Monday, November 7, 2011

Our Home Tour: The Dining Room

small dining room decorating ideas
Well, the dining room seemed like the next best place on the tour. Afterall, most of the changes over the last few months have been in this room. You might remember that we had a large rectangular table in here, with wood toned chairs with red cloth seats. The room also was a dark shade of sage green (BR: GrasshopperWing).

After getting completely fed up with having such a large table with no leg room for our guests, I bought this round table, which leaves out into 15' long. It's draped with a 108" burlap fringed tablecloth from Ballard Designs. I love this tablecloth - and will eventually buy a natural colored one for the summer months. The chairs are a great thrift store find, all 4 (very solid) chairs for just $25. I spent hours, neh, weeks gilding these chairs - and I fear I'm still not done.

The chandelier was purchased on eBay, an effort to match the fixtures that might have once been in the house. They're made from heavy "pot" metal, and then enameled with the color.
small dining room decorating ideas
A full view of the dining room from the living room. Those windows look out onto the backyard garden, which is quite spectacular during most of the year. Right now - not so much. The matching sideboard to the once massive but useless table stayed under the original buffet window, and I left the matching chairs, too.

The dining seats are covered in a linen toile, and the side chairs are covered in a heavier cotton in a neutral oatmeal and gold stripe.

dining room decorating
You might remember the post I did about the basket bar on the secretary. When I moved the secretary into the living room, I had to find a place for the bar, so the sideboard got the job.

The sideboard is beautifully appliqued and carved, and has some nice hand forged pulls and knobs. Probably about 50-years old, it's a copy of some more expensive sets of an earlier period, and are very popular in this area. Just about everyone has either had one, or still does.
formal dining room interior design
The basket for the bar came from Christmas Tree Shop, a great bargain at just $5, and perfect for the cocktail selection I've got out. The ginger jar is one of my best, a true antique with a wooden lid. I love this jar, and I got a great deal on it because the value has been significantly reduced by a crack along the backside.

The brass candlesticks are huge, and HEAVY, and came from a Salvation Army in Texas for $8/each. The decanters are a collection, one a very nice and relatively expensive Pasabahce crystal from Turkey. The other glasses are cut crystal from Macy's. Behind it all, you see another painting from the Russia trip. This one a farm scene.

botanical pressed flowers dining room art
The dining room has a swinging door into the kitchen, and the walls on either side of the door are not the same width. So, one side of the door has a collection of my herbiers from Massachusetts, and the other a small rolling bar with some of my favorite accessories. Let's take a look a that one first ...

dining room decorating ideas
I got the mirror out of the trash, and yes, I'm proud of it! I'm not sure why they threw it out - perhaps they just got tired of the decor, but I knew it'd work perfectly at our house - so out it came. I layered it with both hanging and leaning art, a sort of signature of mine.

The hanging herbier is hung from jute on simple art screws. If you attempt this on your own - know that it does take time to get everything lined up perfectly - but it's oh so worth it! Because I hung one of our roe buck antlers above the other botanical set up - I figured having one on a brass tray here was a nice balance.

dining room gilded chairs
This little bar cabinet is something Scott bought at a tag sale in Texas before he came back to Niagara Falls for good. You see, he was still in the Air Force when we moved into the house - so he was back and forth from December to March, and in that span, I cleaned and painted, and he shopped. Somehow looking back, that doesn't seem so fair, does it?

Anyway, the cabinet isn't my favorite piece, but getting rid of it will be like asking Scott to chop off a foot. For some reason, he's really attached.

Atop the cabinet, my paternal grandfather, for whom I am named after, left his WWII Army Bible to me, and I have done my best to take great care of it. It's the beautiful base of an antique brass cricket box filled with wine corks. I know, I know - we look like alcoholics, don't we? We're not - I promise! My favorite orange roses, with some berried eucalyptus in a simple square glass vase warm up the vignette.

dining room vignette decorating ideas
I bought the stone altar from Wisteria outlet when I was in Texas in September. It has a chip in the bottom left corner that is hardly noticeable seeing as how the whole thing is chipped, so it was a whopping $35. Much less than the $179 retail price! A brass tray filled with wooden beads and a brass bird bell complete the top, with not an inch of space to put a glass of wine. But hey, that's what the table is for! LOL!

dining room decorating interior design decorating ideas
On the opposite side, a full collection of the herbiers. These are all the same collection, pressed in 1981, on the same day I was born a year later, in the town Scott grew up in. Now, how cool is that?

