China hutch

{bassett furniture}

I love this china hutch. It's not too big, not too small, has hidden storage, and coordinates well with our dining room table. Huynh and I have already discussed (well, more like I just said it and he agreed) that this would be a great anniversary gift we give each other - though even I know that he realizes that is more a gift for me but still. I'm half tempted to snatch it up now since it's on sale.

It sure is fun to look.

Slate

{west elm}



Always on the look out for fantastic table decor, I am loving these slate place mats from West Elm. Heavy duty - and you can write on them with chalk! - I think that they would make such a fun conversation piece.

If only the price tag weren't so dang steep.

Holiday haze

{the brick house}

My mind is still on vacation. I like to think that it's some sort of holiday haze that I am stuck in and eventually I will surface and be ready to go... but instead I sleep in and show up an hour late to work. Oops. Thank goodness for three-day weeks.

I'm still on the look out for a centerpiece for our dining room table and am loving what Morgan put together over at The Brick House. I love all of her designs - go ahead and peek around - but this "free" redo of a friend's house was just too much to handle. That aside, succulants as a centerpiece? I think I'm on the right track.

Happy hump day.

Table, revealed

76 days, countless emails, even more shipping checks, and two phone calls later, we finally got our table! And since we clearly have a rather large affinity for food, I am pumped.

It's so shiny! Smooth! Classic! I haven't gotten around to the actual decorating of said table, but man alive.

I am glad it is here.

I love how it looks with our floors and rug. It feels good to walk into the house now and have it feel just that much more completed and put together. It was the grounding force that the house needed.

When we finally decided upon a table, we always knew that we were going to need to shift the overhead light fixture back towards the wall in order to get the rug and table out of the swing of the front door. The builders picked the center of the room to hang the fixture (makes sense) but yet, extremely unpractical for table placement. But before we moved the light back, we also wanted to wait until we got the table to make sure that it was actually required (it was) and get an accurate measurement of that distance.

Huynh was on a mission.

We found an 18" medallion that would work and shifted the center of the fixture back 6" - any further and we wouldn't have been able to cover up the old hole... and the whole reason for doing this was so there was minimal ceiling patching involved. We still haven't fixed the accidental hole in the ceiling of the hallway... we weren't about to make another purposeful hole!

But, that 6" gave us the clearance we needed and the look we wanted.

I had intended on decorating the table for Christmas... but seeing as though it is mere days away, I believe I will leave it as an empty palette until, oh, I don't know, Valentine's Day? Either way, I am on the look out for a runner, chargers, and decor. And, I have already caught Gatsby napping underneath it - as if he knows food will one day sit on top - so I know he's a fan.

I love it! Who wants dinner?

Ikat lust

{anthropologie}

I've been on the look out for a cute, ornate, rice (read: small, handheld) bowl to go with our Great White Dinnerware for a while now... and nothing was cutting it. It was either too girlie, too small, too big, or, well, too ugly.

But that all changed.

I went crazy at Anthropologie this past weekend (bought this, this, and this, ya know, to name a few things I grabbed while trying to avoid crazy Christmas crowds) but what I was really excited about were these grey ikat nut bowls.

Nut, rice, same diff?

I scoured the store for more and came up with 4 total. Not enough but close enough knowing that not only are they Huynh approved, but there is another Anthro even closer to our casa (in City Center where we grabbed 3 more) that I can check as well as they are also online.

Oh yea, and I have the coolest sister ever who picked up 5 of the bowls for us at the Woodlands Anthro bringing our total to 12. BAM.

I love a good deal.

It's here!

Oh, and I love it.

This picture is definitely more true-to-color with the blue dining room chairs. We are waiting for the rug to lie down a bit and we will probably vacuum it once more before we move the chairs back on it. And of course, we are still waiting on the table and we need to move the overhead light fixture.

Details.

I think I am just more excited that the so-called dining room that once was an office but really started as a storage room for shoes is finally coming together!

• Find a table and chairs
• Possibly a rug
• Art
• Umbrella holder
• Find a catch all tray

Rug beneath my wings

You saw yesterday that we finally bit the bullet and bought a dining room table. It's brown, farmhouse-y, and love at first sit (in the store of course). We have been eyeing this table for months, and, in particular, this picture, so it was only a matter of time before I realized that the perfect rug was right in front of us.

{west elm}



Possibly because that room is awesome - I love the loft windows! - and possibly because I am all about chevron, I think I have finally convinced myself to snatch up this rug.

{overstock}

Considering our love for all things grey, we are going rouge and choosing navy! Surprising, I realize, but we think it will look amazing with the steel blue chairs. And since the couch will be within eyeshot, it's probably better that we mix up the color palette a bit... as much as the thought of hurting my beloved grey's feelings gives me hives, I think that this is the right way to go.

While I'm at it... shout out happy birthday to my sister!! Here's to being one year closer to our Hawaiian vacation in 2013 (did I mention that we are a family of planners?)!!

Half-official dining room

We finally did it.

{west elm}

We bought a dining room table!! Yes, it's on 10-12 week back order so right now we are sitting our plates on ... well ... air but still. I am so excited! So, the dining room is still only halfway officially a dining room but hey, it's a step in the right direction.

Ignoring the hurriedly taken iPhone photos on the way out the door today, you can see a nice little peek at what's to come. The inner blue tape is the table and the outer blue tape will be the rug. Wall to wall, it's a pretty close fit... especially with our little splurge on comfort.

{west elm}

Also, besides the whole "we will be lucky to be eating at this table come Christmas" issue, you might have noticed that the chairs and bench aren't really that in line with the tape outlines.

The blue dot in the center marks the center of the light fixture above. Once I centered everything off of that one point, we rather quickly realized that the front door would be blocked by the rug and you would open to the corner of the table. Not a fan. So our next plan is to shift the light over about a foot or so towards the back wall - ridding the front door problem, while still allowing someone to sit and move about back against the wall comfortably. The negative? This eliminates any storage that I could have squeezed in the back corner.

Now, I'm on to art work possibly? Maybe another gallery wall because I am obsessed?

Lusting After

I've been dreaming about dining room tables since we cleaned out the dining room (remember when it used to be the office?). So I rounded up all of my latest favorites, partly so I could see them all in one place and partly because my "House Ideas" folder on my computer is reaching 300+ pictures in just a couple of months and I'm going to stop remembering where all of these items can be purchased from! But here ya go - and yes, I'm leaning towards farmhouse :).

West Elm

Crate and Barrel

How perfect then would this buffet table be in the living room acting as a sideboard?

Crate and Barrel

Restoration Hardware

Ethan Allen

Williams-Sonoma Home

Which would you chose?