Ezra James' Blog

Dining Room Makeover!!!

It’s done! I am LOVING our new dining room! They say a room should rise up to meet you. This one definitely does and I love spending time in it! It’s where we eat most of our meals now and also where I do most of my editing. So alot of time is spent in this room. It took a little longer than expected to pull it all together but I think it was worth the wait. A big thank you to my amazingly talented sister Mary Bess for her decorating skills and guidance through this makeover.

The walls are a smoky gray color. They were inspired by the back wall at Simple Things. Love that store.

Chandelier – This one of my favorite things in our house. It's a wrought iron and crystal chandelier that belonged to my great Aunt Frances Short Carvill. It was given to her by her brother Tom Short who lived in California. Purchased sometime in the 60's or 70's and then eventually given to my mother. My mom gave it to us when we moved into our old house 7 years ago. I have always loved it and especially do now that it belongs to us.

Buffet – I found this back in April when I was in Austin with Shana for her bachelorette party. It came from a really neat store on South Congress called Uncommon Objects.

Mirror – I got this one a few years ago for free on a random trip to Goodwill. I was dropping off some donations at a drop off station when another guy was trying to donate this giant mirror. The only problem for him was that that particular station wouldn’t take large mirrors. So his problem became my new mirror! It was a yucky gold but I still liked it. He said it had been hanging in his mother’s house since 1978. For our new dining room I painted it white, then light blue, then black, and then roughed up the edges with sand paper. Walla!

Table, Chairs, & Bench – These are new from Crate & Barrell. The table is actually our second table to get this summer. The first one I purchased was an antique Mexican door table and it was delivered at the end of May. It was really neat but once we had it in the room we discovered the top was warped and was going to need a major rehaul to actually be functional. So for almost two months we had this one there while we were figuring out to do. Talk about some major buyer’s remorse on my part. Luckily I was talking to the owner of a different antique store here in Fort Worth and he suggested that I ask the store to return it. And sure enough they did. Nice! And then about a week later I found this one at Crate & Barrel. This new one is perfect.

Curtains – These were sewn by my sister Mary Bess. Have I mentioned how good my sister is to me?!?! THANK YOU MB!!! Curtain rods are from Pottery Barn.

Life is Beauty Full – I got this last year from Sugarboo Designs. This was the very first thing I purchased at our new home. Just love it!

China Cabinet & Rug – we’ve had both of these for a while now at the old house and new. In my original makeover plan I thought I was going to look for a new cabinet and rug. But after putting everything together I kind of like the way they look so they might stick around for a while.

And here's the before picture from right before we moved in last June:

And a few pictures of our dining room this past year before the makeover. These were all taken last summer/early fall right around the time when Ezra turned two years. I think this room has come a long way!