Showing posts with label Dining room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dining room. Show all posts

Dining Room Updates

A few months ago I shared our dining room with you guys and talked about some possible changes we would be making in the space for the future.  Yesterday I shared our new dining table and chairs, today I want to review our original to do list for the dining room updates.  Let's see what has gotten done, what still needs to get done, and what ideas have been added or changed.

dining room updates

Dining Room To Do List
  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.  
Updates on the list

  1. The first one was an easy one, I did that almost immediately after publishing that post.  I simply replaced it with the rattan mirror that was over the grey cabinet.  I gave the black mirror to my sister and it fits perfectly over her little entryway table in her home.  
  2. We replaced the window with an energy efficient vinyl window so there is no need for painting the window anymore.  However we still have yet to paint all the surrounding trim.  Need to get on that pronto!  
  3. We bought new chairs, yay!  Read more about those in this post and how we plan to build a bench for one of the sides.  
  4. We bought a parsons style dining table for a steal on Craigslist!  
  5. I wrote a post about our new vintage dining room hutch, which was, surprise! Another Craigslist score!!  I'm in love with that piece, it is so unique!  I still need to tweak it a little!
  6. Number six and seven are still marinating!  The idea of having a nice textured rug is nice but not the maintenance it requires.  We've recently adopted a puppy and we are working hard at potty training but she still has little accidents here and there.  
  7. Like I said still marinating on the ship lap walls.  It would be nice to add some character to the house but maybe farther down the line.  We have lots of other projects that need to get done around the house that have more priority. 
  8. I would like to add that the light fixture needs to be centered, and tweaked a little.       
dining room updates ikea Skogsta chairs

Overall I feel like the dining room is finally starting to come together, especially since we have most of our main furniture pieces.  I'm going to set small goals to finish it up all the dining room updates.  Like one week will be about finishing the trim, the next will be for building the bench and so on.  Soon I will have a dining room update where all the things on the list will be crossed off except for number six and seven, those will come later.  For now I'm really enjoying the small dining room updates we've made but I'm looking forward to getting it done!      
 

Skogsta Chairs and Parsons Dining Room Table


Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

After stalking the Ikea website for a month waiting for the chairs to come back in stock, we got'em!  We now have a beautiful combination of skogsta chairs and parsons dining room table.  Our dining room has always suffered from identity crisis.  But it's finally starting to feel more like us.

Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

A few weeks ago I shared this mood board for the dining room but some things have already changed.  As you can see we ended up buying four chairs instead of two.  After looking at the mood board a few times something didn't feel right.  I realized I didn't like the way the rounded back of windsor chairs looked next to the flat back of the skogsta chairs.  I was planning on keeping them and painting them black but instead we are just going to build a bench and use the skogsta chairs around.   I like the look of mix matched chairs but this room is small and I think it would look too busy with so many different types of seating.  We are going to keep it simple and use two styles of seating instead of three.

Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

Now, can we talk about the parsons dining table for a minute?  Just look at it!  It's such a simple, white piece but it pops.  I love it, it has such a durable surface and it's easy to clean.  I got it from Craigslist to the tune of $20, yep, you read that right, twenty dollar bills yo!  Score!!  My hubby is so happy that he doesn't have to build another dining table or spend a couple hundred on a new one either.  Double score!!!      

Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

Let's talk about the things that are not in the dining room mood board
  • The curtains are a little bit faded from the light but it's not that noticeable, they are staying and so are the woven roman shades.
  • The floating shelves are my besties, I love dressing them up with my favorite finds and plants.
  • The new hutch stays in the corner right where it is, I will be refinishing it soon.
  •  The light fixture in the mood board isn't the same one but it was the closest thing I could find. We got a few years ago from Overstock on clearance and it's staying.  It will receive some tweaking down the line.
Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

We are happy that we purchased the skogsta chairs and the parsons dining table.  Those are the most important pieces we needed to get closer to the finish line, even though we move slower than a turtle.  But you know what they say slow and steady wins the race.  I know it's not a race but when you have owned seven different dining tables (and I can't even count how many different chairs we've had) we are just dying to finish it up.  We use this room on a daily basis and it's where all the family gatherings happen so it's nice to put the furniture limbo to an end and stop playing musical chairs.  The dining room is shaping up people! 

