Fixing Up My Dining Room

With the upcoming wedding, I wanted to make a few changes around my house-- mainly, in the dining room.  I never did take "before" shots of the room because I hated it that much.  It needed some major changes in my eyes.  And I wanted to spruce it up with some new furniture since I'm having about 100 or so guests coming to my house for our wedding.

That being said, I need to be clear: I am on a very strict budget.  I wanted to improve my dining room, but we couldn't afford to go out and buy new, fancy furniture.  That was about the time I became obsessed with Craigslist.  Seriously, I love it.  I can't get enough of it. 

My hunt began with finding a dining room buffet.  Even on Craigslist, buffets run anywhere between $150 to $400!  Not in my price range.  So, I ended up searching "dressers" and I came across one that had potential.  Here is the before shot out in my yard, right before I sanded it.  Please forgive the fact that it was on its side!

It's blond...

And it's ugly!

Yes, yes, call me crazy.  Steve definitely did.  But I saw potential in this piece when I found it on Craigslist!  I loved its little legs and clean lines.  It reminded me of one of my favorite shows, Mad Men.  And at $15, I couldn't beat it!  This dress/buffet is SOLID.  It was made by the Dixie Furniture Company back in the '50s (well, no kidding with the decor!).  I decided to sand it and paint it a solid color.

Here it is sanded and primed, looking better already!

And here it is now, sitting all pretty in my dining room. :)

I'm loving it!  And the best part is that it all cost me under $50 to purchase the piece and give it a make over.  Steve even likes it now!  A little creativity and elbow grease goes a long way.

I'll be sure to share the office section make over soon.  It's still in a state of disaster, so no pictures of that yet!

In terms of the wedding, things are moving right along.  Steve and I finally got our marriage license this morning (talk about waiting last minute! HA!).  It's nerve wracking stuff to organize everything from the ceremony to the pictures to the dinner... in order to keep under our $10,000 wedding day budget, a lot of responsibilities fall on us.  I still have a lot of crafty things I need to do for decorations and my house needs to be cleaned badly! :)  But, I have all week and all next week to do it with the help of Steve, my mom, and his parents.  I'll be sure to post a few blogs and let you all know how its moving along!

Peacing out,
Nikki