Our Updated Traditional Dining Room

A fun paint color, new lighting fixtures and unique furniture helped me put together my updated traditional dining room, while still embracing the original elements.

Our home has a very tradtional style. While I do love traditional bones in a home, I also love lots of color and unique decor. I used a fun shade of sky blue, a new Kichler light fixture and some new furniture to create an updated traditional dining room. The style is still very tradtional, but also fun!

How I Updated Our Traditional Dining Room

A Fun Paint Color

It took two days to paint the dining room. Painting is no easy feat when you’re limited to nap time! I mentioned this previously but I used Olympic’s Turquoise Mist. This color is absolutely gorgeous! It’s light and airy and a little unexpected in this style dining room. It visually lightens the room. It’s also so much fun! I also chose this color because it is similar to the color on the legs of my color blocked dining chairs. I love pastels, so it’s great when I can incorporate them into a space.

In true home decorating fashion, one project often leads to more. I now plan on white washing the legs on my upholstered chairs to make them more cohesive. I’m also going to repaint the upper portion of the walls before too long. I think the white is a tad dingy and is a little warm for the cooler colors in the room. But that is another post for another day, back to the pictures! 

New Lighting

I’m obsessed with the pendant light that I found for this room at Lowe’s. I knew I wanted a drum-style shade pendant light. I envisioned two hanging over the dining table. But that would probably require hiring an electrician. Which would delay the entire project. Enter, Lowe’s lighting section. I saw this pendant hanging from the display and thought, “Hmm… I really like that.” It had a drum shade, but there were three lights inside. It was also larger than the pendants I originally envisioned. Then I saw the box for the fixture. It was on clearance for only $35! Done! I plopped it in my basket. It feels so good to replace something I truly hated with something beautiful.

Fun Art

Next in my updated tradtional dining room was the art. I hung plates on the walls on either side of the window. They are an ongoing collection. I really love the colorful, eclectic mix. I was undecided about the space next to the french doors. But then two prints I already owned caught my eye. It was these Han & Leia prints that I bought several years ago. They were hanging on a small wall between the living room and the hallway. But they often went unnoticed there. So, I decided to move them to the dining room where they’d be more appreciated.

The frames were red, but I painted over them with some Modern Master’s Metallic Silver paint. It was a simple, five minute upgrade. The prints always make me smile! Nothing reflects my quirky personality better than Star Wars. It’s always fun to find a way to bring nerdiness into home decor. This doesn’t look cheap or juvenile, just fun. (I bought the prints from the ReImaginationPrints shop on Etsy. They no longer carry the ones I own. But there are still a ton of cute options. I also own this one.)

I love how this updated traditional dining room came together. Especially since I spend so much time at home now. I do all of my blogging from the dining table. It’s nice to look up from the computer and see pretty things that I love. Then, I sip my coffee and pray the baby will sleep just a little longer.

The dining room is also so easy to decorate for Spring. The bright colors already shout Spring. I just add a few flowers and call it a day.

In case you’re interested here’s a source list for the room (no affiliate links): Paint-Olympic Turquoise Mist, Table-DIY, Chairs-Craigslist (here’s something similar), Upholstered Chairs-Target, Pendant Light-Lowe’s, Bar-DIY, Star Wars prints-ReImaginationPrints, Curtains-IKEA (I can’t find them online, but still see them in the store sometimes), Plates-HomeGoods, PierOne, Target, GoodWill and yard sales.