That’s right, loyal readers, tonight is the night….the night I finally reveal my newly decorated dining room. It’s been a long time coming and isn’t even necessarily complete, but it’s as complete as it’s going to get for a while. I’ll have it tidied up and photos taken and posted by tonight! Hope you enjoy!

The color is beautiful and really blends well with our Rocky Mountain Sky painted living room. And my husband is Greek, so I like the name.

I paired it on our TV console with some chippy candleholders I was given as a wedding gift…

And the verdict is….I love it!

I also found a few things to dress up my fireplace. You may remember that I’ve pointed this fireplace out as a major design dillema before. The mantle is too high and it just looks bare no matter what I do. Well, I got a beautiful firescreen to dress it up a bit.

The screen was a “hostess special” and you wouldn’t believe the deal I got! It’s got feet (which you can’t see in the photo…should really pay more attention to detail when taking those), and the middle portion is actually a door that opens so you don’t have to move the entire screen to poke the fire or throw on a log. I love love love the acorn finial on the top!

The hurricanes up top are new from the Southern Living at Home line as well. They’re a coppery bronze color with a georgous turqoise patina on them. I used them to flank a bronze mirror I already owned and a “G” that plays musical rooms around our house…he just goes wherever I need him! I haven’t decided what to put inside them yet. I’m thinking some creamy white candles on moss to bring some springtime cheeriness into the room…maybe easter eggs in April…and I can already see gold & silver ornaments for next December!

All in all, the SLAH party was a success! I got few more things for the house, but I’ll save those for a later post!

~Katie

I spent a good bit of time this weekend getting rid of home décor. I took a few of my things to a friend’s yard sale and managed to clear some space in the basement. But you know that doesn’t mean I didn’t find a few new (or old) things to replace them! My first find this weekend developed from a trade off. My friend hosting the yard sale gave me this great huge seagrass tray in exchange for a couple of items of mine.

Since the addition of the larger coffee table , I’ve been looking for something to put on top that didn’t obstruct views at eye level. I hate a tall piece in the middle of a table that people have to look across…it just doesn’t make any sense! I also wanted something that served a functional purpose like holding the remotes, magazines, etc. This tray is the perfect size for the table, adds great texture, and looks great with the rest of the room. Now, I’m on the hunt for similar baskets to put underneath the table to hold blanket and dog toys!

After the yard sale, I hit up a few antique stores and scored a few small things like this vintage apothecary jar to store cotton balls in the bathroom.

I’d like to find another, larger one to display my monogrammed soap collection. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

I also found some great vintage plates.

One is white with scallop detailed edges and the small blue one has a greek key and clover design. I especially like the blue one. My husband is Greek so I love most anything with the greek key motif. These will go with the rest of the small, but growing collection that will eventually adorn one of the walls in my dining room. I foresee a lot of plate arranging in my future before I’ll be able to commit and actually hang them!

So there you have it! My finds for this weekend!

~ Katie

Welcome to the first Want It Wednesdays post. I’m contantly thinking of projects I want to do and pieces I want to add to my home. So why not designate an entire day/post of the week to some of the things I’m dying to have? And believe me, at one day a week, this could take yyyeeeaarrrsss.

1. Round Dining Room Table: I love a round dining room table. It just feels so inviting! Our home isn’t really a “head of the table” type of environment so the idea that everyone is included and facing each other during a meal is very appealing to me. Currently, we have a bar height four top table with matching bar height chairs that serves it’s purpose.

I like the dark wood and clean lines, but it’s a little modern (and dull) compared to the rest of the house which has a more vintage cottage vibe. It was a gift from my parents for my first apartment, which it fit perfectly, but we now have a dining room that could host a larger table like this beauty.

via http://www.restorationhardware.com/ (duh)

I’d love to have this table or a DIY project that garnered similar results…with some cream slip covered chars and a silver bowl of fresh fruit in the center. Done. My ideal dining set.

