Decorating a Dining Room

Hello all!  

Today I am going to share my tips to decorating a dining room with you.  For my dining room, I used neutral colors so that I can decorate for any holiday or dinner party and have the entire room still flow nicely.  I used floor length white curtains on the sliding glass door, dark wood furniture, and a neutral brown rug to tie the room together.

To make the room appear larger, I added two of the same mirrors side by side to give the look that the room is wider than it is.  This is such a great tip for any small room.  It's also a great way to reflect light around the room.

I love having the chalkboard in my dining room.  I use this for holiday messages and dinner menus when having guests over.  To see how I created this chalkboard click here.

There are many different ways that you can decorate your table.  One of the ways you can decorate your table is with your dishes for the meal and drinks.  I have stacked up the plates on the chargers and placed them on the end of the table.  This is a much more informal way of having a meal.  I have also placed ready made drinks out with a pitcher.

We were so lucky to have this beautiful sliding glass door in our dining room.  The natural light it provides is great, plus it really opens up the room for us.  However, the hardware that came with the door was showing its age.  To see how I re-purposed the hardware to an oil rubbed bronze finish click here.

Our dining room table fits six people.  When having guests over, it is important to only have the amount of chairs out for the amount of guests you have.  You don't want to clutter the table with chairs that are not needed.  Your space will seem more open and clutter free without the extra chairs.  I have set the table for four so I simply removed the other two chairs.

 Thanks for checking out my dining room.  

If you are looking for more inspiration, check out the link below to see more dining rooms at Thrifty Decor Chick.

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Family Room: Final Reveal

I have been sharing the process of completely renovating our family room with you and it's finally that time to show you the completed project.  I couldn't be happier with the way everything turned out.  The room is everything that I imagined it would be.  It's warm, cozy, and so comfortable to hang out in.  If you are having a hard time at remembering the before pictures click here.  I won't make you wait any longer, the suspense is over.  Enjoy the after pictures...

When I was deciding how I wanted the room to feel and look, I imagined neutrals and comfort.  I wanted the room to look great but feel very inviting.  To achieve this look, I kept the colors to cream, white, and brown, with a touch of red.  I added the touch of red so that the room wouldn't wash away.  It's nice to have that small hint of color.

It wasn't hard to achieve the look of comfort with the couch and chair that I picked out from PotteryBarn.  I realize it is not for everyone, but I have always wanted a couch and chair from PotteryBarn.  I love how comfortable they are and how nice they look.  They give such an inviting feel to a room.

When I was deciding on my furniture, I wanted to keep with my neutral color scheme.  One reason I love to keep my room neutral is so that I can change my accent color in and out without redecorating an entire room.  If I ever get tired of a color, all I have to change are a few pillows.

For now I am keeping the coffee table clear of decorations.  I like the clean look of the table now, but if I find that perfect piece I may place something on one side of the table and keep the other side clear.

One of my favorite pieces in this room is the media center.  I love the resemblance it has to a built in bookcase without it being permanent.  I find that bookcases can be a great display for decorations.  I love adding all of the personal touches to a room, but I don't like when it becomes too much.  With having all of the available decorating spaces on the shelves I was able to keep the decorating on my window table and fireplace to a minimum.

I wanted the decorations in the media center to be substantial yet fall into the background at the same time.  When I was decorating the media center, I had to remember that the purpose of the shelving unit is to hold our television, so I didn't want the decorations to over power that and be distracting.

You can see that I repeated a few of my decorations throughout the shelving.  I wanted to have continuity on both sides with a few differences.  I also added a little green by filling my glass jars with moss.  

When placing your decorations, try to balance your colors out.  You don't want one side to have all the light colors and the other side to be filled with all dark decorations.  Try to mix the light and dark with each shelf.  I also added the baskets to the shelves to tie in the rug and decorations from other rooms in my home.

When I was deciding how I wanted to decorate the other side of the room, I really liked the idea of having a long table under our new window.  I wanted that side of the room to tie in with the rest, but also have it's own purpose.  I love the combination of the dark table with the crisp, white curtains on both sides.

To have continuity throughout the room, I used the same candle holder on this table that I used in the media center.  I also used a large vase with the same finish to compliment the candle holder.  I chose to use green flowers because I did not want the flowers to directly match the colors of the room.  I wanted them to appear more natural and picked as opposed to matching the pillows.

I know I keep saying this, but this next picture is one of my favorites as well.  I added two of the same ottomans to go under my window table.  Not only do they give a unique look but you have two additional places for seating.  I really liked how the ottomans were not the typical shape as well as the fabric.  They match the style of the rest of the room without blending in too much.

I hope you enjoy my after pictures.  It was so much fun creating this room from start to finish and sharing the process with you.

Hi Everyone!

I feel like it's been awhile.  I have been so busy doing some spring cleaning and updating our decorations around our house that I haven't had time to share everything with you.  Our family room is almost complete so I will be sharing that with you very soon along with some updates to our living room and our home office.  I can't wait for you to see all of the exciting changes this week.
Ashley

Creating an Outdoor Room

I am so excited that it is time to start thinking about the outdoors!  I know it may seem early for some people, but the earlier you start planning your outdoor space, the more money you save.  By planning early you know what you are looking for so you can take your time and get the savings.  Plus, it also gives you time to complete all of the money saving DIY projects.

