Dining Room

Sixteen weeks of hard work turn a cramped kitchen with a strange layout into a sleek cooking and dining area full of modern touches.

A narrow and very beige dining area becomes a bright, light-filled space the whole family flocks to.

The new room is filled with character.

The after is 100 percent wow.

You can see this dining room from almost every point on the first floor, so it was important for the design to pack a punch.

The homeowners didn't need to knock down a wall for this reno — in fact, they put one up.

It's become the ultimate lounge spot.

Taking down a wall between the kitchen and dining areas made a world of difference.

Paint, wallpaper, and perfect fit furniture all work together to make this dining room a stunner.

This dining room looks totally fresh without having to tear down a single wall.

Simple changes made the space feel so much larger.

This redo sacrifices a less-than-functional mudroom, with gorgeous results.

The before? Nice. But the after? Stunning.

It's little, but now it's mighty.

Built-ins make everything better.

It's helped make it a joyful place to spend time.

Some of these glamorous upgrades can work in any room.

Secondhand finds look first-rate in this dining nook transformation.

Here's proof that little changes add up to big results.

The "after" has a smart storage solution you'll want to steal.

This redo's full of smart money-saving ideas.

Wait until you see the new light fixture.

Hand-me-down furniture is a super welcome gift—but it can take some elbow grease to make it work with the rest of your decor.

The "after" feels way brighter, bigger, and more welcoming.

On the floorplan, it’s listed as “Auxiliary Room,” a vague definition that falls far short of inspiration. What to do with this space, with no windows, no definition, and to be honest, no saving grace? Not to worry. Enter gentleman designer Matthew Patrick Smyth, who manages to turn slightly vague into totally specific. Through the lens of the talented Mr. Smyth, it’s part Kasbah but pure Kismet. And it stole the show at Hearst’s Designer Visions.

I got tired of my boring "blank slate" dining room—so I made it a colorful haven.

No half-hearted gallery walls here!

This project adds instant warmth and character.

The after will make your jaw drop.

All the inspo you need to wallpaper your kitchen.

This fresh redo proves dining rooms don't have to feel like a Downton Abbey set piece.

The shakeup took the space from blah and bland to totally vibrant.

This renovation made the space way more usable year-round.

Project by: Christina of andchristina Location: Philadelphia, PA Last year my boyfriend (now fiance 🙂 and I bought our first house (a rowhome in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia) and we’ve spent the last few months transforming the first floor, mainly the kitchen (check it out here!), and also building this breakfast nook in the main living area.

Project by: Katherine Location: Wichita, KS When we moved into our almost century-old house five years ago we were in the throes of planning a wedding (in the backyard of that house) and so a lot of things got the quick and dirty treatment. The dining room was one of those things. A coat of paint on the walls, a craigslist table and chairs, and a CB2 light fixture and call it good! This past fall, my father-in-law gave us a massive amount of books and along with them, several shelves.

Project by: Kate Location: Des Moines, Iowa My husband and I moved into our little house in Des Moines (in a historic area called Beaverdale, full of houses from the ’30s) in July, and were very excited to start bringing some personality into the place! We liked the olive green walls of the living room and dining room, but realized shortly after hanging stuff up that we needed more color in the space.

Let this DIY built-in bar get you in the renovating spirit.

*Blink blink blink.* Yes, it's the same dining room!

Alanna and her husband Jesse purchased their tiny, two-bedroom Melbourne cottage when they were in their early 20s. The kitchen hadn’t been updated since the 1980s and was so small, the couple couldn’t comfortably cook in there together at the same time.

"Nice bones." That's how Alison Caporimo and her wife described their New Jersey home the first time they walked through it.

Alexandra Madison loves “taking old spaces and making them feel new and fresh,” she writes, so in a few weeks and with less than $600, she gave her dining room an entirely updated feel.

My Mum has owned her mismatched set of reproduction Georgian dining chairs for just about 35 years. Over that time the seats have been recovered in all manner of fabrics, but until recently they retained a rather traditional air. A little white paint and a bright, bold fabric turn these chairs from formal to funky!First off, you probably noticed the after shot does not feature the exact same chair, but as mentioned, the dining set in question contain chairs of the same era with slight variation.

Want to see what just a few coats of paint can do to a room? Rafaela’s dining room wasn’t bad-looking before — great furniture and fun art made for a stylish space. But as a renter, she hated the beige walls that seemed to cast a dull look on the entire room. It was time for a wall paint change as well as a new coat of color on a pair of shelves she had had for years. From Rafaela: I rent this place and all walls were beige-yellowish (urgh!

When it comes to any job that involves drilling holes, you want to get it right the first time. Just as you do when hanging art, you have to figure out the sweet spot when hanging light fixtures. Today’s Frequently Asked Home question: What’s the right height for hanging a light above a table? For fixtures hanging over a kitchen island or a dining room table: Hang it low enough so that it brings light to the surface (but not so low that it obscures eyelines).