Creating a Dining Room Space…Apartment DIY

April 22, 2013

Last year my husband and I rented out our home and decided to rent an apartment closer to work and to my children’s school.  The location is perfect but the apartment is a bit older and very cookie cutter as apartments go.  Since we’re limited to what we can do on the inside I’ve turned my attention to our furnishings  – lighting up the space and making it feel more like a home.

This weekend’s project:  creating a dining room space.

This is where we started.  I’m big on repurposing so we picked up this lovely dining room set (I say that sarcastically) off of Craigslist for $70.  It came with 6 chairs, a buffet and hutch so the price wasn’t bad.

The major issue with repainting this set was the fact that is was covered in a lacquer coating.  Since we have no outdoor space, sanding or spray painting wasn’t an option which lead me to our local Home Depot to ask for a little advise.

They directed  me towards Kilz Original Oil Based Primer.  It smells like nail polish remover but wow, this stuff will cover just about anything.  It recommends two coats but I found that one was more than enough.  I allowed the primer to dry for about 30 minutes and then applied two coats of white semi-gloss oil-based paint.

I anchored the space with a throw rug (IKEA; $19.99) and created a wide runner with a curtain panel I picked up at our local thrift store, still in the box from Target ($9.99 / originally sold for $24.99).  While I was there I grabbed a set of 8 stoneware mugs ($0.49 a piece) great for juice or coffee in the morning and 4 matching pillows to use as cushions ($1.00 a piece).

I love fresh flowers in the Spring but keeping those on the table can get a little costly.  Baby’s Breath is a great alternative…it’s cheap, lasts forever, and the wispy white flowers are perfect for the season.

Our apartment does have a separate dining room but it’s directly off the front door and has no windows…who wants to eat there!  I split off the buffet table that came with our dining set to be used as an entryway table and it’s also destined for a new coat of paint.