This year I have decided to create an outdoor living and dining area on our deck.  I love to be outdoors, but if it is not comfortable no one will want to hang out and stay.

Whenever I am deciding how I want to decorate a room, I always mark things in magazines and online so that I can get a good feel on how it will turn out.  By doing this I can change my mind and make changes without losing any money.

So that's exactly what I am currently doing with my outdoor plans.  The picture below is from the PotteryBarn magazine.  I love the simplicity of the black and white in this picture with the touches of greenery.

I have circled the black candle holders but this is something that I would not want to spend a lot of money on because my deck is not covered.  Anything that I put out will be exposed to the sun and rain damage.

In this picture I love how you have the mix of all of the different kinds of pillows.  It makes it look less formal and more inviting. 

 

This is one of my main focuses this year.  I love all of the different lanterns on the steps.  It looks great during the day plus it could serve as an added light at night by adding battery operated candles.

I'm not sure if I will try and recreate anything like the above picture but I really liked the idea of something hanging from the dining table umbrella so I marked it.  This is where you can take advantage of marking things you like.  You are not locked into any ideas.

Even though my backyard doesn't overlook the ocean, it doesn't mean that you can't bring the ocean to you.  I haven't decided how, but I would like to incorporate this beach feel to my backyard.  

I love all of these pitchers.  They are great for having company over because you can leave it outside plus it's nice if you are out doing yard work you don't have to be in and out of your house all day.

Now that I know what I would like my outdoor room to look and feel like I can begin to put it together.  I can't wait to show you the final project.

Decorating for Easter

I am always excited to decorate for Easter because that means Spring is coming!  I like to keep my decorations simple for Easter.  This year, I decorated my dining room table and a couple other small decorations for my living room and family room.

For my Easter centerpiece, I re-used my vase from Christmas.  That's the great thing about buying things that can be used for multiple decorations.  The flowers are from Michael's and I found them on sale for $0.99 each!  I chose to use pink flowers because it's something that I have never done before plus it's a great Spring color. The "Happy Easter" eggs are from PotteryBarn.  I saw these in the store last Easter and talked myself out of them.  When I saw them again this Easter, I told myself it was meant for me to have them and I am really happy with the way they turned out.  I chose to hang them on the flower branches but you could always place them in a clear jar as well. 

The green bunnies are from Pier1.  When I saw them I knew I wanted them but I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to do with them.  I stuck them in my floral arrangement and they have been there ever since.  I like how they are a little hidden in between the flowers and the eggs.  Sometimes, it's best not to over think your decorations.  This is what I found with them.

For my living room and family room I chose to keep it really simple.  I added a small vase with speckled eggs to my bay window and an Easter basket to my new fireplace!

Thanks for visiting!

Complete Kitchen Renovation

When my husband and I were deciding on the house that we now live in, we knew that we would need to completely renovate the kitchen.  It's a small kitchen, but that wasn't even a problem for us.  It was very outdated, the appliances didn't work very well, and the layout wasn't very functional.  We took the room down to the studs.  This was a lot of work, but it was well worth the expense and wait.  By doing this, we were able to rearrange the appliances, add new switches and plugs, and expand the doorways.

Here are all of the before pictures...

And now for the after pictures...

When we began to put the room back together, the first thing that we had to decide on was our cabinets and layout.  I chose to go with cabinets from Ikea because they have an enormous amount of selection between style and color.  With our kitchen being smaller, I knew I would have to choose my cabinets wisely.  We had to put them together ourselves, but it really wasn't bad.  I also chose to get our butcher block countertop from Ikea as well.  Our appliances are Frigidaire Gallery from Lowes.  There's nothing like new appliances.  I still have to add my backsplash.  Once I do, I will be sure to share the pictures with you.

I don't like to overcrowd a window with decorations, because after all you want to be able to open and close it.  However, I do like to dress it up like everything else.  When putting the trim around the window, I added a ledge to the bottom so that I would have a place to set my little decorations.

I saw this in a magazine before and really liked it.  Not knowing if they purchased the letters finished or unfinished, I knew I had to create them myself.  I bought the letters from Joann Fabrics and spray painted them white to match the cabinets.  I chose a simple font, but they have others as well.  With the letters being leaned against the wall they can be removed at any time.  I also like to decorate in ways that are not very typical.  I didn't want to have a typical paper towel holder.  Instead, I took this wire basket (painted it black) and threw a couple of paper towel rolls in it.  

I always try to incorporate decorations that tie in either colors or feels of a room.  That is what I did with these containers here.  It brings the black and the white together into one piece which makes the connection between the two colors.

These shelves were a must to incorporate into my kitchen.  I love how on the top I can display different dishes  and the bottom I use for towels and baskets.  In the baskets I have chip clips, measuring spoons, etc.  Having these baskets lets me free up some space from my drawers which is always needed.

Keeping with not liking typical uses of items, I found this white strainer at HomeGoods one day and thought it would be really cute to sit on the counter and put different fruits in.  It is not something that I keep out all the time, but it is a nice accent when I do have it out.

I hope you enjoy my complete kitchen renovation.  It took a lot of time, but it is so nice having everything just the way you want it.  If there is anything I missed and you have any questions for me, feel free to email me.  I would love to help you create your dream kitchen too!