Dining Room: New Rug meant New Tabletop Decor

I LOVED my old dining room rug. It was a Pottery Barn Outlet find. Reuben loved it too. He loved to relieve himself on it to the point that we had to get it drycleaned. Fail. And then roll it up and replace it. Enter the new rug, which is a much more intense print which meant our printed place mats were no longer going to work.

Me, my mom and my sister all went up to Pottery Barn outlet today. They were setting up a display with a runner and these cool, heavy, awesomely rustic, candlesticks - with no candles in them. I loved it. I picked up 5 candlesticks (only $53 total) , my sis found the runner (only $15) in the store and game over - I was going to copy PB's tabletop for my living room for only $68. Here's how it turned out - not a major transformation but i'm much happier with the rug, and the room, now!

BEFORE: this is the new rug - you can see how the 'poppy' placemats were just kind of meh. As far as not just doing a single centerpiece in the middle - I was worried it would compete with the huge light that hangs over it! (not shown in this shot!)

AFTER: Candlesticks and runner instead - not competing with 'beehive' light... do you see little Reuben? LOL

Close up shot of candlesticks

The completed room - new tabletop and new 'party central' buffet!

Dining Room: "Entertainment Central" says BH&G

So, I was at the gym on Thursday and picked up a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. Not usually my bag, but I flipped through it and a page caught my attention. It was all about making your dining room buffet functional, and decorating with items that are great to have on hand for entertaining - even if it's last minute. Examples included a glass jug with napkin packs, baskets with appetizer plates and spreaders, a lazy susan with liquors, etc. Well, we already have a "beverage station" - our kitchen island has two cabinets with all of our liquors and mixers, and two drawers with all of our bottle openers, wine stoppers, spouts, etc. So I wanted to focus on making our sparsely decorated buffet a great location for: a few of my favorite serving dishes, party napkins, paper plates, plastic silverware, appetizer plates, spreaders, plastic cups, koozies, beer & wine charms, etc. - all of those things I dig out when we have company (usually kept in the pantry). In order to do this, I got the following: a couple of new servers at Crate & Barrel, new appetizer plates and spreaders, a big jar for napkins at Homegoods and a basket, green dinner napkins and a water goblet for displaying the spreaders.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Now for some detail shots:

Top shelf: new $10 server from C&B; new $6 server from C&B - narrow for crackers or olives; already owned two pottery barn servers, 3 Ikea mini servers and 8 Ikea sauce dishes

Bottom shelf: silver bucket that came as part of one of Austin's birthday gifts - it's filled with clear 16 oz. solos, clear wine glasses and our Martin-branded cups; new $12 basket from Pottery Barn outlet; filled with new $2.50 green cloth napkins from Pottery Barn, 8 new $3 Crate & Barrel appetizer dishes; new $10 Crate & Barrel mini tongs and already owned Pottery Barn pitcher.

Top shelf: Cutting board (wedding gift) - we've never used it but hope to use it more if it's out - maybe for cheese & crackers or something?!

Bottom shelf: Already owned Home Goods jar with wicker balls from Target; new $2 Pottery Barn Goblet with new green PB napkin; filled with 6 new $2 Crate & Barrel spreaders and 3 already owned Ikea mini spoons; new Home Goods $10 jar filled with new PB napkin and already owned paper napkins in brown and white (I plan to get more brown, white and green for it).

So what about the stuff that doesn't match the scheme? IT'S IN THE DRAWERS! Yes, novel concept using the drawers i'm sure. These used to be EMPTY. This is theme in our house... empty drawers!

Drawer #1: Already owned container and filled it with clear silverware; remaining is filler pinecones and rocks and extra runner

Drawer #2: Already owned clear plates and assortment of beverage napkins in different colors - room for more!

Drawer #3: Already owned assortment of plates, beer charms and extra bamboo placemats.

So that's it! I'm really happy with it but am open to recommendations? What am I missing? Is it cluttered or does it need more? There are a few items I have my eye on for it. They include:

some fancy toothpicks!

potentially this short storage bin for the low shelf - could replace servers? Could house more cups or koozies? May not be necessary and may be too "officey"

More appetizer plates - great price on this set of 12!

P.S. You can see a bit of our new dining room rug in these pictures. Reuben ruined the other one by making it his personal pee pad. Dry cleaning didn't even work. Sigh. More pics to come of it later.

P.S.S. SPECIAL THANKS to my mom and sis - I couldn't have this without them and their help today - I had so much fun with them and SO APPRECIATE their advice and ideas!!