Small Dining Room Makeover: ORC Spring 2022 Week 1 & 2

I have a confession to make. For someone who eats sleeps and lives for design it seems super embarrassing and shame inducing, but in the sake of participating in the current One Room challenge I feel it’s time to come clean…

I live in a very small, very dated, standard builder grade apartment. Yes, I know *insert tears and sobbing. Since the Hawaii housing market has long been known for housing issues, lack of available homes and rentals as well as high prices, you may not be too surprised to hear that as of 2020 Hawaii is the state with the highest average home prices and holding steady. It’s also the state with the smallest average home size so you get less home for your dollar on top of high prices. Learn more here and here about Hawaii’s current housing costs.

Thus, I hope you will have some pity or understanding for my current predicament. While I would love to have a larger, newly renovated space, they are few and far between especially in the area where I live and work. Most landlords receive hundreds of applications within hours of posting a rental listing so even when something does come available the competition for renters is fierce.

With all that being said, I give you the “before” dining room area I will be working with for the spring 2022 One Room Challenge. Avert your eyes! What you are about to see in these before images is not only offensive it just may make you grateful for the space you currently inhabit.

Since this is a rental, we are very limited on what we can alter and to what extent. We have been promised updates and renovations to the complex for several years now, but I am not holding my breath. I will say the part that drives me the craziest is the carpet. Especially in the “dining room”. I have tried a wide variety of tactics to address the constant issues of eating in a carpeted area and still have not found a good solution. So please feel free to comment or DM me ideas or solutions. I am still not 100% sure of the best way to address the floor issue so we will see how this plays out as we get further into the challenge.

So here is my vision for the space. The dining table, and chairs will stay. They are in good shape, all wood, and finding affordable furniture that is decent quality on Hawaii Island is very challenging. I purchased the table from 'Iolani Furniture several years ago with the intention to refinish it. I am hoping I can get it to look like this vintage table from Chairish when I am done.

Chairish Vintage dining table shop here

The chairs were purchased at a yard sale, and I believe they are originally from target. I may seal them as when I wipe them down the cloth has black paint on it. I don’t mind the rustic look especially since my kids will ultimately make furniture piece look “rustic” after a few years so no changes here.

Target set of two wood chairs shop Here

I am hoping to create a mural that would be very easy to paint over when we move out (if we ever move out) and that isn’t so engaging that it draws too much of the focus since this space is open to the living room and kitchen. I also need something that has a calm relaxing vibe as I have a six-year-old who is already energetic enough as it is, so a visually busy or stimulating mural would likely make parenting even more challenging. I also wanted something that would blend with the current paint color since I cannot repaint the entire room without risking being told to repaint back to the previous color, so this is my calculated manageable risk. My initial choice was a Hovia wallpaper, however when I priced it, the peel and stick cost was well over $500 which I was not willing to invest since the likelihood of it staying in place for more than a year or two is almost nil.

Hovia Wallpaper inspiration shop here

I fell in love with this ceiling fixture the moment I saw it in the Serena and Lily catalog several years ago. It is also well out of my budget so I am going to attempt a DIY version that will be a flush mount. Wish me luck as I am going to wing it on this one.

Shop Chandelier here

The current curtains I DIYed right after we moved it and they are so beyond sad looking now. With cats and having the windows open 24/7 they have really taken a beating. They are also pulled back almost all the time for air flow and natural light. I wanted to find a linen roman shade since I need something to stay up and out of the way most of the time but provide light blocking during the summer when it can be very hot in our apartment. However, most of the ones that are available in my budget are polyester and I am really making a conscious effort to avoid generating more microplastics, so I am going to DIY this as well. Below is my ideal Roman shade that was also out of my budget. What can I say I have expensive taste, I blame it on being a Taurus. 

Shop Pottery Barn linen roman shade here

For the bookcase I am going to be on the hunt for something local that is of good quality and hopefully vintage or preloved. The wall it will reside on is very narrow, so this is a little challenging. I had contemplated trying to DIY this as well, but I felt like that was probably biting off more than I can chew with all the other DIYs that will go into this room. I’ll hopefully be able to share some of my hunting for this on my IG stories so look for that in the next few weeks.

Lastly the bane of my existence, the floor issue. I found a few affordable are rug options at my local target to try and hide the abysmal brown commercial grade carpet. I have also been searching online to see if I can locate an authentic natural fiber flatweave rug that could go under the table but that I wouldn’t cry over if a giant plate of spaghetti gets dropped on it. So, this too is not completely set in stone so be on the lookout for my decision-making process on IG stories for this as well.

I am so glad to be joining the One Room Challenge again this year. Even though I am starting a week late, I know my plan is doable and so excited to follow my fellow participants as they transform their spaces. Please check them out at One Room Challenge and this year Apartment Therapy is joining in the fun as well.