Tag: Dining Room

  • Currently Coveting: ZigZags

    Currently Coveting: ZigZags

    ZigZags

    1. ZigZag Pillow, Design Public
    2. ZigZag Brown & White Rug, Madeline Weinrib
    3. Mimas Wallpaper, Romo

    I’ve ordered a sample of that wallpaper, which is my new favorite. Not too feminine, not too masculine, dark but not overwhelming, no flocking or foil, graphic but timeless… it may just be perfect.

    I have, of course, created a mockup.

    Yet Another Wallpaper Mockup
    It looks even better when you look at the larger version.

    It looks great, doesn’t it? I’m just hoping it will work with the color of the wood trim. If not, then I may just have to comfort myself with the pillow.

  • New Dining Room Table

    New Dining Room Table

    I alluded to our new table earlier this month, and my patterned vase was photographed on it, but I hadn’t taken any proper pictures until this morning.

    The Dining Room

    Brandon and I had a number of gift cards to west elm and Pottery Barn from Christmas, so we decided to combine them for a more spendy item. Not so fun fact: I knew that the gift cards were interchangeable because I actually worked at west elm briefly when they first opened their Chicagoland store.

    We looked around and finally settled on the parsons expandable dining table. Oh, and we were recognized by a girl shopping at the store! She saw Brandon first, and we later realized that it was probably because of the Christmas card! Tee hee.

    The Dining Room and Living Room

    Notice the absence of my pretty white rug in the living room, and the rumpled replacement jute rug from the basement. Eh. Not bad, but not very good either.

    Moving on.

    I love that three chairs can fit on each side now. The legs on our old table were inset from the edges and it was a little awkward with even two chairs on each side. Now if we really needed to squish, we can fit 10 people at the table when the leaf is in!

    Dining Room Chairs and Table

    I realized when I was taking photos that I had forgotten to follow up on the Tao console table I was considering from Room and Board. In fact, it’s been so long that Room and Board has since discontinued it. I did end up purchasing it for the dining room though! I hung my Amy Ruppel painting above it, and there’s a magazine butler for sorting mail (and keeping it neat).

    The Dining Room and Living Room

    Now we get to the truth, which is that I think the dining room is a bit boring. Blah. Ho hum. It’s nice, but I’m not happy with just nice. You all probably know that I’ve wanted wallpaper from day one, and I’ve also been waffling and indecisive since day one.

    Here’s what the vintage wallpaper that I bought on eBay looks like:

    Dining Room Wallpaper Mockup

    I think something darker would might look better. I want a little drama in the dining room, and I’m afraid that vintage floral may just give off ‘crazy’. I really should just make a decision already. Or slap some paint on the walls. Something.

    I do know that I would loooove to have these chairs:

    Modernica Eames Shell Chairs

    They’re Eames chairs without the official “Eames” name. They’re made by Modernica on the original presses though, and with the original fiberglass construction, so in my mind they’re more authentic than the polypropylene Herman Miller licensed chairs. They’re available at Velocity Art & Design in 16 yummy colors. I’m partial to mustard.

    I’m debating whether I should try to paint the chairs we have now. I don’t really mind the shape of them, I just don’t like the light wood in our house.

    So there you have the current state of our dining room. Suggestions are welcome, but I can’t promise I’ll commit to anything. After all, I haven’t done well with that in this room so far… ;)

  • I Bought Wallpaper

    I Bought Wallpaper

    Yes, I finally found (and bought) wallpaper for the dining room. I’m thrilled, but I have a feeling that some people will not like my choice nearly as much as I do!

    First, let me share my absolute favorite wallpaper. It’s in a photo from Veer, so there’s no actual information available on it.

    Now, the wallpaper I bought:

    I love it! Love it love it love it. It’s a little Wary-Meyers-esque, no? It’s vintage 60s wallpaper from U-Turn Vintage Wallpapers on eBay.

    The lighting is not as good as it is in the Veer photo (which is a $450 photo), but I think this is about as close to my mystery wallpaper as I’m going to get. Unless, miraculously, one of you has a source?

