New Casa: Dining Room

The dining room in our new digs is coming together. Our table fits so much better in this space than it did in the old house.

There is room to maneuver around it, and if we host holidays, I think I will actually be able to use the leaf (cleverly hidden below the glass in the middle of the table). I love the simple, clean lines of the table. This guy - which the hubs got for free from a couple whose home he remodeled - is a keeper. It, like the rest of our furniture, just needs to be refinished. Add it to the list...

It's hard to see since my funky rattan chairs are blocking it from view, but the legs of the table have cool, Japanese-esque pagoda-like detail. I will try to remember to snap a pic. But this does bring me to my next point: I want to replace the chairs with home-made benches that run the length of the table. This would free up the view of the table's construction, which is quite cool. I am thinking something like this:

This one comes from Room and Board, but at $750 just for one, it's far out of our price range. Thankfully, we have a whole heap (literally) of teak and walnut wood in our garage just screaming to be used to make some furniture. Top it with a fun fabric cushion, and this bench could help break all that beige tile. 

Then I am hoping to score some midcentury modern chairs for the heads of the table. Preferably something curvy to contrast with the straight lines of the table and bench.

Source

Speaking of things hiding in our garage just waiting to be used, their is a Berber carpet remnant, also a score from one of Ryan's former jobs, that would help ground the dining area. Unfortunately, it's about the same color as the tile, but it is 100% wool, and it might look crisp if we take it to a local carpet store to get bordered. (Any recommendations?) 

I do want to get some stools for the dining-room side of the counter. 

I am just not sure what direction I want to go in yet. Wood or metal? Vintage or modern? But I figure anything has got to look better than these boxes. My plan is to stalk Craigslist till I find something.

Opposite the table is our sideboard with a makeshift bar. 

In addition to the bar (on the left), I have some of my favorite glass and china pieces on display, as well as some framed black and white photos. I plan to get a tray to demarcate the bar area from the other objects on display. (I found one at Pier 1 for $26 and I have a gift card there that would cover it. Score, right? Not so much. Evidently the gift card is 8 years old, which creates a big mess. Now I have to go in between 8-5 on a weekday. Not sure when that is going to happen...)

The rest of our china and glass pieces are in the two boxes pictured above. I had them on display in our old house on a built in bookshelf like the one in our living room, and all the pieces fit. No built ins to be found here; but we hope to make some floating shelves like these from Pottery Barn to display both our stemware and china. 

In addition, I want to put a couple floating shelves up behind the table to house the rest of our china and display other decorative objects. Ikea, here we come! I am hoping the finished product looks something akin to this:

Source

These items are low on the list right now. I am yearning to get some paint slapped up on the walls. The poor hubs just needs to stop working on the old house now (he's getting it ready for the new renters), so we can focus our attention on our new crib. (That's right, I just said "crib" like I've got some street cred.)