Dining Room – Page 3

Rug Exchange

Published on March 12, 2014 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Over a year ago, we added large-scale floral rug to the living room and put our old grid rug in the family room. It certainly brightened things up, but I’ve never been completely happy with the large rugs we currently own.

Especially after we bought a clean lined Mission style dining table. The floral pattern felt too busy and didn’t match the table style.

This weekend we made a simple switch. While working on the family room ceiling, I pulled all furniture out-of-the-way. Before putting it back, I tossed out the idea of swapping the grid and floral rugs. Ben and I moved the table and laid the simple rug under.

Wouldn’t you know, I love the change?!

The geometric design pairs nicely with the dining set and balances the dark wood better.

But I’m still not satisfied with the remaining rugs. While I’m happy with the quality of the floral rugs, the look doesn’t fit in with my end goal.

For the living room, I’d really, really love the Marquis Wool Rug from West Elm:

In my head, the Marquis rug with the Flexsteel Rachael sofa would be a great base for our living room.

Another light, simple geometric rug. Should pair nicely with the dining grid rug. Just enough pattern to add interest, but not enough to draw attention. And the beige/gray/cream mix can go with anything. With select rugs 30% off right now, I was close to pulling the trigger, but the 9 by 12 size isn’t currently available. Womp womp. Back to the rugs we do have. The displaced floral rug is in the family room, for now. You know, until I find something I love.

I do like the added interest and color, but I had gotten used to the simpler look.

Maybe a jute rug to calm the space? Oddly enough, I’m trying to convince Ben we should layer a cowhide rug in. He’s not into it, which is strange because this was the situation when I met him:

While this house was mostly typical plain 70’s (later installed inlay diagonal wood floors and six panel doors excluded), I’m trying to add in more rustic pieces. After all, this is Montana, even if we are in the city. Working in the dining set, Longhorns, our DIY console, and popular (around here at least) Craftsman-style trim are just a few touches so far.

I’m naturally attracted to modern furniture. The clean lines get me every time. I find I like a mix of the two a lot lately. And the cow rug could look really fun with the modern chairs and coffee table. What do you think of the options? Any rugs you love that would work well in either of these spaces?

Table Tableau

Published on December 4, 2013December 4, 2013 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Something monumental happened on Monday night. We bought a dining set!

Now, I realize this might not seem like a big deal. But for us, it really is. Because this is the first time we’ve had an actual table in our formal dining room. For Thanksgiving, we used folding tables and cheap Target chairs.

Before that, we had a small, round thrifted table with a glass top.

And hey, we bought furniture! That rarely happens.

Ben found this set on Craigslist for less than half of the retail price.

We talked about building a table, but it was never a priority. And we can’t agree on chairs to save our lives. This West Elm table was my front-runner.

If you like that table, too, check out Yellow Brick Home’s similar DIY table. While the Mission style isn’t what I had in mind, I’m surprised at how much I like it in our house.

And the size is perfect. Plenty or room to walk around, even with a tree in the corner. With the two extra leaves in, we could seat 8 people very comfortable. The warm wood is a really nice finish and is easy to clean. Unlike the glass top that always had fingerprints.

There are four normal chairs and two leather upholstered captain’s chairs.

My first impression was to reupholster the seats. But when the chairs are tucked in, the seats read more neutral than green. This is the most accurate picture of the color:

One chair even has a slightly noticeable leather brand. Which Ben loves because you can easily tell they’re real leather.

While these rooms are far from finished, every step is progress.

Craig, can you get me the prefect couch? Do you have a hard time pulling the trigger on furniture, too?

Colorful Cactus & Candles

Published on November 22, 2013November 22, 2013 by Our Humble Abode2 Comments

Last year, our Thanksgiving table was neutral; white, gray, copper, wood, and a dash of gold. This year I went completely opposite. Bright colors, including red, orange, yellow, pink, and gold.

I found orange and white stripe napkins at Pier 1 for 98 cents each and that set the color scheme and tone. Fun, festive fall colors, with a twist.

In place of flowers, I bought three 3 buck cactus from Home Depot and potted them in cheap glasses. Bonus, I get to enjoy them for more than a week.

To get a little more color, I painted the inside of each glass a different color. Plain acrylic paint so I can wash these out.

But it’s such a fun, happy, cheap way to add a pop. Same story for these confetti candle holders I whipped up. I had the glasses from last year (from Dollar Tree) and used the same acrylic paint to make dots.

Again, these are not permanent. Hot water and soap will clean these off.

A few mini pumpkins add more color and a fall touch.

The centerpieces are simple, because we need plenty of space to eat our feast.

I covered the table with kraft paper, then set out a DIY runner. More details on that next week.

Have you settled on a Thanksgiving color scheme?

Oh, and the winner of the Spruce book giveaway is Jackie! Congrats!!

Three Thrifts Under 45

Published on August 5, 2013August 5, 2013 by Our Humble Abode21 Comments

Thrifting, obviously, is a game of luck. Often, usually when looking for something, I strike out. But sometimes, sometimes, I hit gold. And that’s what happened last week. While running around town sourcing the perfect tile for the impending master bathroom remodel, the boys and I stopped in Goodwill. Just as I was about to leave, I saw a folded wooden…thing.

Curious, I opened it. Turns out, it was a funky little table. With all legs hinging at a center point. I’ve never seen a base quite like this.

The table base (no top in sight) was priced at $17.99. I liked the lines and unique design, so I brought it to the check out counter and asked if they could give a discount because it was just the base. The nice gal lowered the price to $9.99 without a return. Sold!

Tip: when thrifting, pointing out the problems of a piece might get you a lowered price.

