Dressing the Dining Room for Summer

My house lacks a lot of places that are traditional for decorating, like a mantle or a front porch, so I tend to concentrate my efforts in the dining room. Really, nothing else in my house changes seasonally besides swapping out pillows and blankets. But putting down some new summery pieces in the dining room always seems to do the trick!

I had the room still in pretty heavy winter mode, and got inspired by a Target catalog (ahem, I may have a problem) to change things up. I originally bought this table runner from Target, but it was too small for the table so I swapped it for this one I found on Etsy. Usually I'm a little iffy about buying things from Etsy because it can be so slow. My last purchase took over a month to arrive! This one was super speedy though and got here within the week. 

My main complaint with this room was how blue it felt originally, but with the addition of the green table runner, giant (faux) plant, and pink artwork it's starting to feel a lot more me. We're also adding little touches of pink throughout the rest of the living room to make everything feel more cohesive (including these adorable tasseled pillows!) 

Man, this whole decorating thing is a process, am I right? We moved into our place almost a year and a half ago now, and it still doesn't feel "done" - maybe it never will? I just never put that much effort into decorating before because every place I lived felt so temporary (like the six different places I lived in college), but now that Jeff and I have put down some more stable roots I want to make a lot more of an effort. A lot of parts of our home still feel unfinished, so I'm actually considering hiring a decorator just to put the final touches in - if you have any recommendations in the Chicago area definitely let me know! 

These pictures were taken during April - I have a new print from my subscription to White Brick Lane up now for May! 

Sources: 

Table and Chairs - Walter E. Smithe

Bookshelf - Crate & Barrel 

Faux Fiddle Leaf Plant - Silks are Forever

Table Runner - JustMeeCT

Round Jute Chargers - Target 

Napkins - Target

Print + Holder - via monthly subscription to White Brick Lane

Gold Pineapple Glasses - W&P Designs

Pink painting - by me! 

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Dining Room Updates

I shared my dining room a couple of months ago, but I wasn't quite happy about it. For one, it was SO blue, and felt really dark unless it was the middle of the day. I also was never quite happy with the rug. We actually had a lady come and measure for the rug when we bought our table and chairs, and she insisted that the size we bought would be perfect for the space. Well, not quite - whenever you pulled the chairs back from the table they went off of the rug, and then would get caught on it if you tried to scoot your chair. No bueno.

So, we bought a new rug! The one we had was actually on the cheaper side so we decided to just move it downstairs into Jeff's office. I stalked tons and tons of rugs online, and ended up finding this one at Target.com. BUT then I googled the name of the rug, and found the exact same one for fifty bucks less at Walmart. So yes, the rug in my dining room is from WALMART hahaha. I can hardly believe it. I've actually found that if you're buying any furniture/rugs/decor online (especially from Overstock/Wayfair) it's smart to google the product name - usually it's available at another store for a little less. I love the way the rug brightens up this corner of the house, and even though the pattern has blue in it, the rug somehow makes this part of the room feel less blue. It also makes the room feel a little bit less masculine. We were going for the loft feel, but it ended up feeling a little too bachelor pad, so I'm trying to fix that now.

The other thing that brightens up the room and makes it a little less masculine is this painting I made! Pink for the win. I've literally been looking since we moved in for something for this space but had no luck. The wall is huge so we needed something fairly large, and all of the framed prints I wanted were $500+, and after buying the place less than a year ago I wasn't really willing to drop major cash on artwork. So I finally decided to run to Michael's, grab some paint and the biggest canvas I could carry, and get painting. It wasn't that hard to make, but I actually painted over the entire canvas at least five times before I got to something I liked! I just poured out a crap ton of white paint, and slowly added more red and orange to it as I went to get the ombre effect. I'm really happy with how it turned out, which is unusual because I usually hate everything I DIY! It makes the room feel a lot more peppy and bright. I'm thinking I'll get another pink/coral piece for another wall in the room, and also some coral pillows for the couch to tie the color in. 

So I think we're done with this area now! Next up - the bedroom. I'm still looking for lamps, a floor mirror, some art, and a chair. We've only lived here, for what, nine months? I figure I'll get the house done juuuuuust in time for us to move out ;)

Table & Chairs - Walter E. Smithe
Rug - Mohawk Home via Walmart
Bookcase & Table Runner (similar fabric / similar pattern) - Crate & Barrel
Bowl, Lemons, Fish Plates, Bottles - Target

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House Updates - The Dining Room

Wow have I really not shared our dining room yet? I shared the living room and entryway back in December and an update about our coffee table in February, but totally ignored the dining room - whoops! I'll also probably get around to the rest of the house at some point too ;)

Really, I've been holding off because the dining room just doesn't feel done yet. We're looking for some art for the main wall and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all of those shelves. That being said, I don't know if it will ever feel done, so now's as good a time as any!

