Dining Room : Progress

We haven't done too much in this room yet, but I just wanted to share some updated pictures with our furniture and some decorations in it.  Here are the before photos I have from the listing:

We got this dining set from my aunt and uncle and it is the perfect fit for this space.  We only keep a couple leafs in it on a day-to-day basis, but we did manage to put a couple more in and seat 12 for the Valentine's day party Cora and I threw.

My parents brought over Cora's table and chairs that she got for Christmas or her birthday of last year.  She loves having it setup and coloring at her table while I work on my projects. I also occasionally set up my sewing machine on it so she can test out the machine.

I'm also LOVING decorating the mantle.  I had some gift cards and a return from TJMaxx/HomeGoods so I bought this mirror for a steal.  It was an amazing price and I hemmed and hawed over it, but it was my first real fun purchase for the house and a little birthday present to myself (even though I used gift cards).

I bought some small stockings for Christmas and made this heart garland for valentines day.  I love to hang up the Happy Birthday banner and celebrate with cupcakes in the dining room for our birthdays.

We also have a rocking chair and cuckoo clock from my aunt and uncle and a easel for Cora in here. This room is kind of hodge podge right now and mostly used for art projects, playdoh, my drop zone of work stuff, and anything else we really need to spread out. 

Overall, this room has the least amount of things that I want to do to it, so it's towards the end of the list.  Here is the to-do list:

+ Pick a new light fixture.  We've found a couple that we can semi-agree on, but this task is proving a lot harder than I anticipated.

+ Paint walls.  I originally wanted something moody (dark turquoise), but this room also doesn't get a lot of light right now.  Waiting until we take off the awnings before I make any color decisions in here.  I'm also considering adding some kind of wainscotting, board and batten, or some other kind of molding.

+ Recover dining room chairs.  I have ideas, but I haven't found the perfect fabric yet.

+ Patch and paint the fireplace. It appears that it was chipping and someone just slapped a coat of paint over it.  Shouldn't be too much work.