Today is the day! 8 weeks of meticulous planning, ordering, DIY’ing, styling, blogging, photographing, editing and taking you all along for the ride. It has been so much fun – but it all comes down to this moment right here. The FINAL REVEAL! You all know I love a good reveal..so let’s just jump right into the dang thing!

All projects gotta start somewhere. Mine started with a big ol’ beige box of a formal dining room. A seriously sad and unused formal dining room at that. I know I am not only speaking for myself when I say formal dining rooms can be seriously overrated. I mean sure…the idea of hosting a beautiful dinner party sitting around this perfectly styled dining table and tablescape is quite appealing. But not realistic in my world. Can you relate!? What we needed more of in our home was rather living spaces and a larger home office for myself since I primarily work from home. Que the brilliant idea to makeover our formal dining room into my home office! My old office is getting a face lift and will be the new kid zone living room (more to come on that in a later post).

Before

So, let’s start with some before photos of this space. The first photo is a photo I dug up from the archives of when our home was listed for sale before we purchased it.

We didn’t change much after moving in because again, we just didn’t use the space, so it became the holding room for all the things. Our previous home had more of a farmhouse vibe – didn’t we all? #joannagaines So when we moved 2 1/2 years ago all of that farmhouse – ish decor came with me, and although I didn’t really love it, it can take a while to transition styles in a home. I made it work until I was able to full conceptualize what I wanted to do with this space. Thankful for the One Room Challenge giving me that nudge that I needed to tackle it!

As you can see – all I really did in here was change out the light fixture, new rug and furniture, and added some decor on the walls. Yes – it gave it a little bit of oomph at the time..but it just wasn’t my style at all, and again it sat unused.

The Inspiration

Alright. Now for the good stuff. The real transformation! If you want to read about what inspired my design and the design choices I went with take a look at my week 1 One Room Challenge post HERE. The overall vibe I wanted for this room was feminine vintage glam. I envisioned a beautiful floral wallpaper with a primary color scheme of blue, pink and green (my fav combo if you haven’t already noticed). I came across this stunner from Baby Mae’s and my design took off from there.

The Plan

Below is the initial design plan that I came up with. I tried to keep this project on a tight budget so some of the items that were originally on my design plan didn’t turn out great in terms of quality. I also knew that I wanted to scour Facebook Marketplace to find several items as well. Check out week 5 blog post to read more about that HERE. However, my final design came out pretty dang close to this!

After

Here she is! Isn’t she lovely!? This space truly resembles all things that make me happy, which is what I believe good interior design is ALL about. It isn’t about following trends, or buying the latest and greatest product (although that is great too) – it is about designing a space that evokes the emotions you want it to! This space evokes a place of happiness, creativity and calmness, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

The Details

Wainscoting/Molding

The wainscoting (which I blogged all about HERE) is painted in a custom color match in the Behr Marquee paint (one of my favs). I used a semi gloss finish, as I do for all molding and trim work. I tied in that color by painting the ceiling medallion in the same color. I absolutely love how they play off of each other.

I used Alabaster by Sherwin Williams as my trim color (except for baseboards which I painted the same as the wainscoting to give a seamless look). I gave a step by step tutorial on installing crown molding during week 4. It seriously elevates those builder grade basic windows! You can read all about that out HERE.

The Furniture

Many of my furniture finds were from Facebook Marketplace. However, this stunning quatrafoil pattern gold and glass desk I scored from Overstock. I wanted something that wouldn’t feel too heavy in the space and this fits the bill perfectly.

I searched high and low for the right bookshelf. If you do a simple google search for “gold bookshelf” you are going to come up with several variations of this exact bookshelf, in numerous price points. As I mentioned, this project was completed on a budget so I was determined to find an affordable option that wasn’t low quality. After receiving these, installing them and styling them, I can recommend them with confidence! They are great if you want the same look for less.

Now, how about this leopard print rug! Can you even!? It is the perfectly subtle yet fun leopard print that pairs with almost all other patterns. I was worried about having a busy pattern that wouldn’t allow me to to play with as much pattern in other areas of the room – but it doesn’t compete at all. I love it!

Another item I hunted for more hours that I would care to admit is this emerald green swivel chair. My must haves for an office chair were: a true emerald green color, gold accents, swivel, affordable. I was seriously struggling to find a chair that had all of these requirements…until I came across this one…from Walmart!! I hate sacrificing quality for a good price, and I didn’t have to with this purchase. Would you believe me if I told you this beauty is less than $250!? Check it out for yourself.

The Accessories

I knew that I wanted a crystal lamp in my feminine vintage glam office. Because, well…do I even need to explain. They are gorgeous and add the perfect glam touch. I fell in frickin’ love with the Alice Lane crystal lamps but they range from $260 – $1,000+ per lamp. Although, worth every single penny and a product I would highly recommend to a client who has that in their budget. It wasn’t me for this project so was determined to find something that would pass for them. I came across this nuLOOM 27″ Crystal on the Rocks Faux Silk Shade Table Lamp. It has a great scale to it (not teeny weeny), and the crystals are fabulous. As you can see in the photo they reflect the light so beautifully. I love how it looks next to my Facebook Marketplace find Venetian mirror.

My original design plan had a gold chandelier. One of my all time favorites actually and plan to use it in a future design.

But I decided to go with something in a champagne finish to give it a more true vintage look (even though it is faaaarrr from vintage). I would have loved an actual vintage chandy in here…but wasn’t able to find one off Facebook Marketplace. I found this one while looking for a ceiling medallion and it resembles that of a true vintage crystal chandelier so much you hardly would even notice the difference! This chandelier is absolutely huge and such a good bang for you buck. However, it is quite difficult to assemble and install – so just beware of that. It certainly isn’t impossible. You’ll just need a bottle (or 2) of wine.