  • Too much?

    Too much?

    I’ve been playing around with a photo that I pulled from Benjamin Moore’s “personal color viewer”. The wall color for the living room (wild aster) and the kitchen (bronzed beige) are there, and then I’ve been swapping out different wallpapers for the dining room. Photoshop + me = true love 4ever.

    Yes, I sort of love this. Is it too much?
    possible dining room wallpaper
    wallpaper by Orla Keily

    Of course that isn’t my house, but it’s a pretty good representation. I do have my orange chair in that same position and you would see the wallpaper behind it like that.

    This is another strong contender:
    possible dining room wallpaper
    wallpaper by Romo

    I have a tendency to come up with some nutso ideas for the house. I don’t usually follow through. I have been planning to wallpaper the dining room from the start, but I’m not sure if I should tone it down and stay within the style of the house or just go for it. I want to just go for it and be bold! Brandon is actually really good at reining me in (but um, he’s asleep right now, so…).

  • Dining Room Display

    Dining Room Display

    I started setting up the dining room, now that all of the kitchen stuff is out of there. I’m most excited (and most daunted) by the built in buffet.

    dining room

    Many of you already know that I have a kajilion white vases (some of you have been asking where they are!). I haven’t really found a good place to put them in the house. I had used our low bookshelves in the old apartment like a mantle, but now those are in Brandon’s office.

    white vases
    in the old apartment

    Well, I thought I may as well try to make them work in the dining room. I couldn’t use the really tall vases, but I was able to fit most of the smaller ones in. I have to be honest though – I’m not crazy about the whole look. I like the mix of sizes that I used to have going on, but now with just the smaller pieces it seems a bit meh. Plus I can’t decide if the look is charmingly eclectic, or just cluttered. I love everything in there, but I’m leaning towards cluttered.

    dining room

    My other thought was to maybe just embrace the mish-mash of items and keep going with it. Throw in some more pattern, make a paper garland to hang from the shelves, add a bunch of little felt pom-pons… my crafty nature is showing! I do like the idea, but maybe not for my own home.

    dining room

    I will be putting up wallpaper in the dining room eventually, so I like the idea of having all of the pattern on the walls and keeping the display simple and mostly white. Something is also really appealing about just having plates in there. It would be so much cleaner, visually. Er, then again… sometimes more is more.

    See? I’m flip-flopping. I’ll live with it for a while – It’s easy enough to change around.

  • Wallpaper Contenders

    Wallpaper Contenders

    Ack. Shopping for wallpaper is not going as well as I had hoped.

    A lot of the great wallpaper designs seem to be coming from England these days. That’s fine, but buying it can be a bit tricky. And then there are fabulous designs that are available to the trade-only. I had considered trying to fake it as an interior designer so that I could request samples and possibly buy certain patterns. How hard can it be? I do have a design business, it’s just not an interior design business… but I decided that would be a bad idea! So I’m trying to narrow the choices down to the wallpapers I can buy retail.

    I did find a fabulous website though: walnut wallpaper! Most of the papers below can be purchased through them (numbers 4-12, specifically). Plus I have a book on the way (The Cutting Edge of Wallpaper as recommended by Holly), so I’m hoping to get a few ideas when that arrives.

    wallpaper swatches

    Wallpapers by: 1.twenty2 2.Kelly Wearstler (KWID) 3.Jocelyn Warner 4.Mibo 5.Romo 6.Romo 7.Romo 8.Romo 9.Romo 10.Romo 11.Neisha Crosland 12.Neisha Crosland

    Hmmm… I still have no idea which one (if any) I’ll choose. I do want to be sure I love it though. I’d hate to choose a pattern and then hate it two years from now! And when (if?) the day comes to move again and sell the house, I’d probably have to take it all down and paint the walls beige (yawn). That would be sad, but I’m really getting ahead of myself there – we haven’t even moved in!

    It would certainly be easier to just paint the dining room and get my pattern fix from curtains, but I still love the idea of wallpaper. I’m not giving up quite yet…