You know we are all experiencing long lead times with new furniture these days, especially with upholstery or backordered casegoods.

If something is in stock, then that is great, but you still have to get it shipped and that can take about 2 months these days. Items are coming in damaged more often too, as more inexperienced people are handling goods and they are being stored longer and transferred and shifted around more during the transit process. Not to mention the people in the shipping industry are getting a little frustrated and taxed right now, so I imagine it is pretty easy to get careless with handling.

By the way, the majority of the local furniture stores don’t usually have stock (they just have floor samples that they need to keep on the showroom floor). They do the same thing I do, order your new furniture in fabrics and finishes that you want, so going to a local store to buy won’t necessarily get you furniture any more quickly.

What can you do now to update things in your home without having to wait for new furniture?

Here’s how I recently updated a dining room for a client that had some existing furniture they wanted to keep. These updates will create a whole new look!

Dining room “before” with vintage light fixture and traditional furnishings.

1) Wallcovering

This project started out as a kitchen remodel only, but in the process of the design, we decided to go ahead and paint the rest of the open areas of the home. That included the dining room, that had this gold tone stripe painted finish on the walls, above a brown paint wainscot.

With all the antique pieces in here and the vintage light fixture, I just felt wallcovering could really bring this room to life.

Fortunately, the homeowner agreed and we also ended up adding a new paneled wainscot to the walls with the wallcovering above. This will create a much more finished look for this space. It’s looking more elegant already!

Paneled wainscoting and a shimmery organic patterned wallcovering will bring this dining room to life. carlaaston.com

2) Window Treatments

Adding some drapery with sheers in this room also elevates the look and gives the room a softness. The tile had to stay, so this room needed more fabric to give it the elegance and softer look it needed.

We just installed the window treatments this week and they look amazing and add such a nice finished layer to the room. We did a double layer with sheers and the filtered light is so nice in the front area of this home.

3) A New Rug

The rug was backordered, but it will be worth waiting for. We still had to get the window treatments and wall finishes completed, so that wait period allowed us time to get that work done. The rug is due in just at the beginning of the new year, so for now, here’s the sample of what is ordered.

I think this scheme will look great with the dark toned wood furniture pieces.

New rug, paint, wallpaper, chair upholstery fabric and drapery fabric will update this dining room nicely. carlaaston.com

4) Reupholstery

This is a good time to reupholster some of your existing furniture, if it is worth it. Hardwood frames and sound construction make for a good reason to reupholster and keep your existing pieces.

These chairs needed refinishing and new cushions built and upholstered.

Before - dining room chairs needed new seat cushions and some refinishing as they were somewhat scarred up. carlaaston.com

After - With new cushions and a beautiful new finish on the wood, they look great and now work beautifully with the new scheme. carlaaston.com

5) Paint

Painting can be a great way to update quickly. Even though there’s been some trouble getting paint in the last year, it hasn’t been as much of an issue as furniture has been.

We painted the ceiling and trim in this dining room and really changed the overall look by getting a color that worked so much better with the tile floor color.

Crown moulding and ceiling in fresh soft gray paint. Wallcovering still to be installed in this photo. carlaaston.com

I’ll be sharing this finished dining room space in the new year. If you’re not already subscribed, do so below so you won’t miss that reveal along with the beautiful kitchen remodel in this home!

I love how the dark wood looks against these colors and finishes. It’s going to be a big change! carlaaston.com

Pin this image below to Pinterest to save for later reference. I look forward to helping you with all your 2022 design projects. :-)