Ikea Skogsta Chair Parsons Dining Table

Anyone else out there have a room in their house suffering from identity crisis??  Can't seem to find the right furniture pieces or the right color for the walls....???    


Plans For The Dining Room


We have a couple new of plans for the dining room.  When we first moved in, we painted the room in a nice, bright, very light grey and refinished the floors.  We wanted it to feel light and fresh.  Then we hung some floating shelves to display some of my favorite things, added window treatments, plopped our furniture there and called it "good for now!"  You can see what the room looked like here!  Fast forward a year later, we've had time to figure out what works, what doesn't and put a plan together.  I made a little mood board to help visualize what we want for the space.


Dining room refresh

  •  I know the space is small and small rooms call for round tables.  But some rules were meant to be broken, for the sake of happy living.  I shared in our first dining room post that we wanted to possibly build our old modern farmhouse dining table again.  Instead, I went crazy over a Parsons table I found on Craigslist and we bought it!
  • I'm contemplating on keeping two of the Windsor chairs to use as captain chairs and painting them black.
  • The two light wood chairs, we saw them at Ikea and fell in love with them but they were out of stock, so once they are back in stock we will be picking those babies up. 
  • We still aren't sure if we want to buy four of the Ikea chairs or build a bench on the other side, so we are keeping an open mind about that.  
  • The light fixture is only there for reference, it's the closest I could find to ours, which we are keeping.  

Tomorrow I will share the pictures of the new dining table and a list of things we will be addressing in the dining room refresh.  For more details on our dining room you can check out the "Our Home" tab and these other posts  * Dine with us * Dining room new hutch * Build a modern farmhouse table * Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling *

Linking up to


Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling


Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

I went for a quick thrift shopping trip the other day and I scored some cute little brass swans.  I don't know you but when I buy any home decor item, new or used I don't care, I just want to run home, clean and rearrange stuff in the room where I'm going to display my new found treasures.  That is exactly what happened once I walked through the door, I got the urge for shelfie styling or in this case restyling!

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

These poor little swans swam straight into my hands and I decided I should adopt them.  The bowl one was not part of the set but it reminded me of Nate's Gold Bird Dish, that I love of course and it was only $2.  The other two swans were $5 for both.  I was so giddy when I walked out of there with my newly adopted family of swans.  I couldn't wait to show them their new home.  

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

When I got home I gave them a quick scrub down with some Lysol scrubby wipes.  I wanted to display them on the floating shelves in the dinning room so I got to work.  I emptied them out, and wiped them down too and I also took down the black mirror.    

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

Key features for my shelfie styling look

  • Narrow down items to avoid it from looking too cluttered
  • Create movement with different colors, textures, and heights 
  • Choose a color palette, I went neutral with white, wood tones and gold 
  • Different textures and materials, I used wood, brass, ceramic and glass
  • Alternate heights to keep the eye moving
  • Use odd numbers, count groups of like items as 1, ex. 6 wood cups = 1 item 
  • Add greenery

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

I switched out the black mirror for the rattan one.  The colors and texture go much better with the items on the shelf.  My sister loved the black mirror so I gave it to her and she hung it over her entryway table in her apartment.  I'm happy that it found a new home.

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

Thrift Shopping and Shelfie Styling

The swans finally made it to there new home and they love it here!  I wasn't too happy with the way the floating shelves looked before and I wasn't feeling the black mirror either but after a few tweeks, I'm loving how everything ties in now.  Funny how a little thrift shopping inspired me to do a whole shelfie styling makeover.  Don't you just love when that happens?

