Modern Neutrals Dining Room Design Plans

We’re giving our dining room a refresh in one weekend- today we’re sharing the modern neutrals dining room design plans we’re running with. From warm wood elements and soft whites and creams, to pops of black.

When we made over our kitchen a year and a half ago, we technically renovated this dining room. It’s one space with the kitchen, but beyond painting and flooring… and trim (eventually- ha!) we didn’t finish it. We still haven’t even painted the trim. Or filled the nail holes in it. It’s just waiting for some love.

So when my friend Lindi asked if I wanted to makeover a room in a weekend, I knew this was the perfect space to take on. There’s actually a lot that needs to be done in this room, but it’s manageable if we focus on it for a weekend. Let’s look at what it looked like when we moved in first, why don’t we?!

Ok so this might be a bit confusing because we actually swapped the kitchen and dining room when we renovated. So this bay window with that shelf full of food? That’s our dining room now.

So when we renovated the kitchen, we…

Opened up the wall to the kitchen
Painted it white
Opened up the doorway to the entry
Replaced floors
Replaced windows and trim
Replaced light fixtures

So… a lot, right?! But there’s more to do, friends! Here’s what it looks like now.

Modern and minimalistic dining room decor

Modern Dining Room Renovation with Bay Window

I have shared it pretty strategically to not look like an empty white room on the blog. See that first photo? That’s all you have probably seen of this space unless you checked out my recent full home tour that talked about all of our project plans (the second photo). That box in the corner is a curtain rod we’ve yet to put up over the bay window. Almost two years with no privacy while we eat dinner guys. Haha! Why? Because we keep saying we need to fill the nail holes in the trim and paint it before we can hang them.

Not anymore- this weekend it’s getting done! Here’s our list of projects for the weekend:

Sand down and refinish our table top (it’s looking rough)
Fill, caulk, sand, paint the trim
Patch walls and paint
DIY large scale wall art
Hang shades and curtains
Get a rug in here!
And probably some kind of centerpiece
Trying to decide if I need art on the smaller wall

See? It’s a bit to tackle! If we weren’t refinishing the table, this would be EASY. But sawdust and epoxy make for a bit of a project day. That will probably be one of our whole days. We made this table a few years back and totally adore it. But our kids have done a number on it. Here’s some close ups of what we’re working with. Paint we can’t get off, lots of dings, and a bunch of fork stabs… thank you children.

Soft Wood Live Edge Table before Refinishing

Okay so let’s talk design plans! I want to keep it pretty neutral since this shares space with our kitchen and green cabinets is enough of a feature for me. But I don’t want it to be boring. So lots of texture and shades of neutrals.

We’re doubling down on the soft wood tones and different shades of white and taupe.

I have wanted to try a rug in my dining room always- we never had one growing up and I loved the idea but we did try a rug in here before… and it was NOT a dining room rug. We moved it to our living room because it’s so deep, the chair legs don’t move unless you pick up your chair to move it and food got caught in all those woven sections. It also stained easily. The rug we’re using in this space is one Ruggable sent to me and it’s meant for this- it’s washable. WASHABLE! I’m so happy about that, hopefully we won’t be able to ruin it! Ha!

The windows, I’m layering up much like we did in our living room (see here). Woven wood shades and textured white curtains with a black curtain rod. The bay window may be a bit of a challenge but I’m hoping it all fits perfectly with no issues. #fingerscrossed

The last piece is the art! I want something that’s unique to our family and affordable so I’m going to go the DIY route. I love the feeling of this large scale printable from Juniper Print Shop (used in the design board) but want to have a photo that I take… with my kids in it. It’s hard to explain but I have a vision in my head and I’m going to take my kids out to the beach tomorrow morning to try and get ‘the shot’ so I have something to work with this weekend. Wish me luck, haha! I’ll also be building a custom frame since giant frames are expensive.

Paint is going to be the same… but we have a lot of patching and painting to do so I’m mentioning it. So you understand what’s taking us all freaking weekend. Ha!

The only thing I haven’t decided on is if I need another something on the smaller white wall in the dining room. I’m waiting to see once everything is up if it calls for something. Designing on the fly, right?

Can’t wait to share the process with you! If you want to follow along and see this take shape in one weekend, you can follow me on Instagram @colleenpastoor where I’ll share all my progress in my stories!