Dining Room

Our dining room is no longer just that empty room we walk through to get from the living room to the kitchen!  Thanks to Santa we've been on the hunt for a table since Christmas and once we found one it seemed mean to bring our pretty new table home to this:

Before: pale blue with an ugly light

Really, it wasn't that bad.  I mean, the only thing in the room is the light, it just happens to look like it belongs in the 1800's and runs on oil instead of electricity.  We loved the plantation shutters, crown molding, and chair rail but thought some fresh paint and color contrast would bring out the cream accents and trim better.   

Did I mention the ugly light?

We decided on neutral gray tones (Valspar's Cement for above the chair rail and Valspar's Meteorite for underneath it) and scurried about to get the room ready before the delivery truck arrived.  The brown parquet floors with the brown furniture was just too much brown for our taste so we got a rug for underneath and a very simple, contemporary drum light for above it.


After: modern and elegant

The chairs are named Louis Phillipe (no, I did not name them, that was what the style was called).  There are eight chairs, six without arms and two with arms.  With a name like Louis Phillipe I find it hard not to slip into a french accent when I see them.

Bonjour!

The table has two leaves, and is almost too big for the room when both are in, but it's nice to have the option in case we ever need that much space.  In natural light the room looks gray, but with the overhead light sometimes it looks blue.  Here's a close up of the rug before we put the table over it:

Since I don't have anything on the walls yet, the rug helps add some pattern and interest to the room.  Here I am enjoying my Valentine's day dinner in my new dining room table:

There are still some finishing touches needed (art, outlet covers, a table runner, centerpiece, etc.) but the big items are purchased and in place.  Now the only question is... who wants to come for dinner??

Wish you were here!