The dining room is one of my favorite spaces in the Myrtle House, for sure. Between our apartment and first house (Brooklyn House), we have never had a dedicated dining room, so this was really exciting for us. In it's previous life, this room was a bedroom (Brian's mom's childhood bedroom, actually). It is right in the front of the house next to the living room and would connect to the kitchen, so it felt like the perfect spot.

**Click on any photo below to enlarge :)**

Most of the work in this room was along the same lines as the living room, but sadly, we weren't able to salvage the flooring (stupid termites) so we installed new utility grade oak flooring and tied it into the original. Our good friend and contractor did a pretty amazing job of refinishing the old and new to make them so seamless. We used Minwax Dark Walnut stain, but wiped it off very quickly so that the floors weren't super dark.

I seriously contemplated writing an entire post for the fireplace itself, but I guess that would be a little excessive. Y'all, this exposed brick chimney is everything to me. It is the center of our house and I couldn't imagine the Myrtle House without it. We went back and forth about putting the mantles back on the brick, but ultimately decided to re-purpose the mantles elsewhere and let the brick speak for itself. And speak it does...

The drop-down ceiling actually covered up the tops of the huge windows, so it was fun to bring them back to their full potential. However, figuring out affordable window treatments was a little tricky! Since they are 8.5' from the ground, standard drapes wouldn't fit, so I bought some cheapo white polyester tablecloths from Amazon for $7 a pop and hung them with inexpensive rods and rings from Ross and Target, respectively. I love how the material is virtually indestructible and doesn't detract from the original detail.

Funny story about our dining room chandelier. I found it at a thrift store when we still lived in the Brooklyn House. I fell in love with it, but with 7' ceilings in our tiny little house, it really didn't fit. I still made Brian hang it over our bed as decor (no electrical was run to it) because I loved it so much! When the electrician hung it in the dining room at the Myrtle House, I swear, it looked like it had always been there.

After the renovation, our decor and furnishing budget was slim to none. We already had the rug and chairs/settee that had been scattered throughout our previous home. Luckily, all of the fabrics mixed pretty well together, so the only new purchase for the dining room was our table. We got it on a pretty good sale and paid a little over $300 for it - still a decent chunk of change, but something I think we will have for a very long time. It has been so nice when family visits to actually have a place for them to eat dinner!

You can see the kitchen behind the fireplace (post on that room coming up next!). There used to be a wall between these two rooms. I am so happy we were able to remove that wall. The flow of the floorplan is way better without it! What do you guys think of that floral vinyl flooring? ;)

Even though we don't make cocktails very often, I love having a little bar cart to hold supplies for when we do enjoy the occasional mojito. The little table was found in the original kitchen. It got a much needed coat of white paint and fits perfectly in the corner of the dining room. The wooden box says "gentlemens work box" and was found in the shed in the backyard. Everything else was thrifted, DIY, or Target clearance. :)