Reader Design: Oscar's Luxe Dining Room

First of all, a very happy Valentines Day from our hearts to yours! Please consider yourselves loved and appreciated by us here at StyleMutt Home. If we could, we'd take each and every one of ya out on the town tonight to show you how much we care. But we think we've got something better, (which is a good thing because the night on the town was never going to happen).

Our V-Day gift to you is an absolutely stunning Reader Design by my pal Oscar! I met Oscar through Instagram, (at left are just a few of his amazing images), and was instantly inspired by the way he mixes luxury with comfort. This guy has the formula down pat. When he agreed to share his home with us here I just couldn't wait for you guys to see!

As you may recall, Reader Designs are an open invitation to  share your unique design and creativity! There are no requirements to be a professional decorator or even a fellow blogger. The purpose of Reader Designs is simply to share incredible rooms with fresh ideas and document these features in our SPACES section to use as a reference for inspiration. And can I just say to all the dudes here, we know you've got mad skills, we are all about sharing mad skills, so get on it! Guys and gals alike, tag your work with #stylemuttspaces on Instagram or share your pictures right to our Facebook page!

I mean, after Cate's sassy Work. It. Girl. cheer on our last Reader Design, I just had to:

In honor of our first male Reader Design...

Enough yacking, here's the good stuff!

From Oscar:

"These are pictures of my living area turned dining area. I've always wanted a huge dining area with a fireplace or opening up to a patio. I have a fireplace, I have a patio, but in the living room. I decided to swap the living room and dining room and love it!!"

What a genius use of space!

"Our family hosts a lot of dinner parties so ample space to get around the dining table is important."

Look at all that space! Mission definitely accomplished!

"Fortunately our floor plan is open concept so the change was fairly easy without compromising too much space in the living area." 

This is such an incredible example of not letting floor plan stand in the way of your hopes and desires for your home. Oscar saw the potential that his living room had to be an even better dining room, and knocked it out of the park! You can follow Oscar's stunning work on Instagram @oscarbravohome!

Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous dining room with us, Oscar! Can we talk you into sharing more?! Who's with us!

Have yourselves a lovely Valentines Day and thank you for making StyleMutt Home a part of it! Carry on lovebirds!

XOXO

Reader Design: Jen's Fabulously Functional Home

We are so pumped to have so many inspiring entries to #stylemuttspaces.  Chelsea and I want so dearly for StyleMutt Home to be a resource for our readers and we certainly don't believe the buck stops with us.  We pine for input from you all!  And we hope you never shy away from reaching out to us with your own ideas.  You don't have to be a professional designer or blogger to have your voice heard here.  Love your space?  Then...

Work It.png

(or boy ;)  and share it with us!

Ok, I need to reign in my sassy snapping fingers and get back to serving your double helping of juicy inspiration from our next reader design.  Are you hungry?  Because dishing it out hot is our first international feature from Alberta, Canada: Jen from Fresh Crush.

From Jen:

"The goal was comfort and colour!  I was crazy for coral while doing this project, and pairing it with neutral walls, a little black, aqua, and yellow was the perfect match."

Fun fact!  I have a filing cabinet that I painted this color aqua.  Jen - great minds eh?! 

Jen's wall-mounted clip lamps make the best use of surface space without sacrificing style.

"A few simple DIYs brought everything together, the easiest (and cheapest) of which had to by my addition of a drum shade to our ugly old (but needed) ceiling fan.  And custom shelving added a lot of pretty for very little cost, but huge comfort impact.  Definitely a great space to unwind at night." 

Did you even notice there was a ceiling fan?!  I didn't!

Don't those shelves masterfully maximize the dead space in the corner?

Jen's marriage of form and function does not stop here.  Wipe the drool from your mouths and let's go gawk at the before-and-afters of her foyer:

"Our foyer needed a serious update, but on a budget..."  

You're speaking my love language here Jen ;)

"The goals were to make it welcoming and warm, get it organized with easy to use storage, and make it easy to clean.  The open concept of the foyer [makes] it easy for our little one to help out.  The previous heavy doors [on the hallway closet] were too hard to operate and kept everything hidden and hard to find.  The new flooring and neutral paint warmed everything up..."
"...and new lighting, along with a few DIY projects and accessories kept everything on budget.  My favourite project from the space was my DIY copper shoe rack."  

Me too Jen.... meeeeee too.

Read about more of Jen's bedroom makeover and foyer transformation on Fresh Crush,  Thank you Jen for sharing with us all the way from Canada!

So what do y'all think?  You crushing on Fresh Crush yet?  

Don't forget, we want to celebrate your individuality with you!   So don't hesitate to tag #stylemuttspaces on Instagram or post your photos onto our Facebook wall!  The whole point of Reader Designs is simply to share incredible rooms with fresh ideas and document these features in our SPACES section to use as a reference of inspiration.  These submissions are seriously the jewels in the StyleMutt Home crown.  

​You never know who else will be inspired by your space so don't deprive us of your unique YOU people!

Reader Design: Ashley's Evolving Dining Room

Cheers to the weekend! Back with another Reader Design today from the talented Ashley of Bigger Than The Three Of Us! We shared her stunning 'Airy Bedroom', (at left), last week which had us spinning with fresh ideas, and her dining room sure doesn't disappoint either!

Just as a reminder, Reader Designs are an open invitation to share your unique design and creativity! There are no requirements to be a professional decorator or even a fellow blogger. The purpose of Reader Designs is simply to share incredible rooms with fresh ideas and document these features in our SPACES section to use as a reference of inspiration. Besides, who doesn't like getting to peek inside beautiful, creative homes?!

So, are you ready to see more from Ashley?!

From Ashley:

"When we moved in to our house three years ago, I hated the formal dining room space. The built-in was definitely not my style nor was the wall coloring. I painted the walls gray first thing. Next, I tackled all the trim and the built-in. They both got a coat of bright white."

"I found a vintage credenza on Craigslist as well as some mid-century chairs. I paired those with an old table that we had and some garden chairs. Instantly the room had life. I kept adding more layers to make it my own. My husband painted the ikat painting for me and that helped finish the space."

"Things have to evolve for me and continue to evolve and that's the only way I know how to decorate."

Well, Ashley, your home is evolving absolutely beautifully! Thank you so much for sharing your hard work and creativity! Now, how can we commission your husband to paint a few more ikat paintings for us???

There are two ways you can share your SPACES with us: Tag #stylemuttspaces on Instagram or just post photos right onto our Facebook wall! We LOVE seeing your handiwork and are thrilled about the line-up of Reader Designs coming up - one of which is by a beautiful French woman living in Australia!

Thank you all for stopping by and have a splendid weekend!