Our Coastal Dining Room Updates Are Complete!

Hi friends, I hope you’re all having a great week! I’m happy to report that our coastal dining room updates are finally complete! I gave you a glimpse into the updates via my “Sneak Peak! Our Coastal Dining Room Updates” post a couple of weeks ago and featured our progress along the way via Instagram stories. However, for those who missed these we freshened up the space with a new light, artwork and wall molding. I love how bright the space looks now! 

Here’s two photos to show you the “before and after” of our dining space:

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Updated The Light Fixture

The first update that we tackled as part of our coastal dining room updates, was the light. This dining area light was one of the few builder’s grade lights left in our home that we hadn’t yet replaced. While I didn’t love the light, it certainly wasn’t offensive so I took my time finding a light that I loved. What drove me crazy was that the old light wasn’t centered over our dining room table – like not even close! 🙂 The previous homeowners had a small, circular table and with our larger, rectangular table the light placement was way off.

So upon removing the old light, we had to cut a hole in the ceiling where the new light would be centered. From there, we had to move the electrical over to the new opening and then patch, sand, prime and paint the spot where the electrical used to be. Thankfully Josh is a pro at patching ceilings and walls after so many drywall projects in our home. Now that it’s done, you’d never know the electrical used to be a full foot over!

I debated purchasing a few different lights including the Ellerby 4-Light Statement Globe Chandelier and Lappin 4 – Light Candle Style Globe Chandelier with Rope Accent. However, I finally settled on the Carmen 6-Light Kitchen Island Linear Pendant from Wayfair.

The initial light that we ordered was delivered in a tattered, ripped open box. As soon as I saw it I knew the light would be in bad shape and sure enough it was! Wayfair’s customer service is phenomenal though and they had a new light delivered to us just two days later. We ordered in the Chrome finish, and what I love is that the light is large and makes a statement. However, it doesn’t overwhelm our dining area because of the openness of it. We also have ten foot ceilings in our dining area/kitchen/living room (all open concept) so this larger light scales much better than our previous one.

Added Molding To Our Walls

While this wasn’t in our original plans, once we hung the light, I had the idea to add molding to our dining area walls. I’m so glad we went for it!

Below is a few photos of our finished molding. I plan on creating a separate DIY molding guide for all of you in the coming weeks that will walk you through the step-by-step process, what tools and materials we used, as well as some tips, tricks and considerations so that you too can tackle this budget-friendly project.  

As part of dining room update “phase two” (which Josh doesn’t yet know about – poor guy 🙂 ), I’d love to add wood baseboard heater covers to more seamlessly blend with the style of the wall molding (such as these ones below). However, building them is just a bit beyond my skill level so I’d need Josh to help me with them. We’re getting ready to demo our downstairs full bathroom and will be doing most of the work ourselves on weekends. So Josh has been occupied with figuring out those logistics. I’d rather keep his focus on that (much more exciting!) renovation project than distract him with heater covers. 🙂

Purchased New Artwork

Next we updated the artwork on our main dining area wall. While I loved the coral artwork that we had hanging previously, it was much too small for the size of the wall.

I recently discovered Katherine Freeman Original Art and her beautiful abstracts. There was something about her “Lemon Drop” piece that had me going back to it time and time again. As most of you can probably tell by now, I gravitate towards coastal blues and this felt like the perfect piece to complement our dining area. Katherine is out of Lafayette, Louisiana and her pieces have such a happy and serene vibe to them! Given original art isn’t in my budget, I went with a canvas print which was much more affordable!

The print didn’t come framed so I ordered a canvas floater frame, in white.

I’m still toying with what to put on the other wall to the right of our large window. It definitely needs a little something, but I want to make sure it doesn’t overwhelm the limited space, and detract from the over-sized Katherine Freeman piece.

I’m envisioning two or three small round pieces to help to break up the hard lines within the square artwork, rectangular wall molding, rug and table. Possibly a set of small rattan mirrors, or a set similar to this Handwoven Basket Wall Art from Pottery Barn (although much smaller). In all honesty though, Josh will probably draw the line with me hanging anything basket-like on the wall even though he usually gives me full freedom when it comes to decorating our home. For whatever reason, he does not share my love of baskets LOL. I need to know – do all guys dislike baskets or is that a Josh thing?? Anyway, if you know of anything that is close to what I’m describing, let me know!! In the meantime, I will likely keep this wall open until I find exactly what I’m looking for!

Sources For My Dining Room Decor

Below you’ll find the sources for all of my dining room furniture and decor. For any pieces that are no longer in stock, I included very similar alternatives. Simply click or tap the image to shop!

Need Additional Ideas For Your Coastal Dining Room Updates?

If you’re looking for some additional coastal dining room inspiration, definitely check out and follow my dining room decor Pinterest board, which I update regularly. There are some absolutely gorgeous dining rooms there that I can only dream of having someday. It’s so fun looking at the architecture and styling!

Casually Coastal is now on LIKEtoKNOW.it! To shop my home, as well as my home decor and style recommendations, download the app and follow “CasuallyCoastal“.

For more of my home decor, DIY, style, food + drink, travel and lifestyle posts, follow along via: Instagram ● Facebook ● Pinterest

Casually Coastal is now on LIKEtoKNOW.it! To shop my home, as well as my home decor and style recommendations, download the app and follow “CasuallyCoastal“.

For more of my home decor, DIY, style, food + drink, travel and lifestyle posts, follow along via: Instagram ● Facebook ● Pinterest