The Hand-Me-Down Kids: Dining Room Edition

It's time to take a look at my Living Room's other half. When we bought the house, we thought we'd treat this whole room as a living room because we had a Breakfast nook, and I wasn't sure about a table as you walk in the door. But I couldn't figure out how to make an extra-long Living Room look anything but awkward, so we thought we'd give it a go as a dining room, it's intended purpose.

Our table was a hand-me-down from my old roommate, Brie. It was her parents old kitchen table, and when we moved into our place together, they brought up the old 1970s oak table for our kitchen. We all loathed this table - it came with Victorain chairs and the pedestal table had bear claw feet. I wish I had a picture of it in our very run-down house we rented, it was a site to see. But, when Brie offered it to us when we moved, I thought, hell, I won't have to buy a table for awhile, sure. And I promptly primed and painted the table, and left the chairs for donation pick-up.


Surprisingly, this table is now one of my favorite pieces - I love it white. I even think that the bear claw feet look sort of eclectic now. My plan all along was to replace the table ASAP with a rectangular or square version that would seat more people. But I was really starting to love the round table behind the linear couch, and didn't want the table to compete with or echo the rectangle of the couch. Then, just as I was thinking about this dilemma, Brie called to tell me her mom had found the leaf, and did I want it. YES! Casco did a little gnawing on one of the bear claw feet as a puppy, so an upcoming project is to sand the table again, and repaint the whole thing, leaf included.

I found these microfiber Parsons chairs at American Furniture Warehouse, our local one-stop shop. They're very comfy, and I love the look with the white table.
The "hutch" is an old desk that my mom and I found at an antique store and refinished together for my 11th birthday. We use the bottom drawers for placemats, out of season table runners, etc, and I put our Wedding China cups and saucers in the glass bookcase.

Being the messy person that I am, I realized not long into living here that with a table as I walk in the door, mail and keys and other crap will reside there. So I found some brown and black chargers at Target on clearance to fool myself into thinking that the table is always set. I change the table runner with the season, but I love this green one from Pottery Barn. Please excuse the wrinkles, I pulled it out of the dryer (Mr. B had a little mishap with balsamic vinegar last night) so I could take the photo for you and didn't have time to iron.

We love this room and eat here together every night. We know we're not done, but we love the start. I need some kind of console table behind the couch to act as a buffer between the two "rooms", and I'd like a bigger rug. But for now, this is our dining room. Thanks for stopping by!