A $400 Dining Room Makeover For These D.C. Newlyweds — IMANI AT HOME

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This will be my last year in my studio apartment, so I’m not doing any more big DIY projects in this home. Luckily my friends Abby and Miles agreed to let me makeover their DC condo for a partnership with Goodfeed! You can watch the first episode here!

Shortly after they got married, at a summer camp 😱, Abby and Miles purchased a 900 square feet condo and did what many couples do… They moved in together, combined furniture, and that’s kind of it…

And, while their place was cute, it didn’t fully represent their personalities, and I just had to help make this space special.

We started the multi-room makeover in the dining area because we knew it would be the easiest to tackle. Here’s the scope of the project:

better define the dining space
disguise the cherry wood floors
add storage
inject much-needed personality!

They already had nice furniture and even put art on the walls. But I knew we could take this room to the next level. The total budget was $5,000, most of which was spent in the kitchen and living room (more on that later), so we only had a few hundred to spend in this room. Here's how it went…

1. A Rug Is Always The Answer

Miles is a trained chef, so a dedicated entertaining space was crucial. Initially, we wanted a vintage rug to help ground the space but opted for the Summer Of Love Forest Green Rug. This washable rug was a part of the Ruggable x Iris Apfel collection and had many cute options.

Rugs are essential when you have an open floor plan because they visually contain furniture in a specific area, so your pieces don’t feel like they are floating in the middle of the room.

Style Tip: Your rug should be large enough that all the furniture legs sit comfortably on top. But when in doubt, bigger is always better!

Shop Washable Rugs

USE CODE IMANI20 FOR 20% OFF YOUR RUGGABLE ORDER

Next, we needed some storage.

2. Storage For Days

Clever furniture placement is key in a small space!

It may not look like it from the picture, but there was a significant amount of space behind the dining table, so we scooted the table towards the couch a bit and popped in the 70" Keenan Large Sideboard from Crate and Barrel.

This piece provided much needed hidden storage and helped to make sense of the gallery wall.

Hanging art is always a good idea; however, art can look weird when placed incorrectly. In this case, nothing connected the gallery wall to the rest of the room, so it looked incomplete.

Adding in the sideboard meant we could use the top of the surface to layer art and knickknacks, which makes this all feel intentional and beautiful.

P.S. This sideboard was gifted to A+M as a wedding gift

Shop Sideboards & Buffets

Costway Storage Cabinet Sideboard Buffet Cupboard

Hitow Wood Sideboard Buffet with 3 Drawers

3. Shop Your Home

There's a time and place to lean into design trends and shop for brand-new decor, but shopping your home is an excellent way to save money and instantly make your space feel more lived in! So before I went out shopping and spent a whole bunch of money, I walked around Abby + Miles's house to find anything we could use as decor.

We hit the jackpot with a vintage typewriter, miniatures Abby had made, and a framed print of Wildest Dreamed by Taylor Swift, which played at their wedding. How cute😍!

In the end, we spent about $400 to make this room look beautiful. With a few smart purchases and smart design choice, Abby and Miles dining room is now ready for guests and truly shows off their unique styles.

This is just part one of this multi-room makeover! You can watch the first episode of the makeover live on Goofeed. Check back next week see what happens in the living room and kitchen!