Before & After Breakfast Nook

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I’m ready to share our global-inspired breakfast nook update with you! Its been a few months coming, and while the space in some ways has stayed the same (we kept our original table and chairs) I love the personality it now has. It feels more us. The walls were scratched and discolored, and our door trim was yellowed. While our previous pendant light was “cute,” our new pendant is classy and blends well with the door knobs, shelving, and ceiling fan in the living room.

As always I worked off a small budget. Repurposing several things, and adding in pieces that look more expensive than they really cost. Scroll down for the complete list of products I used to makeover the space! 

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One of my favorite things in our breakfast nook is the rustic 2-tier wood shelving on either side of the backdoor. I appreciate that the shelves aren’t faux (like some of the in-store options I looked at) and are made with real solid wood. One of the shelves did arrive with a scratch on it, but we installed it as an upper shelf and it isn’t noticeable. 

To our new shelving I added some live succulents, cacti, and an aloe plant in bowls. I purchased the green bowls at Target (from the Hearth & Hand collection) and also used some white textured bowls from World Market that I had previously purchased. After adding the plants I mixed in some vintage books I had in other rooms of our house (check local thrift stores and estate sales for vintage accessories!) 

The curtain panels took me a few days to find. I wanted something with green to tie in our door color, and most stores carried green–but in aqua tones. I was on a tight budget and on day 2 of my hunt I remembered IKEA! The FJÄDERKLINT (don’t ask me how to pronounce that!) panels blend two shades of green and work perfectly in the room.

We reused the curtain rod we already owned, but moved it several inches (so the panels touch the floor at 98″) from its original height to give the illusion of a bigger window.

The white walls are a huge improvement to the beige we had before. It wasn’t just the color that was the problem, but also the quality of paint the previous owners used..it was completely non-wipeable and showed all the scuff marks. The white feels like a blank slate, and left room for personality with curtains & accessories.

I’m thrilled with our bronze metal pendant light. I picked it from this pendant light roundup and ordered it sight unseen. The thing that won me over is the dot detail on the metal chain. And that it blends so well with our door knob, shelving, and ceiling fan in the living room.


Supply List:

Laurel Foundry Cone Pendant in Old Bronze

Rustic 2-tier wood shelving

White Bowls on Shelving

5′ Round Jute Rug 

Assorted succulents, cacti, and aloe plants, Home Depot

15″ Wreaths, Homegoods

Door Paint: 1 Quart Behr Premium Plus Ultra, Deep Base Satin Enamel, color matched to Sherwin-Williams Basil 

Wall Paint: 1 Gallon Behr Premium Plus Ultra Interior Satin, color matched to Sherwin-Williams Snowbound


How the space looked last Fall: 


A few process pictures (DIY’d the space, as usual! I painted and my husband hung the new light fixture): 


For more on how I painted our doors, check out this tutorial for how to refresh a dated french door with paint

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Julia Fain

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6 Comments

  1. I was poking around on Dwelling Gawker for inspiration for my living room, and I’m so glad I found your post. I was actually thinking about buying those same curtains from IKEA and painting the inside of my front door a dark green, but wasn’t entirely sure. Seeing your dining room makes me know it will look great! I’m so glad to see an actual visual of what was in my mind!

  2. The room looks great! Is the trim around the doors and floor also snowbound? Looks like maybe its a brighter white.

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