Our Home: The Dining Room

Our house is old. Like older than the Titanic. But I love old houses and always have. I prefer the character and layouts of most old homes way more than the more modern trends. Old houses have their quirks, that’s for sure. My hardwood floors squeak a lot and the doors creak really loud, but you get used to it. When I first moved in with my husband the house was a bachelor pad. It was a blank canvas. I saw the potential from the moment I laid eyes on it. It wasn’t long after moving in that I got to work. I saw a quote recently about home design that said “You don’t have to change everything, to change everything.” A few key changes can completely transform any room. You don’t always have to go knocking down walls or ripping up floors. One thing I’m glad I did was wait some time before buying decor. I believe you need to spend some time somewhere to really know what the space needs. I don’t recommend going on some huge home decor shopping trip and getting a bunch of random stuff all at once. I have found that it is better to have an empty space or wall or shelf for a little while than to go get something just to “fill the space.” It can take time to figure out what design direction to go in and what feel you want a room to have. Each house is unique and not every trend will necessarily compliment your place.

My favorite room in our house is the dining room. I will show pictures of what it looked like in bachelor pad mode and what it looks like now. We use the dining room a lot. We don’t have an island in the kitchen where we can eat meals and we don’t prefer eating in the living room. The dining room is at the center of our house so I wanted it to be more than just a room with a table and chairs.

My favorite part of the room and the real show stopping element is the original fireplace, with black painted brick. It was love at first sight for me. It is not a functioning fireplace anymore but it adds so much dramatic charm to the room.

I have it decorated simply because the fireplace is a statement in itself and I didnt want to distract from it by adding more bold statements with decor. I love the calm, neutral toned artwork I found on amazon. I think the lighter colors help balance the moodiness from the black brick and dark green wall color. I found the amber candlestick holders at a local vintage decor shop. The plumb colored candlesticks are from Hobby Lobby. They have a great color and shape selection for candlesticks. The two terracotta pots are from Goodwill. I was so excited when I found those for around $3 each! The terracotta color goes so nicely with the green on the walls and adds some warmth to the mantel. I picked up some faux eucalyptus leaves at a local home decor store/boutique.

Mantel art here.

To the right of the fireplace is our bookcase. I love books and have a decent collection but it took us a while to find a bookcase we liked. It hurt my heart not having any of my books displayed for so long but we eventually found this real wood bookcase on facebook marketplace. My husband polished the tarnished brass hardware and got it looking new again.

I had fun with styling the books and adding little decor pieces. I am sure I’ll keep rearranging everything from time to time because I enjoy changing how I organize the books (books lovers understand). We have our beloved Marshall speaker on the bottom shelf which in itself is a decor piece. It’s so classic looking. This corner of the room needed light desperately so we put our mushroom lamp from TJ Maxx there. The lamp is a bit of a conversation starter because it is somewhat unusual but we love that little thing. I leaned a couple small art pieces on the top shelf to break things up and add some interest.

Marshall Stanmore speaker.

Similar mushroom lamp.

Along the far left wall we have our coffee station.

This side board is from amazon. I love the open shelves on the sides for displaying pretty things. I use the center shelves for storing coffee & tea related things. We got the wall art from Home Goods. I like how it ties in with the terracotta pots on the mantel. The lamp is from amazon. The base has a ribbed concrete finish which makes it feel very cool and elevated. The faux olive tree came from, you guessed it… amazon. It is made with a real wood branch as the base. The leaves aren’t glossy looking which makes it look more expensive. Olive trees can be so pricey but overall, I think this one looks very nice for the price.

Sideboard link.

Olive Tree link.

Lamp link.

In the small right corner of the room, I tried to make a functional space while still making it feel cozy and cute.

I found this small cushioned bench that was the perfect depth for the corner at TJ Maxx. It adds a little Scandinavian touch which I have hints of throughout the house. My husband uses this bench everyday when he puts his shoes on. We don’t have a coat closet so we use this shelf with hooks for hanging bags and coats. On the wall I have art from a talented Scandinavian illustrator I found on Instagram. It’s a picture of a husband and wife with their kids taking care of their garden and it makes me so happy whenever I look at it.

Brown curtains link.

My husband got our dining table in his bachelor days from a local furniture store that is not in business anymore. It is real wood and has some unique imperfections that add to its charm. We got the chairs from amazon. They were very inexpensive but have held up nicely for us. I like the contrast between the rustic table and the more modern, clean style of the chairs. Our ratan light is from amazon too (ok, I am realizing just how much stuff we have gotten from amazon). It adds a little boho touch which is very warm and cozy. The rug is also a little boho and is probably my favorite thing in the room. It is the perfect size for the room and table. It has a vintage, worn look which goes well with the old hard wood floors. I’ll let you guess where I got it from….