Dining Room Beginnings

First, let me apologize to you if you saw the in-progress post that accidentally got published yesterday.  Finger slip when I was trying to save the draft... oops!!

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As I obsess about focus on some rooms of the house, others seems to be pulling themselves together on their own. The dining room is one that I have been giving little thought to, but its been coming together slowly nonetheless.

Here's where the dining room started:

Here's what it currently looks like with our existing furniture and the curtains from our old bedroom at the apartment:

I was pleasantly surprised how it came together without even trying.  It still needs some love, though...

The Plan so far:

• Mis-matched chairs w/uniform finish and upholstery. +/- 4 standard dining chairs, 1 bench, 2 upholstered chairs for either end of the table.
• New chandelier swagged over the table.  (current one to be refinished and probably end up in the bedroom)
• Decorative paint treatment behind piano.  New paint all walls.
• New curtains.
• Refinish 'liquor cabinet.'  Final location TBD.
• Create built-in china cabinet by kitchen.

At a tag sale over the weekend, I found the first piece (for $5!) of what will ultimately be the collection of mis-matched coordinating seating.

Isn't she pretty? (Yes, I've decided the chair is a 'she.')  She was buried in a garage with other matching and non-matching chairs, but none were in as good a shape as this one.  I want a project, not a gigantic undertaking, so I only bought the 1 in the best condition.

After tag-sale-ing, on a recommendation, I went to a new (to me) fabric store and found Mecca!  (Or at least fabric store Mecca)

...and I fell in love...

....with a fabric!

It wasn't exactly a discount fabric, but it made me stop dead in my tracks.

I needed to own it.

I only purchased 1 yard to start with while I devised a plan for it (and made sure Hubby didn't hate it before I made a big fabric investment).  This gorgeous fabric will most likely be the starting point for the dining room design.  It will upholster the seating and the many fabulous colors in it will find their way around the room.  Every time I walk through the dining room (where I currently have the fabric draped), it makes me smile.  I may take inspiration from John and Sherry over at Young House Love with their 'Sue the Napkin' and name my pretty new textile inspiration.  Maybe something exotic... any ideas?

Objectified

Not in the usual sense of the term, of course.  Here I'm using the work objectified to represent the tchotchke-fication of a space.  Think- sexified with objects. Now that I've created a whole new vocabulary for my post and probably lost you within the first paragraph, I'll continue.

I've been thinking a lot lately(among every other house-related thing) about how to best utilize objects in a space to personalize it to add a WOW factor.  If you knew me back in middle school, you're probably thinking- "This girl has zero issues adding accessories (read: crap)."  My room was a tchotchke and color explosion.  Every surface was covered- horizontal & vertical.  Around the time I went to college, I woke up one day and realized how completely psychotic the space around me had become and proceeded to totally de-tchotchke-fy my surroundings.  Those 2 sides of my personality have been entrenched in a power struggle ever since.

In previous apartments, I've kept the accessories to a minimum (for me), but I'm realizing now that some of the spaces lacked a certain depth.  Just like Stacy & Clinton always preach on What Not to Wear, layering is the key to adding visual interest in an outfit space.  Layering requires a certain finesse that is admittedly my design kryptonite .  I get so distracted by the 'big idea' or little shiny objects that its hard to focus on the in-between.  I need practice in layering the big and little.  I am soooo tempted to run out and buy a bunch of brand new decorative items and start layering them, but I'm putting my own breaks on.  98.67% of the items* in our house are new(ish).  We have random items that have a history (a watercolor by Hubby's Nana, my Grandma's piano...) but most of the stuff we have just FEELs new.  Since we are striving for an eclectically sophisticated balance in the house, I need to even out the new pieces with vintage and vintage inspired.

I have a vision!

Well, I have many- generally multiple for each room of the house.  The specific vision I speak of is about candlesticks in the bedroom.  The other week at my successful IKEA trip, I also took home these beautiful silver glass pillar candlesticks.  So pretty (and shiny!) but on their own, they're lacking visual depth.

BUT as I mentioned, I have a VISION!  Those mixed with vintage ones acquired through tag sales** will be divine!  I've wanted to have this collection of candlesticks for years.  A couple years ago when I was designing my wedding center pieces (holy crap, where did the time go), my first choice was a collection of mismatched candlesticks on each table.  My plot was foiled by time (to collect them all) and by the fact that the location wouldn't let me put unenclosed candles (sadface).

Now I have a house and NO ONE (except maybe Hubby) can rain on my parade!

Did I mention I am excited for Spring and the start of Tag Sale** season??

How do YOU objectify your space?

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* Totally accurate percentage, I promise

** or Yard Sales, or Garage Sales, or whatever you call them

*** images from ikea.com, brides.com

Illuminating!

Before moving, I made a big deal about getting rid of the ceiling fan and installing a beautiful new light... yet I've been silent about it since.  Curious. Let me break the suspense. We installed it. Its dimmable. It works. It needs futzing with and I've been avoiding dealing with it.

It's much easier on the eyes than the ceiling fan, but it still needs some love.  It needs leveling, but I'm procrastinating on that until I figure out what to do with the ceiling...  As you can see from the picture below, the hole from the ceiling fan was larger.  The way I see it, I have 2 options: patch the ceiling hole, or install a medallion.

I'm leaning toward medallion- it will cover the hole, help direct the light a bit better (so the light doesn't emphasize the ceiling defects as it does now), and hopefully help to create a bit more of a feature.  My inclination is to get a medallion that is larger than the 16" light and then (eventually) add some simple decorative moulding to the ceiling.

My only hesitation is that you don't normally see medallions with this kind of light (although that reasoning usually doesn't stop me).

I'd love to hear your feedback!