2. New Patio Furniture: The second item(s) on what my husband considers an endless list is new outdoor furniture for our front deck/patio. It’s a large…almost as large as our living room actually, and can handle several different seating/dining areas in it’s space. It currently looks like this:

Please don’t judge to harshly as it’s been wet and freezing here for week, my flowers are dead dead dead, and the entire deck just isn’t up to it’s spring time par. What you see in the picture is a mixture of old and new. The antique white rod iron benches were a fairly recent purchase from Garden Ridge. The chimanea was a recent gift from my parents for my husband’s birthday, the black rod iron table and chairs were given to us by my mother in law, and the planters were left here when we purchased the house. I couldn’t fit it all in the photo but just two the right are two teak arm chairs with a small rod iron and wicker table between them. Altogether, it’s just a little hodge podge. Neither Gusty nor I had a large outdoor space before we got married and just weren’t prepared to fully furnish this huge deck. It saddens me that we’ve neglected it because it’s truly the first part of the house people see and it was our favorite part and a large factor when we bought the house. So what I’d loooove to see out there is…..

and

Both images from www.potterybarn.com

I definitely want to include a dining table as Gusty and I love to have people over to cook out and enjoy the outdoors, our charming bamboo, and the view. But I also want a relaxing seating area that really gives it the feel of not just a patio, but an outdoor room. I think these pieces all tie in well together, but jointly have a pretty large price tag. So between now and spring, I’ll be on hte lookout for a budget friendlier alternative….or I’ll be sweet talking the hubby.

So that’s it fearless readers, my first Want It Wednesday posts. I’m constantly adding things to my “long term, but I wish it was short term” wish list and I look forward to sharing them with you each week! Feel free to share yours as well!

~Katie

Just to update you on coffee table dilemma, Gusty and I sanded down and stained the table last night. We used a Minwax Gel Stain in “Walnut”. It’s currently drying in our basement (it’s taking a while since it’s so cold here) and I have my fingers crossed that it will turn out great! I plan on moving it back up into the living room tonight and will try to get some photos and post them! Thanks for you suggestions!

In my last post, I gave you a “tour” of our living room, but left out a critical piece of furniture. That’s because I think it deserves its own post!

Ah, the coffee table. I used to have these adorable, salvaged window coffee table in our living room:

I bought it from a friend when I moved into my first apartment after college and I absolutely love it, but it was just too small for the space in our new house. I was in desperate need (or lust) for a larger round or square coffee table. First it was just that I wanted a new size and shape, but then it turned into an obsession with an oversized tufted ottoman table like the one here, but I wasn’t down for the price tag. So I found a tutorial on how to make one myself at the Little Green Notebook and quickly found the perfect size and shaped coffee table at the local Salvation Army. It’s 38×38 inch square. The top needs major sanding and restaining, but check out the gorgeous detail on the sides and the legs.

I also found some fabulous fabric at a local discount fabric store that I’d love to reupholster it with. I ordered custom cut foam to fit the top and purchased batting from my local Joann’s Fabric Store. But I’ve been keeping the table in the basement and didn’t bring it into the living room around the rest of my furniture until I was getting ready to upholster it and I realized that once I added the foam and the batting, it was just too tall. I could cut the ball feet off to shorten it, but that would definitely take away from the character and shape of the piece.
And then I got this great estate sale piece I talked about in my last post.
So now I’m thinking I may use the fabric for the chair and just do a total makeover on the coffee table by sanding it down and staining it with leftover dark walnut stain we used recently on our front french door. Pulling the fabric and batting over the side would hide so much of what I love about the table. And that would leave me enough fabric for a couple of throw pillows to scatter around the rest of the furniture so that the fabric shows up in different areas of the room.

So loyal readers, all 1 or 2 of you, what are your thoughts? I think for now I am going to work on staining the table until I make my final decision. But your opinion is desperately needed!

~ Katie