I love Pinterest. Sooo many great ideas that just get my brain going and lusting after new and wonderous things for my home. Not that I can afford to do everything that strikes my fancy, nor do I have the time but I’m just sayin’.
I am, however, very slowly, working on updating my dining room and Pinterest gives me so much inspiration and ideas I just love it as a resource. And, it’s getting me to make an actual plan for a change!
Here is a little of what inspires me:
I grabbed these photos off of Pinterest so I’m sorry that I can not accurately attribute them to their original sources.
Do you notice a theme? Slipcovered or upholstered chairs, lanterns, casual beautifulness?! LOVE it all!
So here’s my dining room as of today…definitely a room in progress (also, please excuse my poor photography skills):
So far I have re-painted the dining room walls (the color is Valspar’s Weekend in the Country but I had it mixed in Behr’s Ultra Premium paint and primer in one — love that brand!) and have made two Craig’s list buys — a new dining room table with upholstered chairs and an old china hutch. I have made over the hutch, but have since decided it needs further tweaking. I have also started making white slipcovers for the chairs. Notice one of them in white?! Obviously, I’ve just started but I’m excited about reaching the finish line!
Here’s a picture of the hutch as I found it on Craig’s list:
After:
As usual, I didn’t do enough research when I bought the paint for the hutch, so I’m not loving the color with the new walls. It’s too light and there’s no wow factor — not enough contrast I think. I’m thinking dark blue…navy-ish. (The current color, by the way, is Annie Sloan’s Old Violet with clear wax — ASCP is so interesting the way it looks different depending upon the application. This was my first time using it and I really, really liked it!) The walls are lighter than the look I originally had been going for, but the color is a good neutral so I’m sticking with it and will just adjust everything else. Of course, now that I’ve gotten a start, I’ve decided to come up with an actual plan that I can refer to and see how it all looks together – ha ha! Sometimes I’m just too impatient and impulsive for my own good. Here’s the plan I’ve come up with so far:
See how the armoire I’ve chosen as my inspiration is a dark navy-ish charcoal? I think that would look better with the light walls.
Also, I’m a total sucker for checked fabric, so I had to throw that in somewhere…I’m thinking throw pillows for my wingback chairs that flank my sideboard. Or, maybe I find a big checked rug for under the table? Gotta keep looking. And I love that print fabric for some curtains — oh my! Eventually, I’d like to recover my wingbacks, but that’s not in the budget right now.
Just saw this Zola rug at Pottery Barn…this could look cool in the room. Or maybe it’s too much?
Just playing around.
And, it kinda reminds me of this Sarah Richardson beauty….
Maybe it’s the same rug? Dunno. But I like it!
As I mentioned earlier, I have a bunch of white twill fabric that I plan to use to make slipcovers for the dining chairs but eventually maybe I can do the grainsack just like the cute little wingback in my design plan picture? Love it!
And, I need to throw a little ranch-y flavor into this plan too, so that’s why I chose that particular mirror — has a western feel to me because of the nail-head type appearance. Not sure if I’ll stick with it but it caught my eye at Lowe’s and I love that it’s 99 bucks! The western/ranch stuff is a nod to my husband’s taste.
For a long time I got way too theme-y with the western thing because I just didn’t know how to bring it into my style. As a result, I was never happy with the decor in our home — it never felt like me. I don’t know why marrying our two styles was so difficult for me but I just couldn’t get it right. I have finally figured out that I need to create the main layer of decor in my farmhouse/cottage style and I can throw in western touches here and there. That way, I actually LIKE the little touches I throw in. They are things that I think are kinda neat. Before I would think, “Oh, Kevin would like this” and then I’d get home and he’d just shrug his shoulders and say it was just okay. Just okay? Well, it’s not my taste…so why have it in our home? Anyway…I digress. Let’s just say I’ve struggled in this area.
Anyway, I’m getting kinda excited about this little plan of mine. It feels like me and the colors will flow with the rest of my house. Unfortunately, it’s going to take me awhile to execute the whole thing. I’ve just about spent my whole decorating budget for the year on my living room makeover (which I’ll share soon), not to mention all of the totally un-fun grown up expenses like a new air conditioner, a new back door and a termite removal treatment. Super fun! Ugh. I love being a grown-up.
