A Dining Room Transformation

It's amazing how sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest differences. And while the thing I'm referring to isn't exactly small, I definitely didn't expect it to pack quite the punch it did.

H and I decided to see what the stores had to offer on Black Friday last year, and there were definitely some good deals. I had wanted to put a mirror above the buffet in the dining room for a long time now, and when we found this gorgeous frame for 60% off, I scooped it up right away. We bought some mirror glass for it, and this past weekend, we FINALLY got around to getting it framed.

And while the guy at the framing department at Michael's kind of laughed at us for not doing it ourselves, I really thought it would best be done by a professional. I didn't want to ruin H's grandmother's antique buffet, or be cleaning up shards of glass for days on end, after the glass would have inevitably fallen out of the frame.

Here is the before (at Christmas):

And here it is now:

But anyway, I love how it turned out! It really anchors the dining room, and it's a great focal point. I think it makes the room look more formal as well, and I love how it reflects the kitchen. I just really love those little things that make such a big difference! We are slowly coming along...

Living Room Before and Now

After writing about my tropical modern inspirations, I realized I never posted about the progress on our living room. We actually did all this painting Halloween weekend, the first weekend after we got back from our honeymoon. We didn't waste any time!

Most of the walls- living room, dining room, and kitchen were all a muted yellow. Except for the (accent?) wall in the middle, which was sponge painted orange.

Looking into the dining room, from the living room.

The living room from the stairs.

And now- we did the living room and dining room walls a bright, sunny yellow. We also did the accent wall a cobalt blue and the kitchen a natural white, but I realize I didn't take any pictures of it yet!

View of the living room from right when you walk in the door.

View of the living room from the dining room.

Closeup of the honeymoon art on the wall above the sofa.

The dining room table. Yes, those are still our Christmas cards there :P

Antique buffet in the dining room.

It's coming along pretty well! I just wish I had the cash to decorate as much as I want to :P