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!!

Dining Room Project: Complete!

Here’s some pics!!

BEFORE

After - the final "Dining Room Project" was the 10 frame gallery on the back wall.

Another shot

The frames include black and white pictures of some of our favorite artists (Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Aerosmith, Ramones) and lyrics from some of our favorite songs (You're My Best Friend, So Happy Together, Banana Pancakes and Here Comes the Sun).

Some close ups....

Rugs... And Lots of 'Em Thanks to Devon + PB

So… my rug was delivered today around 1:30 p.m. I was SO excited. My sister was even over and couldn’t wait to see it, too. The guy takes it out of the fedex truck and I’m like oh shiz… it’s THIN. He takes it in, leaves and I roll it out and it’s WAY too thin, not at all what I had in mind. More like an outdoor rug. Total FAIL. My sister’s like come on, we’re going to the Pottery Barn Outlet now! So we hop in her SUV and ride up to the outlets.

I find one I LOVE for the pool table area and I’m still looking and looking and then they come over and say an additional 30% off all rugs. Then, a guy says if you go to the food court you can get a 20% one item at Pottery Barn… um, that’s it! We start pulling out so many rugs. I ended up with FOUR rugs:

1. Pool table area: 8x10 Natural Stripes Rug; Originally $549; on sale for $200, with 30% off… $140!


2. Dining room: 8x10 Chanille Rug; Originally $400; on sale for $250, with 30% off AND $20 off… $140!


3. Living room: 5x8 Links Rug; Originally $429; on sale for $130, with 30% off…$91!


4. Entryway: 3x5 Links Rug; Originally $179; on sale for $34, with 30% off….$24!

So, yes, I got FOUR Pottery Barn rugs for $395, with 7% tax a grand total of: $422.65. And, I had a leftover wedding gift card for $58.14… make that grand total: $364.51.

The other rug (the one that I ordered but was thin – blah) was $350 ($374.50 with tax). So yes, I got FOUR rugs for $10 less than the one I didn’t even like and isn’t nearly as nice/high quality as the Pottery Barn ones. I feel SO lucky today – yesss. So, here’s pics… I hope you like as much as we do!!

Ah... who doesn't love a fabulous sale?!! Clearly i'm still on a shopping high!


The seating area/pool table area rug and the new side tables!

The new dining room rug!

The new den rug (same as entry way rug - just a larger size!)

Entry way rug (smaller version of livign room rug)

Dining Room Idea...

So me and Austin thought about doing metal birds, white ones, on the long wall. We can't find them anywhere. And i'm slightly worried it's too modern for the rest of the house. :(

Then we thought of art... art is expensive. They're nothing we like that much to spend the $.

So I saw this at Ikea and took a picture. I liked the look of it.



I shared it with Austin, and while he liked it, we agreed that for us to do something similar, we needed:

• Two rows of five rather than three because of the woodwork in the dining room.
• We needed birch not silver - silver stuck out too much and it would be the only silver thing in our house aside from my office.
• We wanted to put music in it. Kind of weird, but I love the idea of black and whites of our favorite musicians with lyrics in other frames staggered similar to the above.
• For the pictures, we talked about buying this book - only $20 at Barnes and Noble, and framing pics from it.
• The frames are 17"x13", which I think is a good size, and only $10 each so we can do the whole wall for $120 + tax! (which, when I go to Ikea today, i'm taking back two throws and three gallery lights, which cost $95 before tax so REALLY i'm only spending $25 + tax... right? haha

K - hope you like the ideas!

If you have thoughts on the filler or think music in the dining room is a disconnect - holla! I'd love to hear your feedback!

New Chair for the Orange Guest Room

Oops! I never posted this beauty! Mom and Dev were up at the outlets and found this Pottery Barn Grayson chair ($500 in store) for $75. Yes. Crazy!! I love it, it's perfect for the orange guest room!!

Now I want two of them (in green) for the dining room... but not for $1,000..... Hmmm.

Late Breaking News: Dining Room Before and After

Disclaimer(s):

a. I have not put the furniture back into the room or hung the new mirrors on the wall!
b. This photo was taken at night with a camera whose lens was slightly dirty.
c. The table is not set right (those are the mirrors on the table!)

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE



AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

So what do you think?!

Painting's Pricetag is Painful

So... painting isn't cheap. At all.

Culprit



Pros

• We trust this guy. We don't have to be in the house when he's in it (we trust his wife to be here and clean when we're not here - so why shouldn't we trust him to be here without us?) He's good people.


• He does good work. I've seen his final products and it's so perfectly professional. There's NO WAY we could make it look even kind of that good.


• We don't have to do it. No buying supplies, no making messes, no spending time, no crap results after spending time and money. And it's not just painting - it's mudding (previous owners painted over wallpaper border...) and they're fixing several cracks in the ceiling.


• He can do it this week. It's a 3-day job for the half bathroom, dining room and 8' hallway between dining room and kitchen (including priming, painting, mudding, trimwork, ceilings, etc.)

Cons

It's $1,000. I know. It's kind of a lot. But we got other quotes (2) and they were $1,200 and $1,150 NOT including the halfbath. But really, in all honesty, it's $500 each to have it look EXACTLY how we want it completed by Thursday by a professional whom we trust. So i'm going to rest easy knowing that while i'd prefer for it to be $500 TOTAL it's all good. I can't WAIT for it to be done!!

P.S. It should be said that these rooms were painted by the previous owner's wife and her son... total crap job. And have I mentinoed the ceilings in both the half bath and hallway are also red with gold stars. They sponge painted stars and celestial patterns on the ceiling in gold textured paint. Oy.

Calling in the Pros

We're calling a painter tonight - woo!! We've decided that dining room MUST be painted and while we COULD do it ourselves, we worry it will be a waste of $ + time and end up looking like crap. BLAH! Hopefully he can come over and check it out, let us know how much it will be and, in a perfect world, paint on THURSDAY! Wish me luck... and YES we're having the little hallway by the pantry quoted, too! (including the dreadful ceiling, remember? Oh my... i've GOT to take a picture of that ceiling! hahaha

The Red MUST Go

I apologize in advance for the poor photo quality! But here is how our dining room is looking. The red MUST go - it's throwing everything off in my opinion. I want it the color of the rest of the house.... or maybe even something darker! (darker brown) Hmmm

Austin says we should take back the 4 white chairs and get 4 more of the banana weave chairs. What do you think??