DIY Eclectic Breakfast Nook Makeover Dining Room Makeover

Okay, hi, hi, hi, I'm Caroline, et cetera. This is a DIY breakfast nook makeover on a budget. I'm gonna show you how I turned this into this. You might be wondering, how'd she do it? Well, ding-dong, I made a whole video just to explain it to you. Here we go, watch it, thank you. Okay, to the movie. Okay, I'm coming in, are you ready? This is the breakfast nook of my very good friend and intermittent enemy, Lean. Are we supposed to not look at the camera? Oh, I don't care what you do. She's a student, so we're working on a very tight budget of $500. Lean and I have known each other since birth, and I wanted to make this space super special for her. This room is really a blank canvas. Beige walls, peeling paint, Ikea table and chairs. There's really not much else going on. So, here's the design plan. We are going to, boom, paint the walls, make it bright and fresh. Then we're gonna rotate the layout to make better use of this rectangular space. We're gonna replace these very uncomfortable chairs with bench seating that will accentuate that long window, then rotate the table to leave a better walkway from kitchen to hallway, and add some vintage seating, which brings soul to any builder-grade basic space. Lean loves eclectic style, so we're gonna add rich color and pattern in a great wallpaper that will also help to define this as a distinct space in the otherwise open floor plan. We'll add storage with some custom shelves, including a weirdo special fruit shelf to replace this unsexy fruit basket that is awkward and not hot. We'll also add texture by accessorizing with earthen materials and plants, the most plants. Lean also wanted to find a way to incorporate this original artwork that she has and this showstopper pendant light. I just said so many words, let's go. For any project, I try to set aside a whole day to prep and paint. It always ends up taking longer than I think, and you don't wanna get stressed and have a meltdown, which I always do. I sanded everything down with sandpaper to give the paint a smooth canvas. Make sure to wipe down the walls with a wet rag and get rid of any dust and debris. As far as painting, Lean has limitations with what she can do with her rental, so we'll just be painting white. Hoes always be nervous that I don't tape stuff off when I paint. You totally can, but here's my salacious painting tip. Make sure your brush is saturated with paint, then do a kind of press and twist motion so that you have total control over where the paint goes. I learned this from watching hours of wall painting tutorials on YouTube, which is very cool of me, and I won't be apologizing for it. Although I did tape off where I had to do a hard stop going into the kitchen, the super was scheduled to come in and paint the rest of the apartment just as regular building upkeep, so we basically had to limit our entire makeover just to the breakfast nook to let him come in and do his thing. Blah, blah, blah. You'll see. It's weird. It's the next day. It's the following day, bright and early in the morning. I'm pretty hungover. I went out. I said, I'm not gonna drink a lot because I have to film early in the morning. I said, I'm not gonna drink. I'm not gonna do anything. What did I do? I did everything. Well, here we are. What was I saying? I had a sentence, I swear. Oh, we get to resume my sick relationship with wallpaper. I love a wallpaper here because it's already such a little nook of a space. What am I showing you? I just turned the camera to point to nothing. It's just a wall. We're gonna do half the wall, I think, and that's gonna make it feel just even cozier. It's like putting a little, it's like a little crib, honestly. It's kind of cozy. I wouldn't usually split the wall in half and go halfway up the wall. Usually cutting the wall in half like that will make it feel stumpy or something. It's one of those things where I can't explain why it feels right to do. I don't know why. I can't explain it. I don't, I can't explain it. Okay, let's go, let's go. Leen, do you wanna see the wallpaper? Yeah. This is beautiful. I'm gonna open this one to demo. I'm gonna go get us some coffee. You're a very good girl to me. Look at this. Girl. Okay, here we go. So this peel and stick wallpaper is totally renter friendly. I've tried lots of different peel and stick brands and they don't all be good. But this one is great. It's roommate's wallpaper. It's always like beautiful, saturated color. That's like the only one I buy anymore. It has come to my attention that there is a stain on my butt and I can't get it off. So we're all just gonna deal with it, okay? Moving on. Okay, so I make mistakes like it's my job and this system of taping off where the wallpaper was supposed to stop did not work because then I couldn't see the tape underneath the wallpaper. It was so dumb. I then tried to use a laser level to try to cut it and that didn't work either. Here, you'll see what I mean. You can watch me unravel live on camera. It's looking good. So what we're gonna do next is trim off the top. We're gonna do that using a laser level. So this is our little guy. Nope, don't recommend. There are push pins so you can attach it to the wall. They did not stay. There's also a suction cup, which is gonna, those did not suck, attach to the wallpaper pretty well. False. And then it's just gonna shoot a laser. Very exciting. Hardly did that either. Oh, that's the wrong way. This is about as good as it got. And then