This post is sponsored by Boutique Rugs, all opinions, photos and designs are my own.
I bought a new house last year (go back to the beginning here!) and while most of the rooms are coming together beautifully the little dining nook has kind of become a mis-matched, hodge podge of all the other room leftovers. You know what I mean… none of these pieces are bad on their own but each and every one is a leftover. Not necessarily meant for this room!
My table and chairs use to be in the kitchen and I made my slipcovers & tufted bench custom to match that room, the rug under the table is actually the one I bought for in front of my sink in the old Kitchen makeover and the curtains are from the refresh I did on my craft room in the old house.
This room was definitely thrown together… it’s not intentional at all.
Plus I have *ahem* a few new family members now (Sugar and Cinnamon) who for some reason are super attracted to this rug. And not in a good way. So I decided to give this room a little refresh… starting with a new *washable* rug.
Watch the Entire Dining Room Refresh Here:
I started by putting away the old rug (I actually brought it to the cleaners to see if it could be salvaged… it’s an indoor/outdoor rug so it could live on my new porch if it’s savable)… but before I could roll up the rug and carry it away I had to put away the old tablescape.
And this is proof that yes, I leave the tablescapes! They’re not just for pictures. I set the table and leave it to appreciate the pretty things… even if I use the table and we sit here for dinner I’ll wash the dishes and re-set them. I like to use my pretty things!
So first things first, I put away the spring tablescape I did a few months ago and then rolled up the old rug. Now it’s time to bring in the new!
Step 1: Change the Rug
So the first thing I wanted to change for this little update was the rug… like I said up above my doxies specifically like to use this dining room rug as a potty.
Yuck.
I’m hoping that a new rug without the previous smells (and with a new texture) will be less… alluring. But just in case it’s not the rug specifically that looks so darn good and it’s the spot (maybe they like the close proximity to their doggy door… you can see the outdoors without actually having to go outside?) we’re going to work on potty training a bit more… and barring all that I wanted to replace the old rug with a washable one.
So that any accidents can be easily washed away without an expensive trip to the cleaners.
Which meant I needed a cute, washable, pet friendly rug that fit the space. I found one I absolutely loved but I wasn’t sure that the pattern worked with the existing slipcovers.
So I took a poll on Instagram to get a few more opinions…. and the rug I liked (the Tavas Washable Area Rug by Boutique Rugs) was the clear favorite! So I bit the bullet and ordered it. (If you’re looking for option B it’s Boutique Rug’s Bagontapay area rug here).
Keep in mind that when ordering a rug you need to take a few things into consideration.
Size: I needed a 5×7 since I wanted it to fill the space but not go under the bench and pie safe. Normally I would want it to go under the furniture but with a washable rug I didn’t want to move those heavy pieces every time I wanted to wash it… this way it still separates the dining room as the dining room but I don’t have to move heavy furniture every five minutes.
In most cases you’ll want your rug to anchor your space so think: furniture fully on the rug, front feet of the furniture on the rug or rug just in front of all the furniture. I went with the last option and put the rug right in front of all the furniture.
Color: Try to pick colors that are in the room… ideally the rug will either be the jumping off point with lots of fabulous colors or it will tie the whole room together with the fabulous colors that are already in the space. In this case I wanted gray, blue and cream. Which is why I liked option a more than option b… I thought the blue/gray’s of the first rug fit in better with my specific colors than the more teal and cream colors in the second rug.
Rug Texture: Here we’re talking about the actual fibers… in this case my rug is pretty low to no pile. There’s definitely not a fuzzy feeling to it… in fact it feels more like a mat underfoot than a rug. It’s still warm underfoot and keeps my feet from resting on the cold vinyl flooring… which is the point. But being washable definitely takes that warm, fuzzy, sink in and take a nap feeling right out of the rug.
To be fair a warm, fuzzy, sink in and take a nap rug would last 2 seconds with my dogs but if the fiber length and feeling makes a difference to you keep that in mind when researching!
Also… how cute is Fat Thor? He’s helping me roll out the rug! (Yes his name is Fat Thor, no I’m not keeping him… he was just visiting with my Mom who was my actual rug helper… don’t worry she left his big brother Slim Shady at home.)
Update!
Despite my best efforts the pee gremlins got to the rug less than 24 hours after I put it down. See that stain? They had been restricted from the room but either one of them found a way in or I have actual pee gremlins.
Either way I had to wash the rug.
Now the care instructions say to use water and soap to blot the stain immediately after you notice it (which I did) and then if the stain warrants it (pee… on my rug… that qualifies in my book) you can wash the rug in your washer on delicate.
Delicate meaning cold water and a low spin cycle. It also said to refrain from using detergent… which I’m still skeptical about but we’re being good and following the instructions so I went with it.
Once the wash is done double check the stain… mine appeared to be gone (I smelled no detectable odor and couldn’t see it any more) then you can dry the rug. This works one of two ways: hanging it outside to dry in the sun or putting it in the dryer on low heat.
