How to Convert a Spare Living Room Into a Formal Dining Room

Host Joan Steffend and designer Beth Solberg take a 'spare' living room and turn it into a formal dining space.

• The walls are painted a light shade of green to create a neutral backdrop.
  
• Salvaged garage door panels are cut up and used for wainscoting on the lower half of three of the walls.
  
• A window seat is created out of kitchen cabinets. It's topped with a piece of fiberboard and the homeowner's sofa cushions.
  
• The window is dressed with a large-scale valance and panels on either end, held back with tiebacks made of men's ties.
  
• Two salvaged columns and porch pillars are repurposed into a stylish dining table. The columns are cut into planks to create the tabletop and the pillars are cut in half to create the legs. Recovered garage-sale chairs complete the set.
  
• A secondhand chandelier is the light source over the table.
  
• A china cabinet is created out of an old sink base and a salvage-store hutch. Leftover planks from the columns are used for the top. The sink base and hutch are both painted black to create a unified look.