Sharing all the DIY & decorating details of our elegant & vintage farmhouse dining room with our farmhouse dining table, bench, church pew, fireplace & shiplap walls & before & after pictures included!
I thought it would never happen but we FINALLY finished the dining room of our farmhouse.
Our farmhouse dining room is now brighter, bigger & blends seamlessly with our newly remodeled kitchen!
Table of Contents
Farmhouse Dining Room Reveal
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Farmhouse Dining Room Before
Our farmhouse dining room is a far cry from what it looked like six years ago when we moved in & painted it. (see that below)
I painted our farmhouse dining room, “Manor Brown” from Sherwin Williams.
In the past, I tended to like bold colors in my dining rooms.
I painted our first dining room red in our town traditional, dark evergreen in our suburban split dining room & in our current farmhouse dining room, I originally picked a cooler neutral grey, brown because I liked the color & I thought the name sounded very regal, ha!
Well… I completely blew all my bold color dining room ideas behind me in our new farmhouse dining room which is completely white!!!
List of our DIY projects in our Farmhouse Dining Room…
- Created a Farmhouse Table for FREE from our old dining Table
- Gave the Old Brass Chandelier a Makeover
- Opened up the Dinning Room to be more connected to the Kitchen
- Added Shiplap to the Walls
- Gained More Seating with a Craigslist Church Pew
- Painted, Painted & Painted Some More
Farmhouse Dining Room Reveal!!!
Spackling & Painting the Shiplap Walls
We recently added shiplap to the walls over the old vintage plaster walls in the farmhouse dining room.
Shiplap does a fantastic job insulating our old farmhouse & making our old walls straight & clean.
See how we installed the shiplap walls (HERE)
Let me just say that painting Shiplap is no joke!
First you have to cover the holes with spackle & chalk before painting it.
We painted the shiplap a basic flat un-tinted white from SW.
Painting the Farmhouse Dining Room Ceiling & Columns
Somehow we missed painting the dining ceiling the first time around & with the white walls it was obvious that it needed to be painted!
We gave the columns a fresh coat of paint, SW crushed ice.
It is are current fav neutral paint color & the same color we used on the walls in the kitchen.
I took down the old satin panel curtains we brought from our previous home in favor of a linen shade from Target that doesn’t take up any precious floor space.
This is a skinny farmhouse dining room after all!
We had hoped to keep the window bare but winter sunsets were problematic for anyone sitting on the church pew in our farmhouse dining room so we gave up and added the shade.
We found this awesome church pew on Craigslist for $20 a few days before Thanksgiving & sanded it down to look like the one in our living room.
I can’t get over how well it matches our farmhouse table!!!
It adds some much needed seating for holidays as well as weekly bible study potlucks in our farmhouse dining room.
Jason is not sold on it & wants to make some benches that fit under the table instead….. I am currently trying to talk him out of that 🙂
You can never have too many church pews!
Farmhouse Dining Room Table with Bench & Church Pew
I added a simple green wreath to the farmhouse dining room fireplace mantel along with 2 of my favorite houseplants….
You guessed it, ferns!
I wanted to keep our farmhouse dining room as neutral as possible so I could change it up for the many seasons & holidays we celebrate in this space.
I moved the vintage wooden boxes to our galvanized bar cart along with the liquor.
We love how well the kitchen & farmhouse dining room work together now. The kitchen/ dining island makes such a difference!
Moose is a big fan of the changes, can you spot him in one of his fav spots above?
It is hard to believe how much our farmhouse has changed over the years and yet we are still NOT done!
We are really trying to enjoy this never ending renovation process & still have fun along the way.
Next up…building a chicken coop 🙂
I hope our farmhouse dining room decor inspires you to change up the dining room in your home!
by Tara Lehman
Some More DIY Projects You may Enjoy
Farmhouse Boys Bathroom with Shiplap Walls
DIY Shiplap Walls to the Dining Room
I’m afraid I agree with Jason. The church pew is too large and adds a formality and stiffness to the otherwise beautiful table and upholstered chairs. Benches that move somewhat under the table would look great and make the room appear larger. Your kitchen and dining room remodel is so beautiful (without the pew). You and your family do such amazing work both inside and out.
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our farmhouse dining room and for your sweet comments Pat! No worries about agreeing with Jason. I definitely agree that the pew takes up a lot of floor space, just wish a bench would provide the same amount of seating 🙂
I love church pews – but this one overpowers the space. Jason gets my vote!!!
Ha, it seems like Jason is definitely winning the pew verses bench debate, Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our dining room Susan!
Tara I absolutely love the changes you’ve made to your dining room and house through the years. The shiplap looks amazing in here with the paneled fireplace wall! And I love white on moulding – a lot of work to prep and then paint but so worth it, the whole outcome is just stunning!!! I have to catch up on your kitchen next!
Lisa, thanks so much for stopping by to check out farmhouse dining room Lisa! The ship lap was definitely a lot of work but we are very happy with how it turned out.
I love the entire look! I just purchased the same dining room table and plan to refinish the same way. What kind of wood did you husband use to build the bench. I love how well it matches!
Thanks so much for your sweet comments about our dining room Kristy! He built the benches out of white oak, good luck with your table!!!