It has been 6 months in the making but I have finally finished the transformation.
Remember where we started back in January?
Please excuse the crazy night shots.
After discussing with my friend Liz over at Designing Domesticity, we decided to convert this traditional dining room space into a library in-order to better suit our families needs. You can read more about that, HERE.
I also wanted to use as much second hand furniture as possible. Because up-cycling is always better for the environment, and my bank account.
After
The rug, sofa, and chairs are all craigslist finds. I found the curtains at Bed Bath & Beyond.
The coffee table is from CSN stores and the apothecary lamps I found at Ballard Designs.
The bookshelves are the Ikea Billy bookcases with crown moulding,
and wainscoting wallpaper added to the back.
The ceiling of the bay window needed something and I didn’t want anything that would take away from the view. So I painted it a mis-tint color that I found at the hardware store.
Perfect. I love the casual, open feeling of this room. The boys spend so much time doing projects at the coffee table and the leather sofa is great for spills. Talk about easy clean-up.
Now I can officially check one item from my 2011 to-do list. Next up the living room, hopefully it won’t take me another 6 months.
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I love it! The bookcases add so much storage and character to the space and the color and overall feeling is so much lighter and brighter. You must be thrilled!
Cool. It's really great. I love libraries; perfect way to use an unused dining room.
Wow.. it all came together beautifully. The sofa and rug are great Craig's List buys and love the CSN table. The bookcases turned out awesome. Did you add the crown molding? I can see myself in that room have a nice read on a rainy day
looks comfy!
Looks great!! I love how you used the Ikea bookcases and gave them a little wow factor!! HHL
It looks beautiful!
What an awesome transformation! Love it!
Such an awesome improvement, and love that it didn't break the bank!
It looks fantastic – cheerful, usable, and pretty.
It looks really gorgeous, well done Sarah
Claudia xo
Love the baskets on the bottom shelves!
Great job, I love your dining room as a library! And "easy clean-up" is SO YOU! Although you make all "clean-ups" look easy!
Can't wait to see some of the creativity born in this new space!
Wow! What a transformation! That window nook and the space in that room was too good to go to waste unloved. I can't beleive what a different those bookcases and a few strategic pieces of furniture can do! It looks amazing
The room is so bright and wonderful. Great job! I can see why you chose having a library over a formal dining room. It is such a good use of space.
You really did a great job. And it's so smart and functional – looks like a great place that your family will enjoy for a long time. Doesn't it feel so good checking things off the to-do list? Especially bigger projects such as this.
Stopping by from Met Monday… Nice job! It sounds like your "new" space functions really well now for your family. That's what makes a house a home!
It looks gorgeous. Lovely the transformation.
Love this room!
Love those mistints-I've gotten some great stuff there.
Fab room and terrific idea with the crown moulding on the cases.
love the shelves!
the room looks great~
How nice!
Excellent room. I love the idea of painting the ceiling above the windows like that! I have a similar window set up like that, and I can see myself doing something similar–thanks for the tips!
What a great room! I especially love that you used the leather sofa and the white bookcases. I admire that you are not afraid to have a few toys 'on display' too. My son noticed the tractor right away.
We plan to add bookcases to our living room to make it more of a library/sitting room. We have a family room and basement room for tv watching, so this is just our relaxing and reading room. I was looking for used bookcases to paint but I may just go with the billy after all. Thanks for sharing.
It looks great! I love that you decided to turn the dining room into something more useful for your family.
I love your new library! It feels very welcoming! I have Billy Bookcases myself and love them. How did you do the crown molding? That's not an IKEA product, right? You've made some excellent choices and this room is going to grow with your family. I can just see the evolution of those shelves, as the trucks leave and other things take their place. And I can imagine your kids sprawled on that wonderful couch reading their books. Awesome job!
Sarah, this is amazing! I love the idea of having a "library" in the home. We would certainly enjoy having a space for all of our books. I can't believe most of those items are 2nd hand! They look so perfect! Great job.
Sarah, you did a beautiful job with this room. Such a great transformation! How lucky you are to have such a great multipurpose room, er library!
Camille
I love this room! I love how you took a room that wasn't used very much & turned it into a functional space for your family…more people should do that in their homes! Angie xo