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A dining room featured by Apartment Therapy was transformed by designers Sandy Baisley and Natasia Smith of Re-Find, who color-drenched the space in Benjamin Moore’s Van Courtland Blue and furnished it largely with secondhand pieces. The client’s main requirement was seating for six guests.
Designers Sandy Baisley and Natasia Smith, co-owners of the firm Re-Find, transformed a client’s cold, white dining room into what they describe as a moody, vintage-inspired space by color-drenching the entire room — including the doors — in Benjamin Moore’s Van Courtland Blue, according to a before-and-after feature published by Apartment Therapy. The designers say roughly 75-80% of the finished room consists of reused or secondhand furnishings.
The project began as a blank slate. According to designer Sandy Baisley, the client, identified only as Julie, was “moving into this home with no previous items for a fresh start.” The designers worked from the white, modern look left by the previous owners, which they say did not suit Julie’s preference for texture, color, and vintage details. Baisley said the home’s layout, size, “historic architectural features and the neighborhood really won her over.”
The dining room’s starting condition was, in Baisley’s words, “cold and somewhat sterile,” and had been furnished with a dining table set that was too large for the room’s proportions. One of the main design challenges was the room’s narrow footprint and the goal of making it feel cozy rather than constrained. “Our goal was to create a dining space with moody warmth that would serve as a memorable transition from the front of the home to the more private living areas,” Baisley said.
The client had one firm requirement: the room needed to seat up to six guests. To meet it, the designers chose a drop-leaf dining table that could adapt as needed and positioned an extra pair of chairs by a bar cabinet for overflow seating. The secondhand finds included a tole fruit chandelier, a dining table, matching chairs, a bar cabinet, and assorted decor. New purchases included floral light-filtering curtains, a green ceramic leaf table lamp, and a custom square rug — a shape the designers said “helped the space feel more balanced and intentional” by avoiding another long rectangle in the narrow room.
Why This Makeover Resonates
The project reflects two broader trends in interior design that readers are increasingly acting on: color drenching — painting walls, trim, and doors a single color to create immersive, cohesive rooms — and secondhand-first furnishing. The designers’ stated 75-80% reuse rate shows how vintage sourcing can anchor a full-room redesign rather than serving as occasional accent pieces, an approach that can reduce cost and waste compared with all-new purchases.
The room also illustrates practical solutions for common layout problems. The drop-leaf table addresses the need for flexible seating in a small footprint, and the square rug demonstrates a counterintuitive fix — pairing a square rug with a rectangular table — for narrow rooms. Hanging artwork on the room’s textured plaster walls required deliberate placement, according to the designers, to avoid crumbling the plaster — a caution that applies to many older homes.
The Designers Behind the Room
: “The makeover was carried out by Re-Find, a design firm co-owned by Sandy Baisley and Natasia Smith, who served as principal designers on the project. According to Baisley, the duo had already designed the rest of Julie’s home with a vintage cottage aesthetic and carried that style into the dining room.
“We have great vintage vendors and love to hunt for unique pieces that we can breathe new life into,” Baisley told Apartment Therapy. The feature appeared in the publication’s Before & Afters category for dining rooms and was written by associate editor LJ Smelker. Apartment Therapy noted that the project’s cost was listed as not available and that the makeover was rental friendly.
Two of the artworks — a fish painting previously owned by Julie and elevated vintage still lifes refitted with new mats and frames — were retained from the client’s own collection, tying the new design to her prior belongings despite the otherwise blank-slate start.
“Our goal was to create a dining space with moody warmth that would serve as a memorable transition from the front of the home to the more private living areas.”
— Sandy Baisley, co-owner and principal designer, Re-Find
Details the Feature Leaves Out
Several practical details are not disclosed in the source feature. The project cost is listed as “N/A”, so readers cannot gauge the budget required for a similar transformation. The home’s location, its approximate age, and the timeline of the renovation are not specified. The exact paint quantity, primer steps, or preparation required to color-drench over stark white walls are also not described — a consideration for readers planning to replicate the look, especially on plaster walls that the designers said crumble easily when drilled.
How Readers Can Apply It
Readers interested in replicating the look can take away several concrete steps from the feature: sample a deep paint color such as Van Courtland Blue before committing to full-room coverage including doors and trim; source a drop-leaf table for flexible guest seating; and consider a square rug in narrow rooms to break up rectangular repetition. For those decorating on a budget, the designers’ approach of buying chandeliers, tables, chairs, and cabinetry secondhand suggests where reuse delivers the most value. Anyone hanging heavy artwork on older plaster walls should locate studs or use appropriate anchors, and consult a professional for fragile wall conditions.
Key Questions
What paint color was used in the dining room?
The entire room, including the doors, was painted in Benjamin Moore’s Van Courtland Blue, a deep blue that the designers used to create what they call a moody, warm atmosphere.
How much of the furniture was secondhand?
According to designer Sandy Baisley, the finished space was 75-80% reuse, including a tole fruit chandelier, dining table, matching chairs, bar cabinet, and decor sourced from vintage vendors.
How did the designers fit six guests in a narrow dining room?
They used a drop-leaf dining table that can expand when needed and kept an extra pair of chairs by the bar cabinet for additional guests.
What new items were purchased for the room?
The new purchases included floral light-filtering curtains, a green ceramic leaf table lamp, and a custom square rug, which the designers chose to balance the room’s proportions.
Why was hanging artwork difficult in this room?
The room has textured plaster walls, and the designers said they had to be deliberate about placement to avoid crumbling the plaster when hanging the paintings.
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