I’m nearly certain this neat base will live in the family room. On Facebook, a few people suggested a remnant marble top. While I really, really love that idea, I don’t think this base could support that much weight. Boo!

Instead, I think I’ll cut a piece of MDF to size, paint it a poppy color, and call it a day. Light weight, affordable, easy to change.

On Friday, we shopped for a countertop and stopped in another thrift store along the way. And that’s where I found a chrome X base and glass top dining table. For 30 bucks! I had to get it. On my way to pay for it, I saw a sign for 25% off all furniture. Even better, I had a $5 off coupon, so I got this beaut for $17.49.

Eventually I think this will be an outdoor table. Until then, it’s replacing the ugly but functional folding table we had in the dining room. Sure, this is smaller (way too small for the room) but it looks so much better.

After our countertop search, we popped in ReStore where I found a lovely brass and wood light fixture.

This too was marked at $30.00, but is missing a few pieces. Using my ‘point out what’s wrong’ method, I asked about a discount. How ’bout half off? You bet.

I had high hopes for this one, but now I’m not so sure. To use it in the dining room, I’d have to get a 13 inch longer down rod. Which would also require a new, longer wire. Is it worth it? Also, we’re 98% sure the bulbs are halogen, which isn’t ideal for a dining light. So, what do I do with this guy?

I Just Dyed in Your Arms Tonight

Published on August 7, 2012March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode30 Comments

After hemming and ironing longer than I would have liked, I finished the curtains yesterday. And I’m now convinced I need to invest in a higher quality iron. Apparently, the ten-dollar one I have isn’t fit to iron curtains, hence the hours of ironing. But let’s start at the beginning. As I pointed out yesterday, we needed a way to take the curtains down without removing the rod. Why? This might explain it.

Rather than going the conventional rod route, Ben and I agreed it would look cool to use galvanized pipe for the living space. Once attached to the wall, it will be difficult to remove just the rods. The living room window is 125 inches wide, which means we need a looooong curtain rod and extra wide curtains. When looking for 144 inch rods, its slim pickin’. Target didn’t have anything longer than 120 inches. Home Depot had 144 inch rods, but all are more traditional looking that we wanted, like this one that was $45. However, our Home Depot doesn’t carry that same rod in a shorter length.

So I called Ben while shopping to see what he thought of pipes turned industrial curtain rod. Luckily, he was down for it. We discussed the sizes available and came up with three flanges, three 3 1/2 inch nipples (I can tell men named these parts), two 90 degree elbows, and one tee, all 1/2 inch diameter per window. The larger living room window needed 72 inch long pipes, while the shorter dining window was fine with 60 inch pipes for the rods.

Using a flange, nipple, and tee in the center of each window gives an extra support and allowed us to use two shorter lengths of pipe.

Ben was apprehensive about using drop cloths for the fabric, but I told him it would be okay, so he trusted me. I walked out of Home Depot $163.76 lighter (dang pipes are expensive) with curtain and rod material in hand. Now the pressure was on. I actually had to make these look good. A quick stop at Joann fabric for three boxes of black fabric dye and I was ready to get to work. The process of sewing wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming, including a ton of measuring.

With the top, sides, and snaps done, I decided to dye the panels before ironing and hemming the bottoms. I really wanted a medium gray color, but Joann had light gray and black dye. Black was my best bet to get a mid saturation, so I mixed one and a half boxes of powder dye with a huge bucket of hot water. I’m not sure how many gallons, but trust me when I say it was huge. Then I soaked each panel, one at a time until the colors seemed uniform. Because I was alone with the boys, I didn’t time anything, just left each panel in a while until it seemed to reach maximum saturation. Then into the washer for a short, cold wash and a toss in the dryer. Quite pleasantly, all panels seemed to match and didn’t have uneven spotting. Success!

And here are the washed, measured, sewn, tabbed, snapped, dyed, hemmed, and ironed curtains in place. Looking lovely, if I might add.

Each panel barely grazes the floor.

Back tabs are the shiz. Look how nicely the panels bunch and hang.

But there is one small downside. Even though the drop cloths are marked 9 by 12 feet, they’re actually about 8 1/2 by 11 1/2 feet. Straightening up the edges and adding about one foot of rod length makes the large window panels look short when closed. Oh well, the window is covered and that’s what really matters, right?

The dining panels are perfect though.

You can kind of see that I didn’t make panels for the French doors out to the deck. When we replace the windows (which will probably happen next summer), we’re changing things up. No more door there. Muhahahaha (that’s my evil villain laugh).

Now if we could just get a dining table. And a light. Ha.

Can you tell I’m excited about the new curtains? I’m loving the warmth they add to the room. Just makes it look lived in.

Mission accomplished. We’ve got (pretty) curtains.

And here’s what it cost us:

For living room: $33.90 for two 72 inch long pipes, $2.24 for one tee, $18.72 for three flanges, $3.12 for two elbows, $4.38 for three 3 1/2 inch nipples, $21.98 for a 9 by 12 foot drop cloth, and $2.29 for one box of fabric dye for a total of $86.63

For dining room: $27.40 for two 60 inch long pipes, $2.24 for one tee, $18.72 for three flanges, $3.12 for two elbows, $4.38 for three 3 1/2 inch nipples, $21.98 for a 9 by 12 foot drop cloth, and $2.29 for one box of fabric dye for a total of $80.13

If I had bought two standard curtain rods, I would have spent 90 bucks on rods, so basically four curtain panels cost about 75 bucks. Not too shabby. But I’m not completely done yet. I think I’ve decided what I want to do, so I’ll be back with more details when I actually get around to that.

Do you have odd sized windows to work with? Have you used pipes for curtain rods? Drop cloths for curtains?