The dining room has undergone a serious makeover since we bought the farm four years ago. Though it’s not completely finished, I simply couldn’t wait another minute to share this lovely space with you. So come on in for a tour of our dining room.

Before I show you the reveal, I just have to share what this space looked like the day we bought the farm.

  

When we moved in, the first thing we did was rip out the old carpet to expose the beautiful original 1893 hardwood floors. That was an easy fix, but the giant metal duct in the corner was an eyesore that would take a lot more work to make pretty.

 

Restoring the dining room back to its original Folk Victorian Farmhouse glory meant refreshing all of the gorgeous original details that were hidden in plain sight, like the incredible trim and beadboard. Next, we replaced the 1980s ceiling fan with an antique chandelier. We also replaced the ugly modern steel door with the perfect antique wooden door. Cleaning, painting, decorating, and taking out the huge window AC instantly made the room look better!

Over the next four years we slowly tackled the more labor intensive DIY projects including:

  • Exposing the chimney
  • Taking out the 1930s arch and putting in a more period appropriate set of antique French doors
  • Taking out the large rusty floor grate
  • Putting a door back where an oddly sized opening was roughly made
  • Covering cracks in the walls and an extra doorway with beadboard

After all of our hard work this is what the dining room looks like today…

 

We brought the farm table from our last home, but we gave that too a makeover. You can read how we added the barn wood top by clicking {Here.} Over the last four years, I have also been carefully curating pieces to decorate the room. The antique white dishes in various patterns are something I am always on the look out for. I pick them up a few at a time from thrift stores and on Ebay. The round woven placemats are from Dollar General and the burlap runner is from Walmart.

   

I am always changing the centerpiece depending on the season or occasion. Since it’s mid summer, it’s currently just a mash of fun thrifted and vintage finds, plus lots of candles for ambiance. The dining room is what they call a “shotgun style”, which means there is a front and back door in line with each other perfect for shooting a gun right through (or a breeze more likely). I painted the oil portrait of the horse and my husband used his calligraphy skills to paint the farm sign. { His signs are available in our Etsy Shop.} The back window and door are covered, because we are temporarily using the back porch for storage while we finish restoring the master suite. Someday we will be able to have beautiful sunset views of our back yard from our dining room.

  

If you don’t follow Bryarton Farm on Instagram you are missing out on so much of the action. That’s where I first shared the story of our antique hutch. It took us about a year of carefully putting money towards this special piece, before we could bring the hutch home. It is handmade of English pine and is from the late 1700s to early 1800s. The hand-blown glass, wood pegs, and brass hardware are just a few of the details that take my breath away…

  

I feel so blessed to be working with the company Well Woven to showcase this amazing rug. They have hundreds of designs and styles, but I loved the muted turquoise in this faux Persian design. The color matches perfectly with the light turquoise on the walls and coordinates beautifully with the warm wood tones in the room. It’s so soft and squishy underfoot too! My girls love playing house under the dining room table, so having a soft dining room rug was particularly exciting for them.

Little by little we are working to bring back the original beauty of this farmhouse. Ripping everything out and replacing it with modern design is not what this piece of our national heritage needs. What we are trying to do DIY style is to polish what is already here. As restorationists, we are careful to make any changes look original. We still need to take down the acoustic ceiling tiles and repair part of the floor, but after being the ugliest room in the farmhouse for so long, I think I am finally falling in love with this space.

If you are enjoying following our continuing story and want to see more, please Subscribe! You can also see additional pictures of our little fixer upper farm on the prairie, by following us on InstagramYouTubeFacebook, & Pinterest. Help support our “forgotten farm restoration project” by visiting our Etsy Shop!

If – like little Pumpkin sitting there – you loved the dining room reveal, let me know in the comments section below…