Fall Dining Room Decor & How to Mix Old & New

The dining room in our new build home is a work in progress and has been updated for Fall with a warm, earthy rustic decor mixing old and vintage with new pieces.  

Yesterday I shared our new build great room/living room area cozied up for fall with a warm and earthy colour palette and a mix of new, vintage, and rustic decor. Directly adjacent to our living room is our dining room space, and it has been and continues to be a work in progress. Today I’m sharing the progress that I made on this area over the summer, some fall decor touches I’ve added, and my plans for future updates to our new build dining room.

I mentioned yesterday that I didn’t take on many projects this summer, but one thing I did tackle was the refinishing of our dining room table. When we sold the cabin it went furnished, so I had to say goodbye to my beloved X-base dining table from our Forest House. I searched online for hours trying to find the right piece to replace it, but kept coming back to the fact that new dining tables are SO EXPENSIVE!

I wanted something that had some traditional lines and a farmhouse kind of feel to mix and contrast with my modern wishbone dining chairs, but I didn’t want to pay through the nose for it. So…I took my search to Facebook Marketplace and managed to score this amazing dining table for $150 including 6 chairs! I sold the chairs off for $100, so in total this dining room table cost me $50. Yup, I said fifty bucks!!!

Now, there were quite a few doubters in my life when they saw this piece in its original form. It definitely needed some updating. But this August we had a few rainy days so I decided to dive in and give it a total refresh. I promise to share the full DIY tutorial on it really soon! For today, I’m excited to share the progress so far on our dining room space along with a few fall decor updates that we’ve made to this space.

Oh, and in case you wonder what the table (and dining room) looked like before…

It’s a really long table when we add both leaves, and I was sold on the lines of the legs and thought the shape of the top was pretty and interesting, as well. After my refinishing, I think it looks updated and fresh while maintaining the vintage character and feel of a unique old piece. What do you think?

I love mixing old and new pieces to create a layered and eclectic look that is totally unique to me. To find great vintage finds and mix them with your favourite “new” pieces:

1. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the best online sources in your area. I used to use Kijiji but it now seems that things in my area have moved heavily towards Facebook Marketplace, so I search on there a lot when I’m in the market for something specific.
2. Check out local thrift stores, consignment stores, and second hand/antique shops for those beautiful, unique pieces that tell a story. Keep your eye out for garage sales and estate sales, or even those ‘free’ items you see when you are driving down the road. Some of my best finds were roadside castoffs!
3. Look at the lines on pieces you are considering more than the finish: stripping and refinishing or painting a piece might just make it exactly what you are looking for, at a fraction of the cost of ordering something brand new.
4. Don’t be afraid to think out of the box and pair a modern table with vintage chairs or, like I did, modern chairs with a vintage table. I mixed large, graphic modern art with an antique bread bowl centrepiece. And the vintage mirror and oil paintings in that beautiful antique frame sit next to modern vases and decor accessories. Have fun with the mix!
5. Tie things together by considering the elements of design; you can tie it all together with colour, shape, or through pattern and repetition as I did in this space.

I also searched Facebook Marketplace for a pretty, oversized mirror and found this old one for $30. I am still deciding if I want to paint the frame, and if I do paint it whether it goes gold or white. But for now I don’t mind the dark wood tone as it works with the other darks woods in our space (like our new Cleo sofa in the living room). 

I also picked up the vintage white art frame on Facebook Marketplace (and added an oversized mat to it). I bought both the hutch cabinet and lamp new from HomeSense over the past few months. The blue vase is a few years old, as are the velvet pumpkins (also both HomeSense finds). The terracotta candle holders and black textured vase were both from Urban Barn – I found those candle holders on clearance there at the same time as I found the green vases on our mantel.

I’m made this printable from a royalty free vintage oil painting, and I’m going to be adding it to my printable library later this week. I just love the feeling of it, and think it goes perfectly with the warmer and darker colours I’ve introduced for Fall. If you have a large frame you love but want to use it to display smaller prints, you can buy oversized mats. I picked mine up through Amazon, but you could also try Michaels or other Craft/Framing stores.

Back to that mirror….

What do you think? What colour would you do the mirror? Or keep it wood?

I think it could look a bit like this one from Urban Barn if it goes gold…

Or this one from Wayfair…

But in white it would look more like this one…

Or this more decorative style one…

Either way, I think the decision on the mirror hinges on some of the other changes I’d like to make, which I discuss below.

Our wishbone dining chairs are a few years old now as we had them at the Forest House. The large art was also a HomeSense find as were the bunches of dried wheat (a few seasons ago). I bought the large fig through  Costco, but am thinking that an olive tree might look even more stunning in that little corner. The softer tones of olive branches would certainly work beautifully with the rest of the colour scheme.

As much as I’m loving all of our warm, fall touches I still think our dining room feels a bit sparse and unfinished. What it really needs is some paneling, and maybe some colour and/or wallpaper. SO… more changes will be coming, but, we’re part way there:)

You might have noticed that the rug in the original dining room pic was an 8×10, and this one is a 5×7 layered on top of an 7×9 jute rug. I switched the 8×10 over to the living room when we got the new Cleo Sofa and I rearranged the furniture in that area. I actually like the layered rugs much better in this room, as I think the natural jute ties in better with the colours in the dining space. The flat rug is a Loloi Chris Loves Julia rug that I found at HomeSense (it’s actually the exact same pattern as the one in the living room, just the smaller version). This rug is PERFECT for the dining room (or any room, really) because it’s totally flat so it’s super easy to keep it clean (or to clean up spills on). You can find it here:

Here is a quick view of how our dining room looks from the living room area. The back wall definitely need some paneling (and maybe some colour!), amIright?!?!

And, finally, the view from the dining room to the living area and outside. I managed to get this pic on a lovely, sunny day as our forest facing back rooms aren’t always this illuminated with natural light.

Head over here to see our warm, earthy rustic great room Fall decor…

I’ve also gathered some finds for you that are similar to what I’ve used in our dining room. And, of course, don’t forget to check Facebook Marketplace for those vintage touches!

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