Turning our dining room into a multi-functional space

Usually, the Easter weekend is when we do some kind of DIY project at home, but we're a little late this year (hubs thought he'd got away with it!) and a mini makeover I want to complete in the next couple of weeks involves our dining room and turning it into a space we can get more use out of.

I've always liked our dining room; it has a fireplace (not usable) and two alcoves plus a big window looking onto the back garden. Over the years, we have made changes to it. At first, we had a huge wooden dining table, that could comfortably seat six, in the middle, but we didn't use it enough. We pushed it to one side for a while, but then it just became a dumping spot.

In the past five years, we've added a dresser and a bureau to the alcoves and a large desk from Ikea to the other side of the room, with a folding dining table by the window for occasional use. We have a lot in our dining room and it is a really nice spot, but day to day, we do just tend to walk through it to get to the kitchen, and leave bags and things in there, rather than actually sitting in and using the room.

So, my key ideas are as follows:

• Paint the bureau, as it's currently a red shade (as it was when I originally found it on eBay), which an off-white chalk paint
• Use the bureau nook as a desk space for myself, with a white wire mesh vision board above and space for my laptop when the bureau lid is down
• Update the alcoves by painting them a duck egg blue, to brighten the room up (and eventually repaint the rest of the room white)
• Get rid of our current dining table and put a new armchair there, to create somewhere to sit and relax - I like tub chairs and wingbacks in particular
• Add a rug to make the room feel more cosy
• Decorate the inside of the fireplace with some accessories (plants, vases etc.) to make more of a feature of it
• Buy a folding table in white that is more compact in design, so when the sides are down, it's only narrow and can be placed adjacent to the chair, alongside the wall, as a kind of coffee table when not in use

With baby on the way, I think making more use of the dining room will help us not to feel on top of each other. It'll be like a second living room of sorts, and it'll be good to enjoy it properly.

Here's the moodboard I have put together:

All home accessories pictured are from George at Asda and would help to dress the fireplace and chair.

I love the chevron rug, from Argos, and think it'll make the room feel welcoming.

Paint sample from Wilko.

Dining table is Ikea and so clever and making the best use of space, with built in storage too.

This is the armchair I really like, cheapest place I've found it is Sofa World who say they can deliver next day too.

I'm excited to get started and to be fair, it's not a big project - painting the bureau will take the most time but is something I can do over a couple of days next week.

I've got two days to decide which armchair to go for, and have it narrowed down to two options... what do you think? 

Be sure to follow me on Instagram for updates as we get cracking with this project next week.