Project Apartment Make-over: the dining room

I'm back! We had a busy and long weekend full of shopping, painting, re-purposing, sewing, and decorating, but we survived and it is all finished, almost. There are a couple of things she has left to do because we ran out of time but for the most part it is done. My sister's apartment over went a big change. It all began because she felt it was too dark and wanted to lighten it up. She loves the Pottery Barn and Ballard Design look so that was the inspiration, a little french country, a little modern.

Here is the before of the eat in kitchen area, she had more of a tuscan feel with dark brown furniture and accessories:

(I had already begun taking things apart and making a mess when I remembered to take before pictures, all of the accessories you see on the counter to the left were on the bookcase before)

We made quite a mess but it was all worth it in the end:

The clock was moved from above the couch to over the dining table. The little white plates surrounding the clock came from Goodwill:

The bookcase used to be dark brown and had dark accessories on it. When she was down visiting us she fell in love with my hutch... so we painted the bookcase black, transformed it to act more like a hutch/ buffet, and accessorized it with a bunch of white plates and platters we picked up at her local HomeGoods as well as some I found hidden in her cupboards. We moved her wine rack to the bottom shelf instead of the kitchen counter, and re-purposed an easel she had sitting somewhere else to hold one of the platters.

We added a touch of green for a pop of color. The new look gives the space a new crisp feel and completely lightens it up!

The best part is that all the plates and dishes accessorizing her new found hutch can easily be taken down and used when she has dinner parties.

Her living room also over went a big transformation... Here's a sneak peek at the after:

Stay tuned for the full story and more pictures as well as a tutorial of how we changed a bookcase into a "hutch" to display plates on!

~Megan