I opted for option 2 (if I can’t wash and dry it in my machine it doesn’t really help me!) and it worked beautifully. Now it does say drying it in the machine can cause curling and wrinkles which will fall out… so we’ll see. So far so good.
To check out the full video tale you can watch the wash and review here on my Instagram stories… it’s part of my washable rug highlight.
Step 2: Add Neutral Curtains
Ready for the next step?
I was hoping that once I switched out the rugs the large scale pattern on the curtains would be…. better. But I still didn’t love the trellis pattern with the pattern on the living room curtains (which is literally the other half of the room… it’s one big room.)
So instead of worrying about this pattern and that pattern I decided to hang gray linen curtains.
I bought a blush pair of these babies for my new blog office (since I wanted the large scale floral wallpaper to shine and not the curtains) and absolutely loved the texture in lieu of pattern so I figured it would work here as well.
Of course, I accidentally bought the short curtains and had to re-order them in the floor length version… so slight hiccup but easily fixable. Just make sure if you’re working on a refresh that you double check the curtain length before you order.
Either way I absolutely love the gray linen curtains in this space. In most rooms I try to follow the rule of one large scale pattern, one medium/small scale pattern and one texture. Of course, from there you have to add in accents but we’re talking about our big pieces here: floor/rug, wall/curtains, and the largest piece of furniture.
Since our new rug has lots of small scale pattern I thought the curtains could be a large scale pattern but with the chairs it was too much. And even when I switch out the chairs in a minute there’s one more factor… the table.
I do allllll my tablescapes in this space which means the pattern, color and look of the table is always changing. So while the large scale pattern might have worked with the new neutral chairs I decided to keep the curtains neutral in lieu of counting the tablescape itself as the large scale pattern.
Just something to keep in mind!
Step 3: Try Neutral Chairs!
It’s soooo much better already… but here’s the thing.
My original thought? That the pattern of the rug wouldn’t go with the slipcovers I already had?
Yup. I hate it.
Now there are a few things we could do here… try new slipcovers (I found a few I liked here but nothing I loved), return the rug and get the other one hoping it would be better but I didn’t really love the other one… or change out the chairs all together.
I definitely didn’t want to buy new chairs since that would be expensive but then a friend of mine reminded me that I actually bought chairs that match my new counter height bar stools back when I picked up the bar stools. I didn’t need them but I found the bar stools at one of those discount stores and they had the matching chairs… $200 for all four pieces so I couldn’t leave them behind.
The chairs themselves are a gray linen fabric (although they’re darker than the curtains) and have a nail head trim. This way the rug has a pattern, some of my accessories have a bit of pattern (hello pillows!) and I can change the rest of the pattern with my table runners, place-mats/chargers and tablescapes!
Plus I just absolutely love how they look in the space… and since it’s a small nook the open legs actually make the room feel so much bigger and airier than it actually is. Which was a happy little accident.
Of course, this means I’ll have to find a new chair for the vanity in my room since I had these little gray chairs tucked in there (out of the way since I didn’t have a space for them originally). The blue floral slipcovers will not work in my master bedroom but the chairs themselves are still fine… so maybe it’s time to whip up another slipcover?
Either way I absolutely love how the room looks now! I didn’t dislike it before but in that you-get-use-to-it-because-you-see-it-everyday way… and since I didn’t love it when I put it together (remember all the leftover’s?) I’m definitely loving this more intentional, put together space.
Even Bitty likes it!
So what do you think? Before or After?
Which is your favorite?
Let me know down in the comments… in the meantime here are a few more pretty pictures from the new space.
Want a closer look at any of the tablescapes? You can check out all the details of the brand new Whimsical Beachy Mermaid Tablescape here (that’s the one in allllll the after photos). The pretty pink floral tablescape in a few of the before pictures can be seen here my pretty pink Spring Table with Resin Centerpiece (the light bulbs on that pretty champagne colored tree? Resin!). Last but not least the silver, blue and white Winter Wonderland table above is my Holiday table from last December.
Or go for broke and check out alllll of my tablescapes here.
Oh! One more comment before I go… the only other noticeable thing in my little dining room refresh? They finally came to fix alllllll the things in my house that needed fixing so the chandelier is at dining room height now! Score!
Or maybe you want to go back to the beginning… one of the first ever posts on this little blog is my big blue pie safe makeover! Check it out if you want to see how far my *ahem* photography has come.
Psych… I thought that was the last comment but I want to point out the bar stools! I love them at the island (and they look fine with the slipcovered chairs).
BUT HOW AMAZING DO THEY LOOK WITH THE MATCHING CHAIRS?
Yes, I am very happy with my decision. Thank you for noticing.
Also… Bitty is 11 and allowed on rugs. Yin and yang (Sugar and Cinnamon) are 2 & 3 and obviously can’t be trusted yet. They will learn.
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