My daughter got into the DIY spirit by making this sign :)
Dining Chair before commencement of refurbishment. The timber seat section got quite uncomfortable after long periods of sitting.
| We all outgrow things in life. We outgrow clothes, past-times, people and decorating styles. Our dining room hasn't had a makeover for a long time. We've had our dining suite for over 12 years and it was seriously starting to show its age. My husband and I also feel we've outgrown the decorating style we currently had. Chocolate, timber, cream and highlights of red are not cutting it for us anymore. We decided it was time for a change. So, room by room we are refurbishing. The dining room is the first. Our dining suite was stained & varnished timber - a little bit of a country-style but easily changed |
with some clever DIY. I'm extremely lucky my husband is not DIY-challenged and I think we make a pretty good team.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of the dining table before he began sanding it back, but it was done in the same finish as the chair above, so you get the idea.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of the dining table before he began sanding it back, but it was done in the same finish as the chair above, so you get the idea.
| We also had two IKEA Markor Units in the dining room, which were showing their age as well. I wasn't happy with the positioning of them in the room as it was just too squashy to get around the table. I had been thinking about cutting them in half for a while and when my husband said he thought it was "do-able" - I was thrilled! So he took off the doors and went to work. I have to say that he is quite amazing because he pretty much had to dismantle the whole unit and rebuild them (don't tell IKEA!) After sanding, he then painted certain parts of them blue. Weird, I know but as they wear we want the blue to show through. He painted white over the top and gave both units a vintage treatment with sandpaper. | 
Our MARKOR cabinets from IKEA - a great opportunity to declutter and give these cabinets a face-lift.
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The dining table was the next item to be "attacked". My husband sanded the top right back to bare wood as I was pretty sure I wanted a two-tone effect on this piece. Two-tone being bare wood for the tabletop and white vintage worn legs.
On the table legs, he did the same as the units by painting blue, then white over the top and sanded certain parts to give it a well-used look. My husband then waxed and polished the tabletop....and I fell in love! I loved how the timber showed up all the grain - just beautiful. :)
On the table legs, he did the same as the units by painting blue, then white over the top and sanded certain parts to give it a well-used look. My husband then waxed and polished the tabletop....and I fell in love! I loved how the timber showed up all the grain - just beautiful. :)
The chairs were next in a production line of sanding, cleaning, painting - blue, then white and sanding to highlight & distress for that vintage look.
Meanwhile I got six pieces of sponge cut at our local Clark Rubber store. I hot glued these to the timber seat section (after checking the hot glue in an inconspicuous spot).
We had some issues with material to cover the seat sections. I made a "not-so-great" choice at first - we made up one chair to see what it would look like - I really didn't like it at all. So it was back to Spotlight to get some different material. I found a gorgeous table runner while I was there and used it for inspiration. We love the end result - we wanted a beachy, coastal feel, but without the shells & coral, etc.
We still have a couple of things to do in this room - such as artwork (I have some left over material to do this, so will post an update later if my idea looks good) and a couple of other things, but the big job is done. Our dining room is now a bright, airy room, even on the cloudiest of days, which is exactly what we were aiming for.
Meanwhile I got six pieces of sponge cut at our local Clark Rubber store. I hot glued these to the timber seat section (after checking the hot glue in an inconspicuous spot).
We had some issues with material to cover the seat sections. I made a "not-so-great" choice at first - we made up one chair to see what it would look like - I really didn't like it at all. So it was back to Spotlight to get some different material. I found a gorgeous table runner while I was there and used it for inspiration. We love the end result - we wanted a beachy, coastal feel, but without the shells & coral, etc.
We still have a couple of things to do in this room - such as artwork (I have some left over material to do this, so will post an update later if my idea looks good) and a couple of other things, but the big job is done. Our dining room is now a bright, airy room, even on the cloudiest of days, which is exactly what we were aiming for.
The finished cabinets - half the size, no doors & a totally different colour.
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A finished dining chair, complete with a sponge seat section and material (which of course has fabric protector)
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I absolutely LOVE the final result of our DIY project. Our dining room has a totally different feel and our chairs are much more comfy!
** Just a note - I've included links to the stores I used for readers convenience only. The items from these stores were purchased by me and in no way is this post sponsored by these stores. :)