Who doesn't need tasseled placemats in their life?! I couldn't find the exact ones online, but these green placemats are similar, and these ones are so fun for summer!

Unlike most of our house, everything in the dining room is brand new. At our old place we were renting from my father-in-law, so our dining room set was his from the '90s - this giant slab of glass set on giant plaster columns. Ummm, not quite our style ;) I was really excited when we moved to to find something that was more us. We looked at a lot of sets but had a hard time finding the right one - a dining room table can be so expensive so we wanted to find something that we'd have for a long time. Finally we stumbled into Walter E. Smithe and ended up custom designing everything. The chairs, rug, and table are all from Walter E. Did I tell you we met the Walter E. Smithe while shopping at Walter E. Smithe?! Lol, it was really funny - he made us take a picture with him haha.  

The rug probably isn't actually going to stay here. It feels just a little too small for the space, so once we find something else it's going to go down to Jeff's office. 

The bookcase is from Crate & Barrel. We actually picked it out way before we found a table, but held out on actually buying it until the table came so we could make sure they would be a good match. I think it may be my favorite furniture purchase we've made, but it's kind of intimidating to decorate! I'm thinking I'll add more of our wine glasses and other functional kitchen stuff as well as mix in more cute decorative items. 

This wall is where we're planning on adding a large scale art piece, but I just haven't found anything I really like yet. The room just feels really blue at the moment so I'm looking for something bright with lots of coral or orange in it to break things up. I'm really picky when it comes to artwork though, and the tiny hipster inside of me also wants to make sure that I find something unique that not everyone would have. Yes, there's a tiny hipster inside of me. I often also find myself talking about the "little feminist lion" that also has taken up residence. Apparently my body is a tiny hotel. 

And here's the view into the living room. Ta da! 

I've gotten a bunch of requests for an updated home tour now that the place is furnished, so that's coming soon! I wanted to wait until the roof deck was complete, and that should hopefully be today - fingers crossed!!

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The Coffee Table

Woooooo we finally got our new coffee table!! It's helping the room feel more "done" (even though our dining room set won't arrive for 6-8 weeks). Plus it's nice to have somewhere to put your drink down other than the floor, where you'll inevitably knock it over and then completely soak your new rug and then have to stuff towels under it and set up a fan to dry things out. Not that that happened.

It also comes with gold legs, oooooooooo...

But the best part about this particular coffee table? Well...

It opens! One section of it pops up, making it super convenient if I want to work from the living room, or be a terrible adult and eat my dinner in front of the tv, or just put my beverage in easier reaching range. 

Is this too many pictures of one coffee table? Sorry, I really am just this excited. 

Want to see the deets on the rest of our living room? Check out the post.

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House Updates - The Living Room

Our house still needs a lot of work (ahem - and stuff. Don't worry, the coffee table is coming in a couple weeks), but I wanted to share a couple of photos now that there's actually furniture (!) in the house. And then "a couple" turned into "all of the pictures" so bear with me. Most of the furniture from the living room came from our old house which is why it's a bit more together than the other rooms, but the rug and end tables are new (along with the bar stools you can see a hint of).

The TV stand was part of the media set we bought in our last place - it came with two bookshelf towers that we no longer have room for. I was actually hoping to buy a third tower to make a kind of makeshift display piece for the dining room, but of course Crate & Barrel changed the finish for them so I can't buy a third matching piece. I've been scouring Craigslist but haven't had any luck, so they might get relegated to my office/guest room.

Rug - Pottery Barn / Couch - Arhaus

We still have to get someone in to sweep out the fireplace, but once we do I'm super excited/terrified to use it. I used to try to light fires in Girl Scouts but I'm not sure I was ever successful ;) 

Tray (similar) - Target / Coasters - a DIY by my sister! 

My tinsel ornaments were a DIY!

(Our recliner is currently sitting on a blanket until we add some felt strips to the legs so we don't scratch up the floor!)

End tables - West Elm

Buffet - IKEA / Odds and Ends tray and Bow corkscrew - Kate Spade

Mr & Mrs Glasses

We also just got a table and little shoe tray for the entryway. I'm still looking to add a rug here (maybe this one), and Jeff wants to buy a little air plant terrarium that he saw in a shop in our neighborhood. You know, so we can be super hip. The print I actually won in a giveaway a super long time ago from Rachel - thanks girl! 

Table - West Elm / Shoe Tray - Crate & Barrel

So that's it for now! I'm hoping to finish off a few more things and then share another quick video tour now that there's, you know, stuff (per a few requests ;). 

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