I got the roe buck antlers on our spring trip to Brimfield. They were $15/each!!

dining room chairs
The rug is seagrass, banded in warm chocolate brown. A nice texture, and easy to clean. I opted not to layer other rugs on this seagrass, since there were so many other layered rugs in the house. The drapes are super long, silk taffeta in chocolate, something Scott wasn't too happy about hearing the cost of - but you can't have a room built on all low-dollar items. You gotta have the highs and the lows ... at least, that's my excuse for spending WAY TOO MUCH!

dining room decorating
The sconces are not a match to the chandelier, but are very close, and are of the same period made from the same metal and painted in the same style. Of course, the pillows on the side chairs, meant to mimic the very expensive velvet and Flemish tapestry pillows, are made from my favorite velvet from Calico Corners (Velluto) in Espresso, and the same linen used on the chair seats.
small dining room decorsting ideas
The rooms in our house are set up in an enfilade style. Here you can see that the dining room opens directly onto the living room, and the living room directly onto the sunroom and foyer. It makes for wonderful flow and makes what is otherwise a small house, feel much larger.
dining room design chocolate brown
When it came time to make decisions for the table dressing for the photoshoot, I thought about setting an elaborate table setting, but after chatting with Scott and a few friends, decided that something more casual would be a better fit. That's when I decided to use this basket (which I painted gray from it's original brassy colored wicker) and stacked with our ironstone, and silverware.
dining room inspiration
Red apples and autumn colored flowers finished out the grouping. I had also purchased green apples and spring flowers for the vignette, in the event that they wanted to have a lighter, spring time look, but this one won them over.

decorating ideas for dining rooms
And there you have it - the CDLV dining room. I hope you like it, and by all means, stop by anytime for a bite to eat and a glass of wine!

57 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Love the sideboard and all the layers and textures in the room.

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  2. Beautiful Artie! Absolutely love the flow of rooms. This style architecture is a favorite of mine.

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  3. Love it, Artie. I would like to see a close up photos of your chairs because it is somewhat difficult to see the finish.

    I love the sideboard and your vignettes are stunning, as usual.

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  4. You are so good at putting things together. Love all the changes.

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  5. The room is BEAUTIFUL Artie!! Absolutely perfect. I love everything you have done here and especially love the shutter hanging horizontally over the windows- very creative.
    The room is so welcoming and lovely!

    xojoan

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  6. Artie. I agree with you on the drapes.. they are the crowning touch for the room. I love your new look. the shot with the sideboard, the luscious colors on the table, just is the perfect perfect picture.. Your home is so inviting and lovely. I gather so many ideas from your style.. i love it. xo marlis

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  7. Perfection... gotta go unlock my jaw...
    Swoonworthy...
    Lee

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  8. Very pretty Artie! Can't wait to see the rest.

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  9. gorgeous space. I really love the way you have arranged your herb picture collection!

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  10. what's for dinner? I am on my way over :-)

    Lovely room, especially the sidebar! You certainly have more room with the round table and all the furniture shows up because of the space now! And Scott's piece is beautiful. I love how all of your furniture or accessories have a story behind them...looking forward to seeing more!

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  11. STUNNING Artie! Your dining room belongs in a magazine! I love the fabric you have on your chairs. Martina

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  12. What's left to say that hasn't already been said, Artie? You've got great taste, and an amazing way of putting it all together. I personally love everything, and I can't even thinkg about choosing a favorite thing.

    Just beautiful, you should be very proud!

    Amy

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  13. Great job, very beautiful.

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  14. What a beautiful room!! I love that basket with the plates and flowers and silverware, such a great idea.

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  15. Like Gerry, and the others - I can't wait to see the rest. I don't think we've seen your bedroom in a while, would love to know what ideas you have in there that I can borrow! :)

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  16. Love those pillows you made, they're perfect for those chairs.

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  17. What a beautiful space. It is coming together wonderfully :)

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

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  18. Oh Artie, I don't know where to begin. This room is just beautiful and you ahve "dressed" it beautifully too! I love that sideboard and never knew that the window above is called a buffet window! See, I am NOT too old to keep learning:) I ADORE those drapes, what I can see!!! I am totally enjoying this wonderful tour! XO, Pinky

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  19. Well, well, well - just when I thought the room I'd be right at home in was your sunroom, you post this gorgeous dining room! Now, I'd like to say this is the room I love the most!

    Peggy in PA

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  20. Love it Artie, great job - and the photos are really really nice.

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  21. Lovely, I think that the burlap table cloth with the fringe is interesting, rough but luxurious. Very nice juxtapose.

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  22. What's not to love, Artie? Gorgeous.

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  23. My fave are those little antique iron bulldogs no one else has noticed! :)

    Great stuff Artie - you've got a wonderful eye for design.

