Home Renovations: Dining Room Progress & The Road to My New Writing Space

Originally posted December 2024. Updated September 2025.

My husband and I have been married for 31 years, and this is the home we've loved the longest. With our two oldest sons moved out, we decided not to downsize but to renovate. We needed to spaces that work for this season of life, including a new writing space not only for me, but for my husband as well.

In this post, I'm sharing our overall renovation journey and a look at the dining room progress so far. (My next post will reveal my new home office in detail!)

Our main floor is open. It's a big circle with a small entry. Once you walk in, the house opens up to the kitchen, living room, den, and dining room - in one large circle.

Gathered around the table for our monthly "Family Day."

The den served its purpose years ago. It was our homeschooling room, and I had a desk there for a number of years. In the last few years though, it really became a dead space almost. It had my printer, two pianos (one small upright and one electric piano) and some bookshelves. Plus we had two empty bedrooms upstairs.

Our home is roughly 22 years old. I'm pretty sure the carpet is original. And it was definitely showing its age. The first thing we decided to do was have it replaced with snap-laminate flooring.

Next, we determined my office would be in the den area. My husband would convert one of the upstairs bedrooms to his office. And the second empty bedroom would become our guest room/music room.

Then the work began. Most of it was done by a contractor while we were at Author Nation in November. They did the following updates:

• Removed carpet from four rooms and put down new flooring

• Installed a new window in our dining room that looks out over our driveway

• Painted two rooms

When we returned from our trip, I foolishly thought I'd just need to unpack and we'd be good to go. I forgot that most of items I had packed before the trip, now needed new homes. Yikes!

For the last five weeks, we have:

• Stained the new window trim

• Painted the dining room and living room

• Purchased new furniture that all needs to be assembled

• Purchased new area rugs

• Began to unpack

Check out all the "during photos" below.

And today was a huge win for me! I managed to get the dining room put back together. I also moved all the boxes out of the kitchen where they have been living. Most are put away, but I still have a couple more bookcases to build so there are a few boxes of books in my office waiting.

Next time, I'll share what my new home office looks like. I can't wait!

Comment and let me know what you think about my new dining room. I'd love to hear from you.

Evelyn