Quick, Updated Tour of Our Dining Room
Ever since I added trim around our cased openings and board and batten in our dining room, the walls in there have been blank. I was just at a lost as to what to put in there that all worked together.
So a little over a month ago, I posted on my Instagram stories asking for some help decorating my dining room. (You can still check them out in my highlights.) And boy did y’all have some great suggestions!
I mentioned in my last post about refinishing our dining table that we decided to sell it. I loved the shape and curvy legs, but it was just too large for our dining room. To have it positioned where you could access chairs on all sides meant it blocked the path from the living room into the sunroom.?? So my mom lent us my grandparents’ old table that she had in storage. It has leaves that fold down making it perfect for our small room.
And my mom actually offered the first suggestion too-turn our table perpendicular to the way we had it and push it up against the wall. Ahh! It just worked so much better for our current family situation. Another thing I realized is that I loved the wooden utensils we’d had but didn’t like the way I had them previously hung straight up and down. One night a light bulb moment hit me, “turn them sideways!”
For the next few days after I made those changes, it made me smile every time I walked through the room. That’s what home decor is all about! Making you happy in your own home.☺️
The second suggestion from my Instagram stories was from my friend Sheena over at Bean in Love. She suggested thin-framed picture frames on either side of our window. I mean, duh, why didn’t I think of that?! So I (almost) immediately got online and ordered these giant 16×20 frames from JoAnn Fabrics. They happened to be having a sale (??) so they were $11 each and free shipping!
Since we already have enough white going on in this room, I sprayed the frames with my new go-to gold paint, Rust-Oleum’s Satin Bronze. (I also used this on my drawer knobs in my mini bathroom refresh.)
These picture frames were also a great opportunity to print some of our family portraits we had taken in June. I’m a firm believer in having great family photos taken at least once a year! Fortunately I received a portrait session from my favorite photographer for my birthday. Perfect gift for a mom who’s head over heels in love with her family.?
For the wall over the dining table next to our wooden utensils, suggestions included a large tobacco basket and a large piece of art amongst other things. I decided to just use what we had hanging previously, a print of the Last Supper I picked up at Goodwill and then proceeded with ruining the frame a few years ago.?
It might not be “the best”, most ideal thing to go with everything else, but I need to move on and call this room done! Plus where else in your house do you hang a picture of Jesus eating dinner…in the dining room of course!
But honestly since I hung the print up above the board and batten (therefore making it higher than you’d normally hang pictures), it makes the room feel so tall! I can’t explain it other than that’s just how it feels when you catch it out of the corner of your eye. It elongates the room which is never a bad thing.
One last little thing that isn’t a change, per se, but something I think should be pointed out. We keep our bookcase in our dining room. No it’s not the typical place you’d find one in someone’s home, but you have to make your home work for you! We’ve had it a bunch of different places in our house and I like it here best.
It fits snuggly in the corner without disturbing the flow through the room. As long as we still need the storage space, we’ll keep it where it works for us and I encourage you to do the same in your house too! Think outside the box! And if you’re interested, I documented the updates I made to this bookcase several years ago here and here.
What’s your dining room situation? Do you use it everyday like us? Or only for special occasions? Spill in the comments!
Thanks for Checking In! ~Chelsea
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One thing for sure is that you will probably change this again too. I have changed things in my home many times. You will need something new for the room and one change leads to another. Your room looks good.
Why are you not on a SECURE SITE?
It all looks so good, yes I use my dinning room everyday, I have a galley style kitchen ( not a fan of) hopefully one day we can remodel it, my dining area is farm style, just a farm table with 4 chairs, 2 extra are in office room, no hutch either, just a small bench in corner with plants on it, my sliding door is in the dinning area so I have to work around that
I love this it looks so clean and uncluttered .I wish I was half as organized as you .Time is not on my side 3 acres to mow and trim and weed pulling and grocery shopping and oh yeh I am 65 years old and still do all this by myself .I need tips on getting organized better
Thanks, Sissy! Sounds like you have your hands full! I thrive on having a tidy home-I can’t think well or rest when it’s cluttered. So that motivates me to keep it that way! It helps for everything to have a designated place, otherwise it can end up anywhere and everywhere! I’ve also been slowly going through all of our possessions over the past year and getting rid of anything that we don’t use or don’t love! There’s still stuff I can’t part with, but my willpower has gotten stronger over the past 12 months for sure! ~Chelsea
We designed and built our home and didn’t put in a “formal” dining room, I always heard stories where people rarely use them, so it seemed like a waste of space. I have a dining room and yes we use it. I can decorate fancy for nicer meals or we can just use it. I’m a practical person, even you say your home needs to work for you. Good advice!
That’s right, Barbi! I wish I could use the square footage of our formal living room and redistribute it to other rooms in our house! We never use it, but could definitely use a few more square feet in our bedrooms or bathroom! ~Chelsea