of novice DIYers with full time jobs to balance.

We opted for white trim for a variety of reasons—partly because we needed to replace the baseboards and partly because I really like white trim. I went bold with the wall color because this room gets tons of light so it still feels bright, it’s also the color I used on the kitchen cabinets so the rooms flow together beautifully. My original plan was for a fairly neutral rug, but then I came across an AT article talking about how pink is the perfect color rug for any space and I was SOLD. My husband was skeptical, but was eventually convinced once he saw the rug in the space. The traditional pattern but wild coloring really pulls the room together for me.

Thank you, Lisa! Check out more of Lisa’s dining room on her blog Flat-Pack Vintage.

• SEE MORE BEFORE & AFTER PROJECTS
• SUBMIT YOUR OWN BEFORE & AFTER PROJECT