This $2,500 Dining Room Makeover Made the Whole Space Feel Bigger (and Richer)

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: House

PROJECT TYPE: Dining Room

STYLE: Vintage

SKILL LEVEL: DIY

RENTAL FRIENDLY: No

When it comes to freshening up old-but-otherwise-fine spaces, sometimes it takes a little external motivation, like hosting a big event or having a partner move in. In the case of Megan Freeman’s dining room, that external motivation was a black mold scare.

The mold incident meant that Megan needed to have her dining room rebuilt, so she decided it was time to make a change. Although the space — which she shares with her husband and two daughters — was still beautiful, “it just wasn’t me anymore,” Megan says.

“It was one of the first rooms I painted when we moved in back in 2010,” she adds. “We had the same table since we moved in, chairs that were ‘leftovers’ from our eat-in kitchen, and it was a catch-all room for everything … I wanted it to be a new room with a new feel.”

Read on to learn how Megan turned her outdated dining room into a colorful blue gathering space for just $2,500.

Blue paint on the walls adds some character.

Megan notes that one of the changes that made the biggest difference was repainting the walls using a slate-blue shade (Sherwin-Williams’ Tempe Star).

“We put our 16-year-old dog down right before I started painting,” she says. “So that was actually the perfect distraction for me.”

The deep, dramatic paint color makes the space feel warmer and more inviting — not to mention more luxurious.

Switching the dining table shape made the biggest difference.

Apart from repainting, Megan says that the switch that made the biggest difference was swapping out her rectangular table for a round one to create more open floor space (and a feeling of more square footage).

“I really wanted to stain [the table] darker, but decided against it,” she notes, adding that she might change that later. Above the table, the contemporary pendant light was replaced with a more traditional multi-shade chandelier.

One thing that stayed the same was the rug underfoot, which looks totally fresh thanks to the surrounding blue walls and the new table.

New storage puts collections on display.

As a self-described “lover of pretty hosting things,” Megan sought a place to display her collection. To pull off that effect, she added two cabinets: Better Homes & Gardens’ green Juliet arch cabinet and Beautiful’s fluted bookcase.

When it comes to other DIYers considering a change, she has three words: “Go for it!”

“You can always repaint it if you hate it, or move furniture around your home,” Megan says. “Your home should be a reflection of you. It doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. That’s the point.”

This project was completed for the Spring 2025 One Room Challenge, in partnership with Apartment Therapy. See even more of the One Room Challenge before and afters here.

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