Budget Friendly Dining Room Makeover

In our former home, we only had an eat-in kitchen, and it was SMALL. Fitting more than four people around that table was a challenge. The #1 thing on my wish list when shopping for a new home was a separate dining room. I could just picture a large farmhouse table with our closest friends around it, snacking and sharing some Crown and Coke, or Christmas Eve dinner with everyone seated at one place and not holding their plates in their laps on the couch. It shouldn’t surprise me that the dining room is my absolute favorite space in our new home. Check out these easy, inexpensive tips for my Budget Friendly Dining Room Makeover.

You don’t need much in this space to make it beautiful.

My #1 tip when decorating any space:

Only keep in the space what is essential to that room.

Are you more likely to want to sit in a space this is welcoming? This is a great place to start decluttering and organizing to have a beautiful space that will encourage everyone to sit at the table.

Remove everything not food or dining related.

The dining room is simple for this very reason: What purpose does this space have? Eating. Congregating. So what should be in this room? A table obviously, and some decorative elements, but that’s really it.

In other words… this is not a place for soccer balls and stacks of bills. My main goal in the dining room is a clear table where you and those friends of yours can sit and catch up at the spur of the moment. How many things are you moving to the end of the table so you have a spot to eat dinner? There needs to be other places for the bills or your sewing machine.

Find a place for what isn’t dining related.

My table does get used for things other than eating: The latest sewing project, craft projects with my daughter, card games and family game night, wrapping a birthday gift, etc. I know the dining table is used for lots of things – but that doesn’t mean the sewing machine needs to stay there. It needs to have a place, just like the deck of cards and the wrapping paper. Make a goal to keep your dining room table clear and pretty. It’s a great place to start when decluttering is a goal in your home.

So where do you put everything else?

One of the best ways to have an organized home is to keep all like things together. I keep everything related to sewing in my laundry room and my playing cards in a cabinet in our living room with all of our other games and entertainment stuff like gaming systems, etc. This makes everything easier to find and saves you time.

What should you keep on the table then?

The table doesn’t have to be an entirely clean slate. It is okay to keep a beautiful centerpiece and some functional items too, such as salt and pepper shakers or a water pitcher. Make it pretty enough that you want to sit there, even when it isn’t time to eat.

Have a china cabinet? Here’s how to best use it.

The purpose of these beautiful pieces of furniture is to do just what is says – display your china. Seasonal pieces are great to keep, as are priceless pieces that are too pretty to be boxed up. However, ALL of the pieces don’t need to be front and center. A good rule of thumb is 1-2 plates or decor (standing up) per windowpane. The rest can be stacked in a less obvious place or underneath in the cabinets. People will be more likely to notice your favorite pieces when you can really see them. Use the drawers for china related accessories: Placemats, linen napkins and silverware you don’t use daily.

Keep only what fits in the cabinet. Most cabinets have more than enough space for all of the seasonal china you love. How often are you really using it anyway? You don’t need a ton of extras.

Here’s how I decorated on the cheap for this budget friendly dining room makeover.

My family took a road trip south for a $600.00 dining set.

sometimes it’s worth it to shop second-hand.

We drove over 8 hours to North Carolina to get it. (It was worth it to save so much money.) We found a true “diamond-in-the-rough” furniture boutique on a trip south for work years back and follow their latest creations on Facebook. This same set-up (the table, two leaves that make this a 10-foot table, and six chairs) in Pennsylvania would have cost us thousands. This gem? $600.00 for the whole set. Worth a weekend road trip, if you ask me! We absolutely love it.

I love these $16.00 Amazon curtains.

These Amazon curtains were $16.00 forTWO PANELS. I have had the expensive, thick, long ones from West Elm that cost me over $50.00 FOR ONE PANEL. Seriously, I saw them in another home and thought they were exactly what I needed. However, after buying them, I hated the heaviness of these drapes and ended up loving these panels from Amazon even more. The material is great, and I love the creamy white color. That’s over 60% less in price.

There was one “hang-up” (pun intended) with the Amazon curtains, but I found a creative fix. To avoid moving the curtain rods, I needed to make these panels longer to touch the floor (most standard curtain panels are 84″), but I needed these longer. After looking at the bottom hem, I noticed it was over 2″ wide, which meant I could undo the hem and make these curtains just the right length. I sewed the bottom up just enough to make a hem and they were perfect.

The light fixture was a bit of a splurge.

I wanted this to be a focal point, and it IS. The fixture I splurged on came from Home Depot and did NOT disappoint!

Every room in my house has something vintage. It makes a statement, but can also be inexpensive.

Mantle: As someone who loves antiques, I try to put something old in every room. I got this from a local antique shoppe for $100. I had it in our master bedroom at our old home under the TV, but don’t have the wall space in our current bedroom, so I converted it to this big wall in our great room and am loving it! With a few yards of burlap from Hobby Lobby, I sewed hems on all sides so it wouldn’t shred apart, and strung twine through the top hem to hang in the open space of the mantle on some nails. This used to hide the TV cords, but now is just decorative.

Mirrors:

i love these mirrors so much, i bought two of them.

I’ve seen some super expensive ones close to this at Kirkland’s and Homegoods, but I grabbed these ones at Walmart for $69. I love the vintage look and layered them to fill up the big wall space I have here. The decor on the mantle came from a local Amish furniture store I love and cost just over $100.00 for everything.

That makes the grand total: About $1300.00 for the entire room, including the table!

Beautiful does NOT have to equal expensive. Everything having a place and not being cluttered is a win-win in any area of your home. You won’t be hesitant to invite those friends over when your space looks clean and decorated, on any budget.

Get out that deck of cards and the margarita mix… it’s time to have some guilt-free fun after your budget friendly dining room makeover.

From my home to yours,