Instant (?) Dining Room Makeover

Yesterday we gave College Girl's Dining Room some color and style!
 It seemed like an instant makeover  there
but really prep had been going on off-site for quite some time :)
I draped my kitchen in plastic and got to work week before last.
It is so rainy that tarping the kitchen is about the only option for getting anything done.

My parents bought CG a chest from IKEA. It matches two that we 'ombre-d" for her new bedroom. More on that later but there are pics on the FB page. This gives her 3 identical sturdy wood chests and a lot of versatility for future moves (6 already in her college career!!) They can be used together for a long wall of storage, as bedside tables, as a TV stand or in the Dining Room like we did here. And we are all about furniture that offers storage. She is missing the big walk in closet and home that we called "The Carrie Bradshaw closet" :)

Two super cute Pottery Barn brackets that were bought for $5.00 at a consignment sale a year ago got a coat of SW Anjou Pear. They were the same thing but in 2 different finishes so primer and paint unified them.

Three coats of SW Lagoon went on the chest after a coat of primer. This is the yummiest turquoise color ever. I'm painting something this color for myself ASAP. A sample of this color painted the chest with some to spare.
 Makes it very economical to purchase lots of colors.

Terrible iphone pic but I bought some nicer bronze-ish knobs for the top drawer and sprayed (oil rubbed bronze) the wooden IKEA knobs the same color for the other two drawers. jazzed it up a bit and the knobs were 50% off at Hob Lob. So two cool knobs for $5.00. You can find some great knobs there and at World market for good prices.
 

I took two canvases that I had and brushed on all the colors that we were using in the other elements of the gallery wall and created two contemporary artworks to mix in with other more traditional elements. The Dining Room set is a great antique set from an estate sale that one of the roommates mom bought. The unchangeable aspects of the rental tend to be more contemporary so we are trying to blend the two looks together. After a coat of varnish on top they didn't look half bad :)

After much painting and putting framed artwork together I loaded up my car and headed to College Girl's place.  I had a bag of tools, furniture and artwork.
 I joked on IG that my car had art and soul yesterday - sorry. Bad pun.
But my Kia Soul was full to the top!
 After years of driving much larger cars it still amazes me what I get in this car!!

And this was the sky on the way. Yikes.
We only move in the rain. (Monsoons, actually!)
 See previous posts on this subject :)

Let the install begin. BTW, you have to be very flexible to hang those PB brackets.
Cute but a pain.
We put all the components on the table and started holding up things, discussing it and then arranging. I had thought some things would work in certain places but we ended up tweaking things as they went up. If it's not a gallery wall you are going to add to over time then it's nice to have a few extra items to try and possibly eliminate or move. It looks a lot different on a wall than it does laid out on a table or the floor. Interesting but fun process.

In progress...

I gathered up frames I had and bought a few at Goodwill for less than  $2.00.
Some I painted.
I added quotes and scrapbook paper backing in the colors that we were pulling from the inspiration fabric

I printed clip art straight off the computer onto photo paper- gives it a crisper look of a better piece of "art"/ Of course owls had to be in there somewhere - all 3 girls are Chi O's.

Trendy glass dishes from the dollar bins at Michael's. Just add a Command Strip.

Mirror from IKEA. They are less than 3 dollars - frame, mirror and all ready to hang. I already had that. Another quote in a frame I had, a copper pineapple mold from Goodwill that I sprayed coral, a basket I sprayed green, a paper mache ampersand I sprayed gold, and I printed all 3 of their monograms and put in frames to add to the wall. It is the South and they are sorority girls. And when they move on they can take the monogram picture with them as a keepsake.
My favorite candles come from Bath and Body Works in those great glass containers. I save them and reuse as votive holders so we put those on the PB shelves.

 
We recovered the chair seats in this trendy multi colored medallion fabric. It really updated the set and tied everything together. The fabric is an outdoor fabric so it should hold up well in a college household with lots of people in and out. It was on sale for $7.99 a yard. Two yards did the trick with some left over for another project. This is not a good picture. I need to try again with a real camera :) On a sunny day.

We shopped the Grands basement when we visited a couple of weeks ago
and chose this very nice brass lamp for the makeover. I bought the shade at World Market last week for 75% off. The inside was metallic silver embossed paper and I hit it with a coat of Krylon Metallic gold and it is one classy looking lamp. Added a tray, napkin holder and an owl to the top of the chest and it is finished!

 

Great improvement. College Girl did a great job deciding what and where to hang items on the gallery wall. We had fun working on this and then finished off the day with some pizza with our fav Kappa Sig and a sorority sister. College towns have the best pizza.

College Girl said it looks "homey now" and she was "obsessed" with the SW Lagoon
paint color that I chose.
Can't do anything about the light fixture  #rentalprobs

And we need some curtains on the adjacent wall.
 Another day.