Dine with us

Today I would like to invite you into our dining room. It is a small room right off of our kitchen and with a wide doorway into our living room.  It is not a big formal dining room but we are more casual people so this space is perfect for us.  In our old place we had just an eat in kitchen that worked well for just the four of us, even when we had parties and family gatherings.  When we were searching for our house we wanted a separate dining space but nothing too enclosed and far from the kitchen so I love that this room fells open to the kitchen and living room. We can have gatherings and people can spread out without feeling left out.  The dimensions of this space is 9' 4" by 11' 4".  So it's not terribly small, it's actually quite comfortable and more than enough space for our family.

So far we refinished the floors in here by ourselves in Minwax Jacobean and painted the walls a nice light grey. The color is Behr's "Irish Mist" matched to Glidden's premium line of paint and primer in eggshell finish.  The reason why we had the color matched to Glidden's paint line is because it's a less expensive, high quality paint that works well for us.  We replaced the old boob light with a more modern light fixture.  We brought in some temporary furniture pieces until we can afford to replace these with something more our style.  We have a round pedestal table that I can add leaves to if I need to for bigger gatherings.  I started to refinish this table and realized it had a veneer top when I started sanding it. Parts of the veneer came off on a part that was lifted a bit.  That kind of turned me off about the table because I really wanted a stained top but the stain just doesn't look right on those spots where I filled with wood filler.  I am not sure what color I want to paint it since I can't stain it.  Dining chairs have always been my nemesis.  We have been through so many different dining chairs in our life.  We can never find stylish durable chairs that can stand the test of time without breaking the bank.  I picked up these windsor chairs for 10 bucks one day and they are all beat up but damn they are strong.  So I've held on to them.  Hopefully one day we find will some stylish, hardy chairs that wont leave us house poor.

They grey cabinet was hand built by us for a nook in our previous home.  We have since painted it and changed the hardware.  It hides all of our crafting supplies and other junk like extra light bulbs and candles.  The clear vases on top I have been collecting over the years but I paired them down when we moved here.  I filled them with corks from the many bottles of wine we have shared in this room and some old chess pieces.  The vintage radio was a house warming gift from my mom's boyfriend.  He brought it with him when he helped us paint the house before we moved in and I hinted that I wanted a small vintage radio so he told me I could have it as a house warming gift.  The rattan mirror is from Crate and Barrel.   I would like to replace the cabinet someday with a skinny vintage display hutch that I can give a makeover to.
*update* we bought a vintage hutch to replace the grey cabinet, see it here!

We hung some floating shelves from Ikea that we already had to display pretty things.  The marble wine goblets were a gift from my mom, she saw them at a tag sale and she she knew I would love them.  The wooden ones I borrowed from my her house with no intention of giving them back.  The clear with gold cups and the wooden leaf tray, I bought from a thrift store I use them as candle holders.  The white owl vase is from Jonathan Adlers Happy Chic line.  The wire scorpion was handmade by my mom's boyfriend, he is very creative.  The wooden bowl set I found at a evening tag sale years ago with my husband walking to the supermarket near our house.  The quirky white flying pig was a gift from my husband.  I bought the plants at Ikea years ago when they were itsy, bitsy little babies.  I have been feeding them and helping them grow since. Their planters are also from Ikea from their Kardemumma plant pots.  The black mirror was left here by the previous owners of the house it was in the half bathroom but I replaced it with a oval one that fit the space better.  After looking at these pictures I am convinced I do not like it here on the wall so I think I am going to give it a makeover with paint or something.  I've always wanted to try gold leafing something maybe this could be a project to try it on.  But I will definitely be hanging it somewhere else.

The brass birds are my favorite thrift store find.  When I was a child my mom had some similar in the living room but they were shiny gold, larger and made of some sort of a poly-resin material I think.  She moved and passed them down to my aunt who had them for years and years until she too moved and passed them down to someone else.  I was obsessed with finding some for my own home for the longest time. I had given up when one day I entered a thrift store and there they were solid brass flying birds I think I paid like $7 for them it was the happiest thrift day I can remember.  They bring so much of my childhood nostalgia into my home.  I love them, they make me smile, they make me reminisce.  One day one of my sisters walked into my home and said "Hey! Weren't those at mom's when we were little?".  I am so happy that they flew to me from whomever's home they escaped.

Here is a list of things I want to do in this room.

1. First, remove the little black mirror by the shelves, seeing these pictures I'm now sure, I hate it there.
2. Sand, prime, paint the trims and window (you can see the blue tape where I started). 
3. Buy chairs I am not sure what style but they need to be comfy, strong, durable and easy to clean.
4. Build or buy dining table, I think I want to rebuild the same modern farmhouse dining table we built for our our previous house but tweaking it a bit so that crumbs don't get stuck in the crannies.
5. Replace the grey cabinet with something similar to the ones I mentioned earlier in the post. 
6. Maybe add a jute or sisal rug, I am not 100% I want to do that yet. I think it would add some nice texture and feel a little bit more layered and warm but at the same time I love the ease of sweeping and moping hardwood floors, and you know how crumbs and spills just happen with kiddos.
7. Adding some horizontal shiplap would be nice too. Another maybe... we did recently paint this room so I could see my husband cringe at the thought of having to repaint but he is a wood man so I think he might like the idea.  

And there you have it, our dining room now and thoughts for the later.  One thing is for sure we have really enjoyed having this separate space for just the four of us having dinner together every night and having family over to get together.  The time spent in here has truly been a blessing.  We are looking forward to many, many more years of family gatherings here.