Thanks to everyone who commented on our can light installation post yesterday! Now for a true before and after, here is the before shot of our dining room ceiling:
And here’s the after!
The new lighting in this room inspired me to dust some shelves and rearrange some accessories over the past couple of days. Since I haven’t posted many photos of our dining room on the blog in the past, here’s a little tour.
My back is to the kitchen doorway in this shot, looking to the north. Beyond the dining room is our living room, and Yes our Christmas tree is still up! It’s not bad unless it’s still up on Valentine’s Day, right? 😉
We love our dining room table and chairs. They were purchased separately, but I think the set goes together really well.
I got everything for our centerpiece on sale at one point or another. The runner is from Pottery Barn several years ago, the succulents, which are growing like crazy, were on sale at Lowes at the end of the season, the pots and wooden leaf tray are from a thrift store, and the gold tray I found yesterday at Hobby Lobby – you’d better believe I had my 40% off coupon!
This is probably the most colorful room in our house. It was the first room we painted, the first (RED) light fixture we installed, and the first furniture we bought, but we still love it!
The world map was another thrift store find that I removed from its icky frame and attached to a cork board. We’re planning to use it as our world travel map. I added the first pins this morning.
I’m thinking I’ll color code the pins at some point, but right now the four pins you see are all places Stephen and I have been together. (I’m sure there are more, but I’ll have to have Stephen remind me where they should go.) What I’d like to do eventually is have four different colors of pins – one color for trips together, one for places I’ve been, one for Stephen’s trips, and one color for trips we WANT to take!
I’m thrilled because we’re going to be adding a “together” pin to right side of this board this spring!
Looking towards the other side of the dining room, the other large piece of furniture is a hutch my dad made for us as a wedding gift. What can I say, he’s a talented guy!!
We like to keep our 6th dining chair on this wall so the walkway through the dining room is kept clear. We actually have two more of these dining chairs for additional seating, but we use one in our entryway and one at Stephen’s desk when they’re not needed.
The crazy orange arrangement on top of the hutch is our previous table centerpiece. I love how it turned out, but you can probably imagine it is hard to have a conversation around when it’s sitting on the table!
Do you remember when I found this globe on a trip to Mountain Home? The niche in our hutch turned out to be the perfect place to display it. I added some travel books and champagne glasses to the top niche and that little H was another sale at Hobby Lobby find.
This is my favorite little fruit bowl. It currently holds all the snacks that came in a Christmas gift basket (thanks Smith family!) along with a fun red liner. When I use it for fruit, I take out the liner and you get to see all the pretty white ceramic ruffles around the edges of the bowl.
To the right of the hutch is a mini bar cart Stephen got me for Christmas. He remembered me admiring it while we were out shopping one day – 1000 points for paying attention! 🙂
We keep most of our barware in the china cabinet, but the top of this cart is just big enough to hold a few bottles of liquor and some cocktail napkins, and there’s still enough room to mix drinks.
And on that note, we end our tour!
I hope you have enjoyed seeing our dining room. Like most of the other rooms in our house, there are still things on the to-do list. In the next few months, I’d like to add some trip photos to the world map wall (have you picked up on the Travel theme in this room?) and get an area rug for under the table.
Further on down the line, we’ll be replacing the flooring in the dining room and the rest of the house, and then this room will finally get its baseboards back!
I’m pleased with how everything is turning out though, and I can’t wait to continue on this remodeling, DIYing, decorating adventure we call homeownership! Thanks for reading! 🙂
Linking to:
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