it kept falling off the wall and I gave up and then just used a regular level by hand, which obviously didn't work. I mean, this was a disaster. I actually stopped filming because it was looking so bad. I was like cutting paint off the wall. Okay, I'm throwing a tantrum. It's happening. Well, that's stupid. Ooh, that's. So if you can think of a better way to do this, please let me know. That was frustrating. I'm annoyed. Done with the wallpaper, finally. I had a little bit of a meltdown because I was getting really frustrated with the laser level. So we've got a big empty space over here. We're gonna add some shelving. Why are you just in the corner? You're, oh, were you just hiding? Sneeze. No, it's over now. It's gone? It's gone. She reabsorbed it. Excellent. Don't ever sneeze on camera. Okay, a big pet peeve of mine is shelving that's just decorative. Like when people put those wooden beads on shelves. Don't get me started on the wooden beads. I can't handle it. So these shelves are gonna be super functional. One of the shelves is gonna be for fruits and vegetables and we're gonna keep them from rolling off by building a barrier with this dowel. However, I did not cut the dowel correctly. It immediately split and went flying. So I tried again, just cutting really slowly. This footage is in real time. And that way the dowel didn't freak out and split. Just be very careful with the power tools, okay? Every time I take them out, I'm like, is this the last time that I have fingers? Am I gonna look back on this footage and be like, whoop, there I am cutting off my fingers and now I have it on film. Just something fun to wonder. Quick woodworking note. I needed a bunch of these short little dowels cut. You cannot line them up and measure them out all at once like this. Because when you cut, the blade will remove a portion of the wood that's known as the kerf. It's what turns into sawdust. So you'll actually be short that amount of wood. So when you measure, you need to account for the kerf. It's a nonsense sound, I'm aware, but unbelievably it is a word. I then made two more regular shelves and said, okay, that's enough of that crap. A beautiful hole. Bitch, don't you dare. Just wait for the camera. Slut. So it is totally awkward having the wallpaper stop here and the shelves continue. I think we might wallpaper further into the kitchen at a later time, but we have to wait for the super to come in and paint everything. Okay, very important scary moment. Are you kidding me with this? The most beautiful antique lamp the world has ever seen. Lean found it. Yo. I was not planning on doing any electrical work, but this is too beautiful to pass up. Why are you laughing at me in the corner? This is all your fault, but it means that we have to figure out how to install it. I'm not going to be doing a step-by-step on this because I don't endorse whatever we're about to do. You need to Google this on your own. All right, you wanna burn down the house? I cannot tell you how afraid I was to do this electrical work. I've always outsourced it before. I don't know what came over me. We actually do this successfully. So far, so good. Got a situation. Mother effer. Don't be fooled by this montage. I worked on this light for about two hours. Oh my God, this is so rusty. It's falling into my mouth. Lean wanted to quit. I hate it. I hate it too. You wanna stop? I don't want electrocute you. Oh, I'm not worried about electrocuting me. I'm worried about us not getting the light to work. No, we're in. This is the best thing I've ever seen. I don't know if it's going to function as a light. I don't know this yet, but it is here and I'm not dead yet. And those are two things I'm grateful for. I just attached some wires, but I figure there's a 50-50 chance that I did it right. How do I get this to stay up? What the heck? I certainly don't believe I did that right. That's a joke. Okay, you shouldn't do this. No one should do this. Certainly not me. Let's just do it. Do we have a light bulb? Oh my God, I'm so stressed out. I'm gonna tell you right now. Am I in focus? Hello, can you focus please? Sir, sir. I'm gonna say there is a 2% chance that I did this correctly. Maybe zero, 10. Well, I'm gonna get 100% electrocuted if I didn't. Okay. Oh my God. Should I do it? Yeah. What? Let's cover our eyes. I think I need eye protection. What if something sparks? Where are the goggles? Cover your eyes. Oh, oh my God. Okay. Okay, so that did nothing. Is the light on? No. That switch is on. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so it's not correct. Okay, so no one died. No one died. Okay, that didn't work. I'm gonna call an electrician. Just a joke. We got another light bulb. This bitch after watching me work on the lamp for over two hours is like, oh, I don't know if that light bulb works. You don't know if the light bulb works? I have peed through two different pairs of pants. You don't know if the light bulb works? Okay. So we tried one more time using another light bulb. Wait, let me protect my eyes. I'll get to it. Okay. Is it on? No. Oh my God. I'm the electrician. This house is gonna burn down, but this light is on right now. Mother F. That is beautiful. That is, I have never been glowing more than in this moment. I did not believe that. I said 2% chance. I don't even know what to say right now. I can't believe that worked. Okay. Now that Lena's out of the room, I'm gonna say that I, I don't feel safe sleeping in this house with the electrical work that I just did, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's much tougher than me. Okay. This bad boy is a mirror that I think we're gonna put right up on this wall. And that's gonna be cool because it's gonna reflect some of the wallpaper. It's gonna reflect light from the windows and you can see it from the entrance of her apartment. It really literally opens up the space. Well, not literally, but literally metaphorically. Oops. Get off. Yes. So this guy is gonna go up like that. Right now I'm really into doing wall decor that like breaks a line. I like having a piece of art or a mirror in this case that overlaps. We're bridging. We're using the art as a bridge. I don't know why it feels good to me. It just feels interesting. Who cares what I think? Who cares? Why am I talking? Before I hang the mirror, Leen had a good idea to move all the furniture in that might inform how high we're hanging it. It's good that she's here to manage me because I'm chaos on my own. Even when you're in a rental, it's a great time to start investing in those pieces you're gonna take with you wherever you go. Like this antique bench I got off Facebook Marketplace. It's extremely versatile. It can be used in an entryway or in the next rental or eventually when Leen owns a place. If you invest in pieces you love, you only buy them once and you don't have to keep replacing them. We did think about getting a new table but didn't find the right one. I found one that was like too large. I'm taking it to my own apartment now. We also kind of ran out of the budget. So the table we have, it works, it's fine. So we're keeping it. It's a little small. But other than that, it's a great table. Next up are more treasures from Facebook Marketplace. Have you heard of it? I found these great antique French chairs. They've got really thin, delicate lines. Not overly ornate. Cane seat and then great detailing on the backs. So now we've got way better use of the rectangular space and the bench is definitely a little too big for the table but we're gonna take it with us for years and years. It's an heirloom now. Is that straight at all? Not even a little. Nor is it centered, obviously. Oh, look at the pretty lamp. I did it. I can't get over it. Yay, that's nice. For wall decor over here, we're gonna do some kind of sconce on the wall and we thought about doing one that plugs in but then came across these from Anthropologie and they actually hold a candle. So it's a candle sconce. This is a fun little moment where my brain short-circuited confusing sconces with votives. I guess it never occurred to me that sconces ever held candles but that makes sense. Short-circuiting, can't figure it out. All sconces are for candles. Nope, that's a votive. Like those little tea lights, that's a sconce. The word you're thinking of is votive. I don't know, I'm having some kind of stroke. Yeah, that's the first true thing I said. I was pretty hungover. But these candle sconces from Anthropologie are a great renter-friendly option. No hard wiring. Okay, it is day three. No longer hungover, which is great because today, excuse me, is my favorite day. We're gonna do some styling and finishing touches and then we're done. Okay, here we go. I continued the cool tones of this room with a lighter blue candlestick. I love how these sconces just add a little bit of dimension to the room and a little bit of texture to the wall. Okay, the best, hottest tip you can have for making your space feel like a home and feel cozy and welcoming, plants. Specifically, tall plants. I'm talking about trees, yo. The best way to make your home feel cozy and lived in is natural light and plants. This Audrey Ficus is very easy to maintain indoors and it's just a pretty baby. Don't like this. Don't want this here. I wanted to cover up the breaker and that was a great opportunity to use the artwork that Leen challenged us to incorporate. Why am I saying us? It's just me. Leen, where is this from? Artist from Portland, Maine. I'll put her name right here so you guys can look her up. Very cute for the kitchen, right? Oh, magic. Since there's a lot of color and pattern going on in this eclectic breakfast nook, we keep the styling to a minimum with just some cute plants and filling up our produce shelf. You don't have to spend a lot of money to have great greenery in your home. Grocery store flowers are amazing and I also like to bring in large tree branches from outside as long as you're not killing all the trees. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money. This makeover was so much fun to do for my friend. I can't say I usually do an eclectic style, so it was an amazing, fun challenge. If you liked it and you want to leave a comment or like the video, it really does help me out and I try to reply to every comment I get and it just makes my day. You know, if you guys made it this far, you might as well subscribe, although I can't make you, don't know where you live. Leen, are you happy? I'm really happy. Yeah! More videos coming soon. I know everyone's still waiting on the part two of my bedroom makeover, the last one I put out. It's still coming, still waiting on furniture to come in. Have not forgotten about it. Thinking about expanding some other kind of design videos. Leave some comments if there's stuff that you would like to see, whether it's design talk or specific categories or antique shopping or, I don't know. Listen, I don't know, that's why I'm asking you. So leave a comment. Use your words. And that's all. I'll see you soon. Bye.