When we first walked through this house, this room was a downstairs bedroom. It had carpet, a small closet, and one modest door tucked off the hallway. Functional? Sure. Memorable? Not quite.
Being right off our entryway, I wanted a room that had more of a visual impact.
During our renovation, we combined the original dining room and kitchen to create our larger kitchen and scullery we truly wanted, but I knew I still wanted a dedicated dining space. So this former bedroom became our dining room — and honestly, it’s one of my favorite transformations in the entire house.
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Opening Up the Vision
The first step was opening up the walls and reimagining the flow of the space. Once it no longer felt like a bedroom, we could start designing it intentionally as a dining room.
Our dining was originally a downstairs bedroom
Our very first major design decision? Installing the mural wallpaper.
It completely set the tone for the room. (You can read more about that process here.) The mural brought in softness, artistry, and a sense of history — which felt like the perfect backdrop for a traditional dining space with a little personality.
Turning a Closet into a Custom Buffet
One of my favorite “design on a budget” moments in this room was transforming the old closet area into a built-in buffet.
We used two IKEA kitchen cabinets as the base and topped them with marble to create a custom look. I love projects like this because they blend practicality with polish. It gave us much-needed storage for entertaining pieces, and visually, it grounds the room beautifully.
It’s proof that you don’t always need fully custom millwork to achieve a built-in look — just thoughtful planning.
The Marble Table (Worth the Wait)
After that, I waited. And waited. And waited.
My marble dining table took months to arrive, but it was absolutely worth it. The weight and texture of marble add such a timeless element to the space, and it ties in beautifully with the marble on the buffet.
For a few months while we were waiting, I used dining chairs I found at our neighborhood yard sale. They worked perfectly fine, but the room was starting to lean a little too traditional for my taste.
The Green Chairs That Changed Everything
After searching for months, I found these green dining chairs — and I knew they were the missing piece.
They add just the right amount of modern energy and brightness to an otherwise muted, traditional room. The color feels bold but intentional, especially against the mural wallpaper and marble surfaces.
If they look familiar, that’s because they’re very similar in style to my kitchen counter stools — just in a different shade and size. I love when there’s a subtle design thread connecting spaces in a home.
Those green chairs shifted the room from “pretty and traditional” to something with personality.
The Finishing Touch: Luxurious Curtains
This week, we added our most recent layer: curtains.
I had been holding off because I didn’t want anything competing with the mural wallpaper. But these are exactly what the room needed.
They feature tailored pinch pleats at the top and a beautiful blue trim tape that complements the tones in the wallpaper without overpowering it. The fabric is thick and high quality, and they’re blackout — which would make them perfect in a bedroom as well.
In this space, though, they’ve softened the room and added so much warmth. Dining rooms can sometimes feel a little formal or stiff. The curtains make this one feel cozy and inviting — exactly how I want it to feel when we host family and friends.
A Bedroom No More
It’s hard to believe this room once had carpet, a closet, and a single small door.
Now it’s layered with marble, bold green chairs, mural wallpaper, and soft pleated curtains. It feels intentional, elevated, and very much us.
We’re loving this bedroom-turned-dining-room transformation, and I hope it inspires you to look at the rooms in your home a little differently. Sometimes the best spaces aren’t the ones you’re given — they’re the ones you reimagine.
