Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge

My dining room now... and from 10 years ago!
Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting the content that keeps Jojotastic going.

I have some really exciting news: for the next year I will be teaming up with Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart to share tons of decor tips and inspiration — with the affordability you expect from Walmart and the style you expect from Better Homes & Gardens! This opportunity is amazing for so many reasons, but especially because it means I will be sharing decor inspiration that is way more accessible to more people. My goal is for this blog to be a reliable resource for you and this brand collaboration is going to be an epic way to do that! I hope you’re just as excited as I am! Plus, Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart has challenged me to try something different this month. So today I’m sharing one last tablescape in our tiny dining room before we move and comparing it to mine from 10 years ago!

My Dining Room Design Evolution: 10 Years Ago to Now

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

This is definitely a major season of change for both me and Sean, so it was especially awesome to take a look back at old photos of my various apartments before we met. The space you see here is my dining area from a 700 sqft studio apartment in Philadelphia. It’s not quiiiite 10 years old, but close enough — especially because it was the first real dining table I’d ever had! I remember scouring Craigslist to find a round table that would fit and then pairing outdoor chairs with it. And how about that color palette?? Totally different from the white, black, and blue tones I have embraced wholeheartedly!

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

After taking that stroll down memory lane, I shopped the Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart collection online to find chic pieces to try something different. There were so many options, I had a hard time narrowing it down! The biggest challenge was actually incorporating style from my old dining room into my current one because of the navy accent wall. That’s why I kept it simple and, instead of changing my color palette, embraced cleaner, simpler shapes for glassware, plates, and candle holders. Then, I brought in warm tones with a few textiles from my linen collection. I love how it all pops against the navy!

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

Classic black dining chairs

I’d say the biggest change is our dining chair update. I fell in love with these farmhouse-inspired black dining chairs for a few reasons. First of all, the classic look reminds me of the simplicity of my first dining area. They’re more open and airy feeling, so they actually make our dining room feel bigger — a total bonus! I also chose them because they will match the vibe of our new house perfectly once we move. Always thinking ahead.

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens
Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

Tabletop details

Next, I refreshed our plates and glassware. We’ve been needing new dinner plates for ages, so this felt like the perfect opportunity to update our set. I chose a set of 16 pieces that have classic, clean shapes. They’re made special with a subtle wash of blue that I absolutely love. Normally, I prefer plain white dinner plates, but these spoke to me. I paired them with this juice set because the footed glasses were too cute for me to pass up! I love that they stack and come with two carafes. I’ve been keeping one on my nightstand full of water and it’s great. Plus, the glasses are a style that’s really flexible for different uses. Wine, water, juice… they are a shape that works no matter what!

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens
Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

Finishing touches

As for finishing touches, candles are always at the top of my list. A good set of pillar holders is a must-have decor staple, in my opinion. These glossy white ceramic candleholders are total classics and will come in handy for so many different decor projects I have in mind! I’m already brainstorming how I want to use them in my holiday decor this year.

Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

And lastly, to bring in a touch of metallic and warmth, I chose matte gold flatware. Each utensil is a classic, yet modern shape while the finish is sooooo good. I’m of the belief that every tablescape needs a touch of metallic, so these were absolutely perfect.

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Before and After: My Dining Room 10 Year Challenge #sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart @bhglivebetter @walmart Check out the new additions to my small dining room including farmhouse dining chairs, modern brushstroke dinner plates, matte gold flatware, and more! #BHGlivebetter #walmart #betterhomesandgardens

So what do you think of this tablescape?? It just might be the last one I share in this dining room, holy cow. Stay tuned for even more inspiration and decor featuring Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart over the next year — especially as we move into our new house!

Before photo by Claire Hudson, all other photography & styling by Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

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Please note that I use affiliate links at times here, as well as on my social media accounts. This means that if you click on a link to a product and purchase that product, I may receive a commission based on your purchase. I only feature products that truly inspire me. Any products that have been gifted to Jojotastic for review are noted at the bottom of the post. Sponsored posts are noted as such. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting content that keeps Jojotastic going.

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