Dining room make-over , part one...Finally.. or should I say move over...?

To all of my blog friends especially those who have followed me over from my old blog... You have been so patient. I know I posted over  a month ago that I was doing a big make over in my dining room and things are finally coming together... I hope this delivers after all of that hype and doesn't disappoint... 

I've really been waiting on fabric which still not in, but I am going to show you the half that is almost done (sans fabric) so you can see I'm not lying to you and I have been doing something besides eating bon bon's all day as her kid's whack their heads while they eat dust (see earlier post :) 

Here's a before-before picture. I found this the other day. This is the picture on our real estate sheet when we bought the house just over 8 years ago. I had to scan it so I am sorry about the quality..

Here was the "now" before picture. 

I had the table centered in the middle of the room for the last 8 years...

The room is 17 ft by 11 1/2 feet. Having the table smack in the center seemed like a waste

of space  to me  and the computer was where every one could see all of my junk...so here's the design recap.... 

I washed my Polypropylene/Olefin rug.. thank goodness for the versatility of plastic.. 

We replaced one of those old cheap, faux oak entertainment centers that wasn't nice when it was new...

with the 7 foot long buffet. It's great because less junk gets stacked on top and around it. It holds ALOT of DVDs too.

Buh- BYE

 I remember how my husband stood at the window as he watched the old 

particle board entertainment center get lifted into the garbage truck one of the last remnants from his college days.We actually let it sit on the curb for a week, no one would pick it up or come and get it....I think I actually heard taps and saw a tear fall when the garbage truck came by and picked it up.  It crumbled into pieces in mid air before it even hit the back end of the truck. That's some good design for you.  

My other china cabinet got moved to the other wall and was multi-tasked to also hold some cook books and decorating books. All of the china I never used got packed up and put away.

Then there was the unexpected couch reupholstering...well worth it.

this chair make over... this is the one I used two tones of brown spray paint on. Joys of Home 

is having a spray paint challenge. Stop over when you get  a chance...

So.. drum roll for part one.......I did put the curtain fabric up so you can at least envision a roman shade there......

dididididididididididididididididididididi

didiidi........

DAH!

Can you believe there is actually that much room there from looking at the before picture? Really it's an 11 1/2 by  9 foot area. That's a decent size.That doesn't even include the table area I am still working on. I don't know if it shows, but it is really cozy...it's great because the kid's can go on-line and I can sit and read and keep an eye on what they are doing. Our grand plan is to eventually put a BIG window where the tiny one is now so we can see right out into the back yard and watch the kids. We are also going to replace the old chandelier as my poor hubby bonks his head on it. It hangs just  a little low. And I think I'd like to do a big area rug, something in a nice darker carmelly color or maybe a rust? What do you think?

I don't know if these will click to get bigger? Does any one know how to do that?

I am working on part 2 soon...:)

~J