An Ever-Changing Dining Room (with Banquette!)
Happy Monday! Whitney is back again to share more of her beautiful home — be sure to follow her over @carpendaughter on Instagram to see more, and give her a warm welcome back! You are going to love the evolution of her gorgeous dining room with a banquette bench that is just stunning!
In my last post I introduced you to my living room. This time I’m gonna introduce you to my ever-changing dining room. Since gutting my entire house 3 years ago and putting it back together, my dining room has gone through the most changes. I just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. And why should I really?
Yes our only usable bathroom has been half gutted for the better part of a year and some of my friends refuse to use it because of their fear of open walls, but why not pour my time and energy into painting the dining room yet again! The answer is: the power of paint. It’s the biggest bang for your buck. It’s instant gratification. I trust my ability to paint 100%. Plumbing, not so much. Last week our new dining table was delivered which prompted me to change color once again. But let me start from the beginning and take you through the evolution.
I wish I had better before pictures but this is it. The room was a blank canvas. We tore down the wall in between the dining room and kitchen and placed an island where the wall was. It encroached a bit into the dining room so I decided to push seating against one wall with a built-in banquette. I cannot say enough just how lucky I am to have a woodworking papa. He just gets me. Gets my ideas and runs with them.
See also: How to Build a Banquette Bench
I found this old piece of furniture nailed to a wall in our garage and decided to incorporate it into our dining room as a built-in. It’s old and fits the age of the home and its imperfections are perfect. The woodwork/banquette started off a grey color (Wet Pavement by Valspar) that matched the kitchen cabinets.
See also: Top Cabinet Paint Colors
Then about two years later I replaced our DIY farmhouse table with a tulip table from Ikea. With that table change came the desire for dark navy woodwork and warmer white walls. I loved this change. In fact, I had plans to paint all my kitchen cabinets the same navy blue (Naval by Sherwin Williams). Thank goodness I ran out of steam before I got to them, because once again I wanted a change. Truthfully—and this is embarrassing—but besides wanting a larger table to fill the space better, the main reason for saying “see you later” to the tulip was that I got totally jealous over seeing everyone’s beautiful tablescapes on IG during the holidays.
See also: The Ultimate Guide to Wainscoting Styles and Tutorials
Once our new table arrived I knew I wanted to lighten up the room. This time I painted the woodwork white. Fresh, timeless white. It’s like it was always supposed to be white. For the walls I went with a pale pink (Sweet Pastel by Valspar). Pink because I have grown to have an extreme fondness for all things pink and because my husband is colorblind and thinks it looks grey.
See also: How to Pick the Perfect White Paint Color
I wouldn’t consider my dining room “finished.” That would be no fun. I’d love to add a colorful runner to the floor and custom cushions to the banquette. Maybe a few more prints on the shelf above the woodwork. I’ll be surprised if the walls stay pink for longer than 6 months. Don’t get me wrong, I love the look but it’s fun to play magician for the low cost of a gallon of paint. Maybe black next time.
Sources
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Table: West Elm
Chairs: Overstock
Paint colors: Sweet Pastel (Valspar), White Pro Classic (Sherwin Williams), Naval (Sherwin Williams), Wet Pavement (Valspar), Sawyer White (Valspar)
Large Print: Flourish by Kelly Ventura
Smaller Prints: Desert Flowers (top shelf) by Leah Duncan, Lulie Wallace, Minted
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Want to get a look like Whitney’s dining room? These posts will help!
How to choose and install the right wainscoting for you
Tips and tricks for newbie DIYers installing trim and wainscoting
How to build a banquette bench
How to convert existing furniture to built-in style
WOW! This is a transformation! Looking great, love the banquette.
But liked the greyisch cabinets too.
Love & hugs
Lydia
The gray was so nice (esp liked the matching crown molding) as was the navy. The white loses its wow factor for me. Still pretty… Now just playing safe and doesn’t WOW anymore (sorry 😉
I love the “Wet Pavement” gray color (I’m not even a gray fan) and the bigger table! Definitely think a runner and cushions (maybe something on the bolder side) would add to it! 🙂 Getting ready to do a makeover in my dining room so I’m loving your site!