Dining Room Makeover

Ta da! I picked up some beautiful (and affordable) new french style dining chairs from Marshalls and TJ Maxx over the last few months, and I am loving my dining room's new look!

It all started with this chair. Technically, I have owned it for about 4 months, but I didn't get to bring it home until a couple weeks ago. No, it wasn't at the hospital in intensive care... it was in Ohio. I may live 1000 miles away, but I still go shopping with mom and sister in Ohio almost every week - via camera phone! After sending me a picture, my sister bought the chair for me a few months ago at Marshalls (one of our regular stops) and in the meantime I've been scouring stores out here trying to find some coordinating ones.

I found two matching Louis chairs in a straighter, cleaner style with darker linen and upholstered backs instead of caning, and I ended up really liking the collected look that the different chairs create.

Of course, as you can see, I'm not quite finished "collecting" yet... One green "before" chair still lurks at my table :)

This is was the dining room before. Not too bad, but the green chairs and blue floral china were giving it a cottage vibe that seemed a little disconnected from the rest of the house.

I found two oversized white-washed terra cotta pineapple finials, also from Marshalls, to replace the centerpiece. I love the scale and height of these - everything else I tried was too short and looked silly, but these really make a grand centerpiece.

Some great new antique white ironstone finds replace the blue in my china cabinet.  (If you like blue patterned china, stay tuned... I think a few of my blue pieces will be showing up in my etsy shop in the near future!)

A collection of old ironstone platters, along with an oval frame from the 1800's, create a wall display behind the table. This is my first foray into hanging plates on the wall and I wasn't sure I would like it... but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the room.

And I found this primitive black and white wooden pig at an antique mall in Ohio. I bought it to sell, but I just couldn't part with him :) He's now hangs on the wall between the dining room and kitchen.

This picture makes me laugh and reminds me of the Biblical reference to "casting your pearls before swine..." But I like the juxtaposition of rustic country farmhouse decor with a touch of glamour, and I think this picture sums that up perfectly!