Lighter, brighter dining room

For those of you that know J, you know that he is happiest when he's working on some kind of project.  Most people think home repair and go "ugggh!", but (luckily for me) he's always thinking of the next project that can be tackled.

These were taken a year ago...about this same time if the dueling centerpieces are any indication.

When we bought my childhood home from my parents and moved back in 2012, there were some things that we wanted to be done right away.  Other things were more easily pushed onto the back burner until more time (and funds) allowed.

Case in point, the dining room.

When we added onto the garage, the windows that had looked out onto a sad, dead area in the back garden got covered with, well garage wall.  We had always kept the blinds pulled so it was easy to keep it that way, but you can see what was lurking just beyond...

J's idea was to make built-ins since it was just a little deeper.  That would also get us a little extra space and a perfect spot to put those not-so-frequently-used items that you still want on hand and available.  He also added some accent lighting in the built-ins since the only other light source is the chandy in the middle of the room.

Somehow he managed to get the windows out with breaking the glass (miracle!) and we repurposed one of the old windows here.  He's always drawing an audience ;)

After ripping out the carpet, putting down new bamboo flooring, and finally deciding on a paint color, the room was finished!

There was a slight electrical issue that we had with the antique light--think a pop and then a fizz and lots of sparks flying.  Thankfully we were home and heard/smelled it. Yikes!

But other than that, it's finished.

 It is so light and bright--I love it!