trash to treasure: the story of my first room makeover.

so. like most newly married couples, justin & i's first apartment was filled with hand-me-downs.  over the years, i have slowly but surely started to replace these items. i thought we could take a little stroll down memory lane at just how far our humble abode has come.

first, there was the horrid hunter green couch from the salvation army.  it was gifted to us, and my husband saw nothing wrong with the saggy cushions and outdated fabric.  so we kept that ugly thing until the next hand me down came along -- a snazzy black futon.  it was great to look at, but extremely painful to sit on.  finally this past january we traded in said futon for a black leather couch.  both eye catching & comfy.  basically a win-win.

when we first started dating, we each had a twin bed. 10 short month later, our family grew, and the twin beds became a full-sized hand-me-down mattress from his brother. the full-sized was not cutting it, and so my very first bonus was spent buying our very first queen-sized mattress.

our first washer and dryer was justin's from college.  the washer was a lovely yellow color and shook profusely on it's spin cycle.  finally it broke beyond repair and we were able to buy a brand new washer from lowes.  i had never been so excited to do laundry!

we've bought new dishes, new towels, bedding, picture frames, and the list goes on and on.  but there is, however, one room i haven't touched in the last almost 6 years.  enter: the dining room.



hello 80's.  i am not sure where to even start with this room!  almost everything you see pictured is a hand-me-down.  the table and chairs came from a previous boss.  its solid oak, and in my opinion, solid ugly.  the curio cabinet you see in the corner used to house my collection of porcelain dolls that i outgrew long ago but for some ungodly reason decided to keep the display.  the black side tables were gifted, and while i like them, they are a little too dark for my taste.  the picture and lamp are hand-me-downs too.  i love them, but again, they aren't helping the look of this room.

i have always disliked this space, and the furniture in it.  however, the list of wants vs. needs was a constant battle and i just kept putting it off.  that all changed a few weeks ago when i received some pretty good birthday money.  i debated how to spend it.  new camera? clothes? kindle? and then it came to me.  why not redo my dining room?  we are never in there, and i have been wanting to make a space to do crafts/work/art/ava'shomework/etc. for a while now.  so after some consulting, i decided to pull together a little inspiration board and get to work!

i had a little [$200] budget, and so i headed to ikea to get the bulk of the items.  i found my table, rug, floating shelves and storage bins all at ikea in under an hour. it definitely helped that i had created the inspiration board, and was sure to write down all the item numbers i was interested in.  ikea can be stressful, and i was so glad i went prepared.

i decided to reuse two of the dining room chairs and just paint them.  I also wanted to keep the black side tables, but knew they needed to be updated too!  last saturday crystal [aka Sissy/aka Sarah's mom] helped me sand, prime and paint.  it was hot, sweaty and totally worth it!

ava and i also got creative and made some artwork to hang in the new space!

this past weekend my sweet bother-in-law came and hung the shelves, and then we set it all up.  now that i have dragged this out entirely too much, here is our new workspace/dining/room!

i kind of big pink puffy heart this room now!  after it was all finished, i kept asking myself why in the world i had waited so long!  handsdown, the best way to spend my birthday money!  i am already eyeing my next room makeover:)