New Decor and Deep Cleaning in Our Pretty Dining Room

April 24, 2022

Changing out decor and deep cleaning our pretty dining room with huge window seat. 


This is the final room in my "cross it off the list" tour around our house! I've been knocking all kinds of things off my to do list over the past week -- from organizing the linen closet in our bathroom to painting a wall in our bedroom

The lists haven't been long in each room, just little projects I've had in my head for months. 

I haven't done anything major, but each room feels SO pretty and refreshed after I'm done. I've been doing a lot of deep cleaning in each space, so that probably helps. :) 

This time I worked on our dining/morning room. It's not a traditional dining room, but open to our great room and kitchen. Our builder called it a morning room and I loved that -- we have a ton of windows in there so the name is fitting:
morning room with window seat

When we built this house I had plans for a window seat in this dining area, so I had them adjust the ceiling fixture placement knowing I'd eventually add that. 

When I finished it up we added simple, light covered cushions to the window seat. The covers (we did three instead of one huge one because the top of the bench opens up in two spots) are made with Sunbrella fabric. We've been super impressed with the fabric and cushions. 

The best part of the Sunbrella fabric is that they are washable! I hadn't washed them since getting them a few years back, so it was time. 

If you ever wash a seat or bench cushion cover, make sure to zip it up before washing, use the delicate cycle, dry on very low heat (or air dry) and then put them back on the inserts while slightly damp: 
White Sunbrella bench cushions
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This allows some give and makes it much easier to put them back on! 
If you're cover is tight, put a trash bag over the insert, then put the cover on. 
The cover will slide on SO much easier. Then you can pull the trash bag out.  

I got a few new pillows for the window seat -- the coral embroidered pillow, smaller floral coral one and pretty green striped pillow
three windows with window seat

Then I moved the table and chairs off the rug and flipped it around -- I try to do this with all of our rugs at least once a year. 

It evens out the wear on the rug, especially for an area like this near a door: 
flipping rugs for longer use

I love this rug! It's so pretty and holds up well to foot traffic. I think I found it at HomeGoods, but you can find this Surya Laila rug here, and another version that has the same colors here

While I had the furniture off, I cleaned the rug as well. I told you about my awesome carpet cleaner a few years ago: 
Surya Laila rug

This thing is the BOMB. It's so easy to use and I love that it has a dry only option to suck all of the solution out of the rug. They dry so fast because of that!

I always feel like a disgusting slob when I clean our carpets. It's truly gross. I try to clean our rugs every six months or so, but it always looks like they haven't been cleaned in years. 😝

Because this machine is so easy to set up and use, I ended up cleaning five other area rugs in our house while I was at it! 

I never blogged about it, but I spray painted our dining chairs last year. I loved the wood tone of them, but we had too much of that same tone in the room and I needed some contrast! 

They have held up amazingly well!:
spray painted black kitchen chairs

I sprayed those with the same black paint I used on our kitchen cabinet hardware

I gave those a good wipe down, and while I was at it, I cleaned the baseboards and wall trim as well: 
simple trim boxes on wall

Those simple trim boxes on the wall add SO much character in here!

The window pane mirror we had over the console table in here had a big crack in it (I tried to change it out, but I couldn't get the brackets off the back), so I took a large art canvas from our bedroom and tried it in that spot. 

It didn't look quite right in the bedroom, but with that pretty dark blue Cyberspace walls in the dining area, it was perfect! I simplified the decor on the console table and love the "quieter" look on that wall: 
dark blue walls light wood furniture
Our dining table is from a local store, but this one is similar

I changed out the remaining framed art to these simple brass candle sconces I've had forever: 
dark blue Cyberspace walls with trim

This wall could definitely handle something larger, so I'll be keeping my eye out!

Again...I didn't work on any huge projects or transformations in here, but the room feels refreshed and clean. I'm so happy with the simpler art on that wall: 
window seat with sconces and shelves
You can find a similar cane console table here!

The only project I didn't tackle just yet is sanding down and refinishing the wood tabletop -- I need to take the top off and do all of that outside: 
dining room with long window seat

I love "shopping the house" to find decor and giving things new life in different spaces!
Cyberspace dark blue walls

Thanks for joining me over the past week as I shared my to do list and projects! It feels SO good to get all of these done! Have I inspired you to tackle your list? :)


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Comments

  1. I love your style and detail! Love what you've done with your "builder" house to make it your home. It's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah, where did you get the dining room table? It isn't listed in your 'Shop Our Home'.

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    Replies
    1. We got it at a local store called Urban Underpriced, but I found a similar one on Wayfair. I linked it under the photo above!

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  3. Hi! I've been following you for so long! Definitely one of my favorites. I'm wondering if you have a recommendation for an upholstery cleaning machine?Thank You!

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  4. Looking great! Quick question what is the width of the built-in shelves? I want to do something similar but wonder if there is enough space. Thanks

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  5. Where did you get your dining room chair covers? Love it!

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  6. Hi Sarah! Your room is beautiful. We are getting ready to do some painting and I am wondering what your wall colors are, both the light and dark colors. Thank you so much!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! The dark color is called Cyberspace and the white is Pure White, both from SW.

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If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here!

You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site.

THANKS so much for reading!