There is no better feeling than finishing a project, and having it turn out better than expected! This modern California coastal (as I’m calling it) dining room has the brightness, texture, and style I had wanted. I made some changes from my original plans (seen here), but most were due to backorder dates or minor adjustments that benefitted the space as a whole. Before jumping into all the changes, I’d like to thank my incredible sponsors, Tempaper, Framebridge, and Ruggable, who kindly gifted items seen in the space. The wallpaper, oversized framed flag and rug were HUGE game-changers in transforming the room, so I am eternally grateful! Be sure to read until the end, where I share the before and completed after!

The One Room Challenge is hosted twice a year in spring and again in Fall and run for 6-weeks. I’m thrilled to be participating as a guest, and I look forward to starting this challenge and connecting with fellow bloggers! I’ll be posting each week to share our dining space's on-going progress while highlighting our weekly to-do list (more on that below)!

A look back at my original plans

Where to even begin? This room was a pretty good blank slate, which helped immensely when diving into my plans for the room. A few main areas were crucial for the design coming together, and those surrounded the fireplace area. Originally I had plans to tile the brick, but sadly the tile I had wanted was on an extended backorder until early February. Instead of pulling the trigger on another tile design, I decided to paint the brick white. This was truly the first thing that set up the room for success. The old brick was adding a ton of warmth and brought out many red tones in the furniture. Painting the brick white gave everything a fresh, balanced look while brightening up the room.

I glazed over the fact that I had also sprayed the fireplace insert black. This wasn’t one of my major projects, and I kind of dislike the insert, so it was a bit of a bandaid. I hope to tackle removing it, cleaning up the bricks, and adding an area for candles or logs (it’s non-operational.) In the meantime, it blended well with space and gave me time to focus on other aspects of the room, like that swoon-worthy grasscloth wallpaper!

The Finalized Wallpaper

During the week five reveal, I shared all my tips and tricks for hanging this gorgeous grasscloth wallpaper! It honestly was one of the most seamless wallpapering projects I’ve done to date! The texture on this Tempaper is incredible and truly mimics the feel and grooves of traditional grasscloth. The color was another thing that immediately struck me. It’s cooler in tone while still being a touch warm, which sounds confusing, but somehow happens. Since our walls aren’t super straight, I decided to call in a bit of help and help my dad trim out the wallpaper. He used 1” trim molding and caulked around the edges for a custom finish. This small detail blew my mind. It’s things like this that sometimes get overlooked but truly add additional dimension.

Last-Minute Additions & Adjustments

As with any project, there are always bound to be some hiccups. This project was no exception. I had initially wanted to add a wood mantle (which I’m still toying with) to the fireplace ledge. After spending more time than expected on skim coating and the fireplace painting, I ended up scrapping the idea for the meantime. I may come back to the concept at another time, but for now, I think the space feels complete without it. Since I skipped this addition, I wanted to add another touch to the room. This came in the form of privacy curtains.

I love our double-sliding doors that go out to our deck, but we wanted a bit more privacy. I decided to hang light-filtering curtains in the room to allow plenty of light still and have the option to close if we were eating as a family or had company. I had to search for an affordable curtain rod that would span the doors and scooped one up at IKEA for very cheap. The curtains are linen, and also pretty reasonable! 

Another fun addition I had was finally giving our California State Flag a home! Framebridge created a beautiful float-mount for our vintage flag, and it looks perfect in the space. I had initially envisioned a black frame, but the Framebridger designer I worked with recommended this deep wood tone as a wildcard, and I fell in love! It picks up on the darker-toned tabletop and compliments over pieces we have in our home. I’ve mentioned this before, but I genuinely believe in showcasing mementos, artwork, or pieces that are special to you throughout your home. The room will look so much more collected when you bring in pieces that reflect you!

We hadn’t planned on touching the adjacent walls of the fireplace, but after additional thought, we have decided to extend our project. If you’ve followed our ORC journey on Instagram, I shared my struggle to locate the perfect 60”+ narrow console table. I ended up finding one I felt that complimented the space and it will arrive mid-December. With this additional furniture piece, we will also be adding wall sconces to the sides of the frame, and adding a molding treatment to the walls. (more on this in a separate post!)

adding color

One of the biggest take-aways in doing this make-over was finding out how much I love blue! I’m typically very neutral when selecting colors, but I found that this brought so much unexpected happiness to space. Adding a Ruggable rug to the room was a total no-brainer since it’s such a loved and high-trafficked area of our home. I love that it’s not only pretty, but it’s also incredibly durable! Having this pop of color in the rug allowed me to bring in additional styling accessories that complimented this shade. If you’re in the market for a Ruggable Rug, use my code FUNKELLYT10 for 10% off your order!

I’ve also been leaning towards adding more blue tones to other rooms in my home!

Another key addition to my room’s color palette was pops of green arranged throughout the space. I had moved my ficus in here to make room for our Christmas tree and ended up loving the placement. The palms were cut from my parent’s yard and act as the perfect free decor. I typically refresh them every so often to keep them looking bright. When I finally get around to adding holiday decor to this room, I’m thinking of adding large branches with greenery!

The FINAL Before & After Reveal!

The before

The AFTER

Check back next week for a look into our console wall project!

Cheers ~

Kelly