Love Your Dining Room

Give your dining room a Valentine's Makeover with these doable DIY and Quick Fix ideas from Barnett Home Decor and friends.

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change your vent covers with vent covers unlimited of maryland

Idea #1: Change Your Vent Covers

Such an easy upgrade. We love Vent Covers Unlimited of Maryland for their huge selection of wood, resin, or metal vent covers and air returns. If you have a historic home, or you want to create a period look for your dining room makeover, they have era appropriate designs for any decor. Their website will show you how to measure for custom sizes if your ducts aren't standard. We're so in love with their inserts for doors, windows and cabinets we'll probably feature them separately soon, but if you want to dress up a china hutch in your formal dining room in time for Valentine's Day, be sure to check out their gallery on Houzz.

Resources:

Where to Buy: Vent Covers from Vent Covers Unlimited
Inspiration: View vent, door, and cabinet makeovers on Houzz

Idea #2: Chandelier Makeover

Paige Sloan and hubby turn trash into treasure with their upcycled yard sale chandelier on Reasons to Come Home. Although not everyone may be up to rewiring a chandelier, anyone should be able to use the takeaways from this tutorial: A base coat of flat black Rustoleum, then spray metallic Rustoleum from a distance to achieve an oil rubbed bronze finish. (If you need to change the light sockets from tall fake candles to short vintage-look hardware, you can find them in the lighting aisle at Home Depot.) Then screw in vintage dimmable edison bulbs for a chic exposed light source that will fascinate your guests and kids.

Resources:

Where to Buy: Dimmable Edison Bulbs from Home Depot
DIY: Upcycled Chandelier Tutorial on Reasons to Come Home

chandelier makeover: upcycle a garage sale chandelier with rubbed bronze finish and edison bulbs

build your own china hutch with stunning tin tile backsplash in this DIY guide from home depot

Idea #3: Build-It-Yourself China Hutch

In this two weekend project guide from Lowes, build your own 8' China Hutch with complete materials list, diagram, and step by step instructions. (They recommend getting your materials cut to size in the store for easier lifting and transport.) Or steal this idea and give your own china hutch a makeover with the look of vintage tin ceiling tiles. Lowes and Home Depot both carry affordable aluminum backsplash panels in several tin tile patterns. Anyone can cut them to size with tin snips or a utility knife, and popping them in is easy with double sided tape or polyurethane construction adhesive.

Resources:

Where to Buy: Aluminum Backsplash Panels from Home Depot
DIY: China Hutch Project Guide from Lowes

Idea #4: DIY Dresser to Wine Rack

After looking at several DIY dresser to wine rack how to's, here are some tips we've picked up for a successful transformation: Scour Craigslist and the thrift stores until you find a dresser with good bones. Wine bottles are heavier than clothes, so keep looking until you find one made of solid wood. There are several ways to make the cradles for the wine without having to use a router. You can make slats from 1 x 2's, or you can buy this pre-made rack that's super easy to adjust to the size of your dresser. To get the look of the photo from thehappyhousewife.com, refinish the top with kona stain by Rustoleum, then refinish the base with Annie Sloan chalk paint or create a faux lime wash with latex paint.