Today I wanted to share the evolution of our breakfast nook. Not only is it fun to look back and see the progress we’ve made with the house, but it’s very interesting to see how much my style has changed as time has gone on. 

I also wanted to take today to really encourage you. So many of you have mentioned that you’re unhappy with your home. You’re unhappy with the placement of items, things, colors, etc. I want to encourage you that it’s completely fine to be in the “in-between” stage. We’ve all been there. It’s a phase that, believe it or not, is extremely important. 

So instead of thinking you’re not good enough, or your house isn’t good enough, take a step back and evaluate what you want to change. All you need to do is take the first step. 

(Let’s pardon the horrific pictures. Several of these were taken with my simple point and shoot camera I used at the very beginning of the blog! Gasp!)

When we first moved into our house, this is what our breakfast nook looked like…

I was trying so hard to create a room we really wanted to enjoy. I had just stumbled upon Pinterest and I was soaking up all of the different ways to repurpose items, big or small. I made my own curtains, and the breakfast nook felt really good to me. For about 2 or 3 months. 

Ironically, after I made those first few drastic changes (my first time at ever spray painting or painting a dresser), I began to really see how easy it was to make those changes… and I truly noticed how much of an impact they made. 

I decided the black dresser wasn’t quite right. It didn’t flow very well with our existing table, and the room felt like a dark hole.

So, I painted the dresser, which is still what we have to this day!

I also decided our breakfast nook would function a lot better (and we’d get more storage!) if we built a bench on the wall. That was honestly one of my very best decisions for our house.  Not only did it really create the room we have today, but it’s a functional part of the room that we use and love! And did I mention the storage we have because of it?

With the bench in place, I decided it was time to swap out our current light for something a little bit more pretty. Boy was I happy to see our first light go. It was a thrift store find that I spray painted during those first few months when I found out how powerful spray paint really was!

To make the room brighter, I decided it was time to remove the curtains I made, and instead add in these…

But after living with them a while, I realized the bench seating and the curtains didn’t work very well. You could easily sit on the curtains accidentally, making it only a matter of time before the curtain rod came crashing down. Not so fun.

My next thought, was to install the plank wall, which was one of my best decisions…

Once the wall was in place, I had a much better understanding of our breakfast nook. It finally felt like it had a meaning, so to speak. 

After we had the furniture moved back in, this is what we looked at everyday…

After awhile though, it turned into this…

At first I really liked the hutch, but it quickly filled the room and left little space to move around. The hutch left the room, and this is what I did with the room next…

I kept the room like that for a while, but it still felt a little bit “off”. We added more planking, and that helped a whole lot!

Once the plank wall was done, I ended up with this…

I loved that! The big chalkboard is definitely staying in the house, but I felt like I still needed to do some more tweaking. The table was feeling very “orange” to me, and I knew our metal chairs needed to go back outside for our outdoor table. 

I also wanted to add wall lights on either side of the window…

So after doing several new things to the room, I ended up with this…

That’s how our room looks currently. I still have a few more things to do, but overall this room feels so much more “finished”. I’m on the right track.

So, all this to show you, that decorating a room and calling it “finished” takes time. Months, even years if you’re looking at it realistically. I’ve been working on this one room (not even counting the other spaces in our house), since we finished building the house and moving in in 2012. 

Don’t be frustrated with what your home looks like. If you don’t like something, fix it. And please be patient with yourself. It takes time… and today’s post is hard evidence of that!

If you’d like more help with decorating your home, and switching things up, I have made a little 5 DAY mini e-mail course to help! Over the 5 day period, I’ll be sending e-mails to help encourage you, cheer you on, and most importantly, give you lots of helpful tips and tricks! You can do this, I’ll help! You can sign up below!

Let’s make your home beautiful! 🙂