Dining Room? Done!

Checking things of the ever-growing To Do List is always so satisfying. Last fall I got to cross "Dining Room" off the list.

It took a bit of planning, effort, and a very good and talented friend with a Sawzall and a nail gun, but we got it done.

First I wanted to rearrange the traffic flow. Instead of coming in the front door and meandering through the living room into the kitchen and then into the dead-end dining room, I wanted a straight line of sight from the front door, through the dining room into the backyard. So, we moved the doorway.

Hole in the wall for the new doorway to the dining room on the left.
Old doorway into kitchen on the right.

New doorway all framed in, old doorway covered with drywall and goop.

This change did a couple of things for us. It turned the living room from a traffic zone into an actual room where we could put furniture. It gave us space in the kitchen for a new refrigerator and a work table. The view through the dining room to the backyard made the house feel a little less small. And most importantly, it gave me an excuse to paint walls! Squeeeeeee!

And the results... drumroll please....

Freya, running.
She's not always this muddy.

This is the view from the kitchen, the living room is to the left, and the large window is on the right. We can sit at the table and watch the birds at the feeder and the Buhund running in circles in the yard.

The light fixture, table, white chairs, colorful cushions on the bench, and shelves are from Ikea. The computer desk is an old oak desk I found in a dumpster on the local college campus. I added the pull-out keyboard shelf.  The artwork I've collected over many decades. The wall paint color is "Popcorn" from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot. It was a nice quality paint, a pleasure to work with.

So, dining room done! Next up - the living room, or maybe the bedroom, or possibly the basement.....and then there's the new plan for the garden, and the front porch, and....