dining room
- welcome back to engineer your space. i'm isabelle. today i'm giving you thefull tour of my dining room, including all the projectsthat i did in here to make it a wonderful,welcoming place to entertain. (upbeat jazzy music) just like everythingelse in my la apartment, my dining room waspretty white and boring. so the plan i came up with
to add some architectural interest and to give it a warmer feeling was to build some wall panels that also incorporate banquette seating, which i love. the first part of the project was to build the bench out of mdf. i had all the pieces cutat the hardware store and i assembled it usingclamps and a drill.
i primed it and painted it white and also made a no-sewcushion to make it more comfy. next i made an upholstered back using pegboard and foam that i covered withinexpensive drop cloth fabric. the last step was to add some buttons for a tufted look. with all the pieces forthe banquette complete, it was time to build the panels.
i made them with 1/4-inch plywood and one-by-two pine boards that i cut to size at the hardware store. i glued the one-by-twos to the edge of the plywood using clamps and then i reinforcedthe corners with screws. i also had to prime the panels because i chose to cover them using this beautiful, shimmery grasscloth.
for the side panels, i glued and wrapped the grasscloth around the sides to cover them completely. and for the middle panel, i flipped it around and only put the grasscloth in the middle to make it look like a frame. i hung all the panels using french cleats. using a post-it note is a great trick
to catch all the dust. with all the panels installed, i turned my attentionto accessorizing them. for the middle panel, i made an art piece with driftwood that ihad found at the beach. and for lighting, i decided to reuse these wall sconces that i had made for my new york apartment.
i made holes in the panels to be able to hide the cords, and then i plugged thewall scones into a receiver that's controlled by awireless wall switch. so no electrician needed for this setup. next i had to deal withthe vertical blinds. i really don't like them, but i had to keep them in the dining room because of the afternoon sun.
so i used a curtain panel to hide them, which i hung using a wood dowel that i slid inside the existinghanging hardware brackets. i can use the blinds when i need to, but i don't have to lookat them all the time which makes me happy. for the table and chairs, i went with thisinexpensive set from ikea. i stained the legs of thetable to make them white
and i painted the chairs to match the blue in my kitchen and upholstered the seatsin a matching fabric to make them more comfortable. the latest addition to my dining room is this side table that also doubles as a scratching post and extra seating. it was a really easy project. i used two-by-threes
and a pre-cut woodcircle for the structure, which i then covered with a concrete form that i wrapped in sisal rope. i'll show you in my detail how i made it in an upcoming video. putting together this dining room took a lot of work, but it was well worth it to have a warm and inviting place
to entertain my friends. if you want more information on all the projects thatyou saw in this video, you can click on these links here, or you can go to my website engineeryourspace.com. don't forget to subscribeto my youtube channel and i'll see you next time.