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  24. Love the round table in there, opens up the space so nicely, and the decor is stunning.

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  25. Would you be interested in helping me with my dining room? I love this look!

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  26. Love this home tour, Artie.

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  27. WOW!
    WOW!
    WOW!


    WOW!
    xox,
    B

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  28. I think that the chocolate brown is such a nice touch, Artie. I would love a burlap tablecloth like that, but alas, I don't have a round table.

    The styling is so beautiful, too. You should definitely be in a magazine! Congratulations on your feature.

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  29. Gin and Tonic, please? I'll be there in 20!

    Beautiful room, Artie.

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  30. Love the botanicals Artie, and the way that they are hung. It's a stunning room, not a thing stands out more than the other - beautifully harmonized. Stunning.

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  31. The dining room looks fabulous. I love all of the furnishings and art and feel you must be very talented to have found some of the pieces for such a great price! Well done.
    Karen

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  32. A beautiful room, Artie. I love the sideboard, your happiness jar, the period perfect light fixture, contrasted with the informality of a sea grass rug. I love it all. Best...Victoria

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  33. Artie it is stunning...I love all the little details. Over the bar cabinet...atop the buffet. You both have such a great attention to detail and love for the eclectic. That is why I love you house so much, it looks so well travel and lived in and inviting. Job well done...bravo to you both!


    MJ
    Lucky 7 Design

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  34. I think you should have your own store. You're a natural for creating interesting vignettes.

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  35. Well, I don't even know where to begin Artie boy. You have outdone yourself with this room. Warm, comfortable, but inspirational all at the same time.

    It's like looking at a room that you would feel so right at home in, but could never afford. I can't beleive you got those candlesticks for just $14 for the pair. WOW!

    Great job, but I wouldn't expect any less.

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  36. Gorgeous. I love the layers of beauty you've created in such interesting and one of a kind items.

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  37. Load it up, Artie. I'll take everything.

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  38. Lovely. I wish I lived here.

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  39. Really nice, I like the dining room chairs.

    Very nice.

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  40. If I stop by, I'm skipping the eat and drink session and going right in for another kind of stuffing--my very LARGE purse, where lots of other goodies could be carried out. (While you are looking the other way and in deep conversation with those snacking). I think that's a great idea.♥♫

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  41. OMG!!! So gorgeous...everything is absolutely dvine!! I love the herbiers layered over the mirror!!!
    ~Des

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  42. Love it! Absolutely gorgeous in every way! I love that stone altar and I can't believe you scored it for such a bargain! WOW!!

    Great job Artie. Also love your blog layout.

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  43. What gray did you use for the basket, Artie? It looks perfect!

    Lovely room.

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  44. Very nice, the gold chairs are the perfect touch!

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  45. Gorgoeus. Gorgeous. Gorgeous!

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  46. Artie, it's really really lovely. You've done a great job - you should be very proud.

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  47. Great room. Beautiful photos.

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  48. It's got your magic touch. I love the furnishings and the room. A swinging door to the kitchen, I would love that.

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  49. what a change! wow! i love the round table - it's perfect inthe room - dont' go back to the other one - it should be round in this room. love everything - the chandy, the tablecloth - THE DRAPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    you did goooooooddddd!!!!

    love the bar ontop that piece under the window. looks great = oh an dlove the herbiers!!!

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  50. Love, love, love! Oh I do wish I was close enough to stop by. :)
    xo Dianne

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  51. My God, your house is gorgeous. You know how to decorate. I like so many elements here (esp. the windows over the sideboard). Love the sideboard, the basket bar, the ginger jar, the velvet pillows, the drapes, the vignette on that cabinet Scott bought, the found mirror...all perfect!

    I love this tour and you are very brave showing all the angles in your rooms - mine all have (at least one) one bad side where the mail is piled, where the chair sits with the broken arm, where the cat bed is, etc. :D

    Such great taste!
    Terri xo

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  52. Everything looks great. I'm glad that you've respected the style and era of your house in the somewhat permanent details. You've chosen to leave the orginal gumwood woodwork. And you've chosen light fixtures that either are original to the house or could have been there originally. Then you included the current, trendy decor touches in areas that can be swapped out relatively easily since tastes tend to change as time moves on. I really like what you've done. Thanks for sharing. Best regards, Ruth

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  53. Artie, I am finally finding your blog and so enjoying it. Your home is beautiful. You are very blessed with a talent and an eye for interior design.(not surprising:) I love what you have done, and all the details you give us about each room!

    Rebecca from Texas

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  54. LOVE the sophistication! Love how you pieced it all together and the rich colors. I like he round table too.

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