PublishedDec 10, 2023 1:10 AM EST
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Domino Reno: Before + Afters, DIYs, and Advice From Pros Who’ve Lived to Tell the Tale
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Moving from our cramped London flat to a roomier house in Brighton dangled the promise of a dedicated ‘adults-only, except on holidays’ dining room—a sanctuary safe from the carnage of toddler meals. I was practically vibrating with excitement at the thought of freeing my beloved Brutalist travertine dining table, which had been wedged into a tight corner. At last, this hulking centerpiece could breathe—and maybe even survive the toy-car chases that stop my heart every time a tiny vehicle narrowly misses the glass tabletop’s sharp edges.
The whole eclectic dining room came in just under $1,900, table included. Thanks to some crafty penny-pinching and creative problem-solving, we even had enough left over to blow on one gloriously well-earned splurge. Ahead, my tips and tricks for stuffing a room with distinctive collectibles without torching your bank account.
The only survivor from our old apartment in this room is my gorgeous Brutalist travertine dining table—a treasure I snagged on an eBay quest years back. It was technically way too big for our flat, but I have no self-control, especially once the owner agreed to chuck in the pristine base for a measly $125. All that was left was to track down a glass tabletop to make it functional again and move somewhere roomy enough to give it the spotlight it deserves.
Every interior story I tell needs a dash of DIY magic, and in our dining room, the pièce de résistance is unquestionably the chairs. You’d never guess it now, but they began life as tragically dull 1990s bentwood conference room chairs with coffee-stained upholstery. Yep, another lucky eBay snag at a laughable $20 apiece. My husband and I went at them with a jigsaw, sander, drill with a hole-saw attachment, and leftover paint, conjuring chairs that embody my wildest design fantasies.
The design evolved from my hoard of sculptural chair reference images, but the final shape was dictated by the chairs’ existing bones and whatever tools I had lying around. Notable touches include the custom striped upholstery fabric from Colours of Arley and the cheeky terracotta wood balls that dangle like earrings, lending the whole thing a slightly anthropomorphic charm.
Swapping the pendant above the dining table was easy enough, but then we hit a wall—literally two picture lights glaring at us, seemingly begging to illuminate sizable artworks we did not own. Stuck between splurging on art that might not fit our next place or settling for boring light fixtures, I turned to Belarte, a Swedish mural wallpaper company, for a cheaper fix. To turn the wallpaper into two oversize ‘paintings,’ I glued it onto MDF panels ordered online and finished the look with DIY frames cobbled together from precut moldings.
Being cheap has its perks—chiefly, extra cash to blow on that one standout piece that yanks a room’s aesthetic up a notch. In my case, I splurged on a pair of artisanal squiggly wrought-metal chairs from London-based vintage dealer Oculus. Each one’s handmade and one-of-a-kind, with two round balls perched atop the backrest that echo the dining chairs I’d dreamed up, tying the whole scheme together. Propped against the wall beside the artwork, they double as functional sculpture and handy spare seating the second the party outgrows the table.
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