ONE ROOM CHALLENGE | WEEK ONE: THE DINING ROOM PLAN

I’ve followed the One Room Challenge™ created by Linda at Calling it Home for years now and I’ve discovered so many amazing blogs during previous challenges so I’m super excited to join in this year as a guest participant.
I’m hoping this will give me the kick up the behind to finally get the dining room whipped into shape – I can’t wait to get started (and hopefully finished!). Six weeks sounds like a long time but, you know, it’s called a Challenge for a reason…

I’ve been making an effort to really crack on with the 2016 House Projects List. The messy demolition type work has now been completed so it’s time to move on to the more fun aspects of decorating!

I picked the dining room for the One Room Challenge as it is probably the room which can realistically be completed in six weeks. Plus it’s the one which *should* cost the least to do as most of the furniture has already been purchased – what can I say, I’m impatient!

Although the walls that needed to be built / knocked down have been completed there’s still a fair bit of “dirty work” that needs to happen before I get onto the pretty stuff. The current To Do list looks like this…

New flooring
Paint
New coving and skirting boards
DIY fauxdenza
New sliding doors between living and dining rooms
Bring in furniture
Decorate (rug, artwork etc)

Here’s my inspiration and ideas for the room to give a feel of what I’ll be aiming for… (you can take a look at this post which shows the new floor plan for the house to get a sense of the room layout and size.)
Dining Room mood board

Wooden floors, which will run throughout the living room, dining room and conservatory. On the walls – Blackened by Farrow & Ball, which is just perfection (as soon as a painted a sample on the wall I knew this colour was The One…)
I ordered this dining table last year and I’m obsessed with it. It’s from the Vintage Furniture Company who are based near Harrogate. I went for the 6ft square leg refectory table with a reclaimed pine top. The quality is fantastic and you can have the base painted in any shade in Farrow & Balls’s range – I opted for Mole’s Breath. At the time of ordering I paid £275 for this which seemed ridiculously cheap for the quality of the table, so I’m not surprised to see prices are a little higher now – although £345 still seems like a bargain for what you’re getting.
Also bought these chairs last year from a vintage furniture seller in North London (well, five of the six I need. I still need to source one more). I *think* I paid about £400 for the five chairs they had. They’re the Ercol Green Dot Stacking Chairs which were produced between 1963-1970. Love them.
I may not have space for a bar cart but I can definitely squeeze in a little “bar” tray to sit on top of…
The obligatory fauxdenza. Ever since I first saw these, probably three years ago, I’ve wanted to include one in my house plans. (The fauxdenza pictured in my mood board is from Ave Styles blog.)
Yet another thing I’ve already purchased (although it does still need framing). I adore Lola Donoghue’s work and own a couple of pieces now. This one is Gloaming III and is a 30″ x 40″ limited edition fine art giclee print. It’s available for $250 here.
If not this light, then something very similar. This is the Nook pendant light available from Made.com. It’s £65 which so far seems like a really good price for a light this size and style. I haven’t found anything else yet that hasn’t been more than I’m really willing to spend on a light fixture so it’s likely I’ll be ordering this one in the next few days. Paired with an Edison bulb, this will hopefully look amazing over the dining table.

Hopefully that gives you a sense of where this room will be heading over the next six weeks. I’m excited to get this room done and finally have at least one finished room in the house but I’m already celebrating the fact that not long ago the room looked like this and now the finish line is in sight! img_3687-1