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ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER
HOME TYPE: House
PROJECT TYPE: Dining Room
STYLE: Colorful
SKILL LEVEL: DIY
RENTAL FRIENDLY: No
Although formal dining rooms aren’t a necessity for some, they can be nice — especially if your kitchen is on the smaller size, or if home-cooked meals are a big part of your life. “Controversial take: I’d rather have a dining room than two first-floor bedrooms,” DIYer Kathleen Kowalski writes on Instagram.
When she and her husband, Brian, first moved into their New Jersey home, there was a bedroom (quickly becoming “a storage room and a mess,” Kathleen says) adjacent to the kitchen, but they decided it would be better suited as a dining room.
“We live in a small Cape Cod, and the first floor had two bedrooms but did not have enough space to eat in the kitchen,” Kathleen adds. “That meant every meal was at the coffee table. (Still is sometimes.)”
After decluttering, they reworked the wall dividing the two rooms to create an arched threshold and definitive dining room, then they added lots of vibrant pink, which is fitting for their colorful home.
The arch divider was a DIY job.
“For the project, we removed a closet, took down the center wall that connected the bedroom and the kitchen, and rebuilt it with an arch to match the other arches in our home,” Kathleen explains — and she had the help of her partner and parents to get it done.
Kathleen shares on Instagram that although she eliminated this bedroom, she firmly believes this project added to her house value in the end because she and her husband added an extra bedroom upstairs — and now they have a dining room, to boot.
The dining room makeover doubles down on pink.
Once the renovation part was finished, it was time to decorate. Kathleen and Brian already owned the vintage dining room table, and then they added some (gifted) finds from The Home Depot, like the chairs and rug, to finish out the room. Not to mention, the white bookcase and cane cabinet add storage.
But the true standouts in the room are the pops of pink; there’s Behr’s Minstrel Rose paint on the ceiling and window frames, and pink curtains to match. “We already had the radiator cover, but I sprayed it to match the pink ceiling,” Kathleen says.
To see more of Katherine’s cute and colorful home, check out her kitchen, bathroom makeover, and house tour.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
Further Reading
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said
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