Fruit and Flowers

I can't do half of the posts I've been thinking about lately because my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger! I could just type but without the accompanying photos it's just me trailing off again. A blog emergency! So, I'll do whatever any resourceful blogger would do a pull up the million and one saved photo inspirations I've acquired in the last year.

Let's talk dining rooms! Some homes have them. Some homes don't use them. Some homes just store all the stuff they don't know where to put anywhere else (insert photo of massive amounts of seemingly unrelated items on dining room floor).

We LOVE the fact that our home has a dining room as well as a separate kitchen eat-in. It's our place to store our fancy dishes (or "china" as I was once corrected) and to offer more mingling and eating space when our massive parties get too large (No massive parties yet. Unless you consider Thanksgiving eating off a card table a massive party). It was soo nice to have on Thanksgiving. We were able to eat and relax and not even worry about the huge mess on the other side of the wall.

Now, what do we do decorating and furnishing wise with this room I LOVE.

Here's photos of said room.

 This room is so neglected the only photos I have of it are from our inspection with the previous owner's belongings in it! 

Close-up of wall-paper

O.K., not the worse example of wallpaper. We haven't touched it because 1) We are trying to force ourselves to stick with one room at a time  2) We debated long and hard as to if the wallpaper should stay in all it's fruit and flower glory. We asked family. We asked friends. Census is...older family members say it's not bad and holds a certain charm. The 20 - 30 year olds say, "It's just not you!!!"







So, WHO AM I? I'd like to think I'm fun, conservative, relaxed, loyal, not too trendy. Pretty much everything you'd want in a dining room!

 I love you. You.Are.Perfect. Light colored walls. Dark wood. Upholstered chairs. Colorful wingback chairs. Oh so gleaming chandelier. Pops of color. I may even try my own table on a diagonal because of you.

via Centsational Girl

If I could have two favorites this would be the other one. Pleated parson chair slipcovers!! Wingback chairs. Even the blanket on the left chair communicates how I want my dining room to look. And then, there's the walls. A light greenish, gray. Definitely the color I'm leaning towards. 

via House and Home

More slipcover love.

But, my chairs look like these: 

I think my husband would just about die if I told him I thought about doing this to them: 

via Cottage & Vine

P.S. Love the room color in the top photo

via Miss Mustard Seed

I even thought about painting the bottom portion of our table white too. I have since dismissed that thought. Love her curtains though! And of course, pleated slip covers!! 

via Willow Decor

This is more of what our room will look like since I highly doubt my love will let me touch the chairs with paint. Pretty slip covers, of course! 

Or, there's this idea. I could mix and match chairs or completely say sayonara to the old chairs and start over. 

Example A. Keep old chairs  (but in their natural wood state) and add comfy end chairs.

Example B. Get all new upholstered chairs. Probably in white.

via Knight Moves Blog

         

Example B 1/2: All new chairs. Probably not in ratan or wicker. Or whatever material that is. I do love it but I doubt Steve would go for it. Major curtain and blind inspiration there. Love how this room comes together. I even had a fight with my husband because of this very dining room. I wanted to move our hutch on the opposite wall so we could put two photos on either side like this blogger. Conversation did not go well. Apparently hutch is very heavy.

In other news, we have a new buffet server! Well, not new. It's old. And, it's not a buffet server. It's a dresser that I'm going to turn into a buffet. We got it at the Habitat Restore. Steve and Dad pick it up tomorrow! It will need some sanding and stain like the table (which is coming along nicely).

How awesome is this piece of furniture and the decorating that goes along with it?!! I might see how it would look to do the bottom of our buffet white with a stained top to match the hutch and table (especially since I can't paint the chairs). 

via Adventures in Decorating

The paint color, wainscotting, and decor of this room is amazing. 

This is the picture that started my whole quest for a light blue/green/gray room. Love the way the dark wood pops against the light walls. 

via Centsational Girl

And this, from my go-to-blogger for many house related problems and quests. Just love love love the feeling of this room. She refinished this table too. It's where I taught myself to do my own. Also gave me the inspiration for a round kitchen table. If you are thinking about refinishing furniture I HIGHLY suggest you follow the above link for her tutorial.

Would love a set up like this for the kitchen: 

My kitchen layout is very similar. Need to put counter stools on my to-do/buy list! But, this is a completely different long-winded post!! 

HGTV's 2008 Green Home

via Wainscot Solutions

Since this house isn't ALL about ME (!) here's Steven's dream dining room.

Not ME at all!! I'd rather keep the wallpaper. Red makes me so ANGRY. I'd sit in this room wanting to throw forks and knifes at people. I'm hoping if I keep showing him beautiful pictures of soothing dining rooms he'll come around. He has it predetermined that at least one room in the house will be regal red. Regal is fine...as long as I don't have to live in it!