Linking

Dining Room New Hutch


Grey cabinet dining room

Remember when I mentioned in this post wanting to replace the grey cabinet in the dining room with a skinny hutch!?  Well, I found a really cool looking piece on good ole Craigslist of course.  I just love it when I want something but when I'm not really looking for it, it just finds me instead.  When I saw it I new it would be perfect.

Mid century Modern Dining room Hutch

This piece is great, it has everything I am looking for, it's tall, skinny, not too deep, it has storage and a display area on top.  It is so different looking too, I love how the display door has an oval shaped glass, and the bottom is so leggy and open.  The knobs are pretty cool looking too with the brass round plate surrounding the actual wooden knob.  It is solid wood and inside the drawer is a little metal plate that reads Watkins Brothers Inc. Manchester.

Mid century Modern Dining room Hutch

Mid century Modern Dining room Hutch



I'm not sure how I am going to refinish it yet.  I'm not a fan of the orange-y stain color and the stain job was very poorly done and it's scratching and peeling off so it definitely needs to be refinished. I'm thinking I could paint it a modern glossy white, or stain it dark or both, I don't know yet.  I'm working on some custom furniture pieces for a customer so I have some time to think about it.  I can't wait to see it all spiffed up already and with my pretty things inside though.  I'm so glad to have found this piece and I couldn't wait to share it.

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.

Eclectic modern farmhouse dining room floating shelves

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.

Eclectic modern farmhouse dining room

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!

Eclectic modern farmhouse dining room diy rustic build cabinet greyvintage vases wine cork chess pieces vase fillers



vintage vases wine cork chess pieces vase fillers crate & barrel round mirror vintage radio




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.

Lack Floating shelves plants wooden bowls cups marble wine goblets

marble wine gobletswooden cups



flying pig wooden bowls


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.


Eclectic modern farmhouse dining room floating shelvesbrass flock birds




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.



   

  



 

Building a modern farmhouse dining table





I was seeing a trend on home blogs of building your own farmhouse dining table. I like the idea of saving money and building your own awesome dining table so we decided to build one for ourselves too.  Like a lot of people we used ana-white.com for free easy awesome plans.  I am now addicted to Ana's website. I want to build everything in our house from scratch but my husband doesn't share the same feeling.


modern farmhouse dining table

We had a smaller table with 4 chairs that didn't feel right for our small eat in kitchen which is our only eating space in our home.  So we sold it on craigslist and used the money to buy the supplies for our new table.


We are in love with our new table and a little obsessed.  We are also very proud of ourselves for building our own super sturdy, awesome, incredibly beautiful, obsessively gorgeous, makes me wanna clean it everyday modern family farmhouse dining table ( I told you I was obsessed).  We used the shopping and cutting list provided in Ana's website and then followed the instructions to a T.


We bought mini hand held Kreg jig.  We had never used one before but it was easy to use and I love that it hides all the screws under the table top.  We also had all of our lumber cut at Home Depot.






We then sanded the whole table but I don't have any pictures of that part of the process. We taped and covered the whole kitchen with plastic because we sanded it inside the house, crazy I know. We started with 60 grit rough sanding paper, then worked our way to 180 grit medium sand paper and all the way down to 220 grit fine sanding paper. We finished the table with wood conditioner, one thick coat of Rustoleum's Dark Kona stain applied with foam brushes.  We let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes and wiped out the excess with a cheese cloth.  We used  3 coats of Minwax water based polycrylic in satin finish for the top coat. And that's it.  She's a beauty.


And here she is with the chairs we bought through Craigslist.  The chairs are waiting to be painted, I'm thinking glossy white or some other bright pop of color, not sure yet.

modern farmhouse dining table


I'm in love, it's not perfect but it's not supposed to be.  It's bigger that our old table but the smaller chairs really help to make it feel alot more spacious than before.  It's been about 4 months since we built it and we couldn't be happier with our table, we are totally in love.

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