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#RockTheRental: Dining & Living Room Progress

by - Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Time to share some updates from #RockTheRental with you! Like many renters, my siblings are working with a limited decorating budget so we've had to get creative on how to furnish this 900 sq ft apartment. First up, the dining room:


When looking for big furniture pieces, the first places I check are Craigslist or Kijiji. The dining table was an $80 find that originally had a natural wood top and forest green base. Very country. Now its more French country, painted a crisp white (Benjamin Moore Decorators White) and paired with  cross back chairs in a weathered finish.


We scored the Gibbard sideboard for only $75. I was soooo tempted to keep this for myself. I liked the original stain but it had a bit of wear on the top and my sister preferred a painted finish (Para Paint P5244-24 Stainless). My sister's not really a DIY type of gal (yet!) so the painting of the sideboard and table was done by The Antique Garage. They did a really great job with the pieces. We might have ruined the intrinsic value of this antique sideboard by painting it out, but I'm a fan of making pieces fit your lifestyle. The original hardware looks really sharp against the light gray paint.



And here's the living room. The graphic rug was the first piece bought for the room and we all LOVE it. Its neither too masculine nor feminine and its dark colour helps add some depth and ground this airy bright room. We bought this during one of Rugs USA awesome 60% off sales (and duty was <$40 to Toronto. Whoop!).

You can see that we hopped on the brass-painted IKEA etagere bandwagon. Its a great looking and economical idea, so why not? I love how it adds some shine to that corner of the room.

 
For seating, we opted for a sofa and loveseat here instead of a sectional. I think having two sofas offers more flexibility down the road when they're moved to the next home. With a sectional, you're often limited to using it in a very large family room or basement. I like how the sofas are similar in colour but have different styles. It makes the room feel more collected over time and not so matchy-matchy.


The area behind the sofa is a bit of a trouble zone right now. Its too small to be really functional, but it doesn't make sense to pull the loveseat all the way back. There will be a gallery wall of art going onto the wall behind the loveseat but beyond that, I'm a bit stumped as what to do with the space. Maybe a sofa table with some lamps? Any other ideas?


See how much light this room gets! We'll have to get some curtains in here. And a coffee table and more accessories and some plants and... the list goes on!

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