Decorating a Dining Room for Thanksgiving

After all of the decorations that I had up for Halloween, I wanted to keep the decorations that I put up for Thanksgiving pretty simple.  Especially considering that right around the corner is Christmas and I pretty much decorate every inch of my house with something.

For my centerpiece I decided to add some leaves and a simple pumpkin.  By placing the pumpkin on the wood accent, I have been able to create a more substantial piece for the eye.  I added the leaves to a clear vase to keep the table open.  When using a clear vase it doesn't block off the other side of the table, so it creates a more open centerpiece.

I love my chalkboard that I have hung in my dining room.  For awhile I was forgetting to utilize it, but since I have I really have been enjoying finding new things to write on it.  If this is something that you are interested in using in your house, Pinterest can be a great way to find sayings.  

I have added a wine rack to my dining room since I last posted about it.  It has become one of my favorite pieces in my entire home.  It adds such a warmth to my dining room and has really turned into a conversation piece.

I hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays, I know I am.

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.

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!

Family Room: Sneak Peak

Our family room is finally coming together.  We have been working so hard to get it done and we are finally seeing some end results.  Today I am going to be sharing a little sneak peak of some of the decorations/updates. 

The first sneak peak that I would like to share with you is a little bit of our decorations that are being used throughout the room.  From the picture you can obviously tell that this table is sitting in front of our window.  I wanted to have something substantial on the table without taking up the entire window.  You will have to wait to see the entire table, the legs of the table are my favorite part!

The last sneak peak you will be seeing until the final reveal is our new fireplace!  I am so happy that we added this to our room.  It is so nice to have on, plus it looks great even when it is not in use.  When I reveal the entire room at it's completion I will give more information about the fireplace in case anyone out there is considering one for their home.

Hopefully I will be sharing the room with you very soon.  I am just waiting on a couple of things to come in that I had to order online.  In the mean time, I am going to be decorating for Easter to try and get my mind off of waiting for a shipment!  I have realized that things don't get to you faster just because you constantly track a shipment!

Check back to see how I decorate for Easter!

Decorating a Guest Room

I have recently made some changes to my guest room.  I liked the room before, but it wasn't flowing with the rest of my house as much as I wanted the room to.  So, I decided to change the bedding and update some decorations.  

The first change I made was with my bedding.  I decided to go with a more neutral base.  To bring in color, I added the green quilt and matching pillow.  Going with a more neutral base makes it easier to change your accent color.

I like to add a lot of pillows to make the bed look more inviting.  It's also good to mix and match the pillows so it doesn't look like a set.

I wanted to incorporate the green from the bedding throughout the room so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I found these matching candles.  I used the same two candles on the dresser, but I used two different candle holders to give a more unique look.  With each candle holder being neutral and natural they flow together even though they are different.

Aside from the bedding, this is where I made the most change to the room.  Even though I loved my DIY teal table, sadly it didn't match anymore.  However, I'm really happy with my replacement table.

When I was decorating this table, I wanted to keep it simple.  Because the table is so unique, my decorations didn't need to stand out as much.  I really like having family photos up in my guest room so I incorporated the frames from before and added these chunky brown candle holders.

With spring being right around the corner, I wanted to add a touch of color with some flowers.

I hope you enjoy the changes!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 9: Table Settings

Welcome to my dining room for Christmas dinner.  To me there is no right or wrong way to set a table.  As long as it is comfortable for eating, that is all that matters.  One thing that I highly recommend to anyone hosting Christmas dinner is to set your table the day before.  This way it is one less thing that you are worrying about the day of.

If you ever decide to purchase holiday dishes, try to keep your choice generic.  If you do this, it will make it easier to add to your set at a later time. 

When dinner is ready for serving, I recommend moving your centerpiece off of the table unless it is at a low height.  You want your dinner guests to be able to see and speak with everyone at the table.

Chargers are a great replacement for placemats.  I love the look of them, but more importantly they protect your table from the heat of the meal.  The only problem is that sometimes they can get a little pricey.  I purchased my chargers at Target and spray painted them oil-rubbed bronze to get the color finish that I wanted.  By choosing to spray paint them, you can go as flashy or as simple as you want.  If you have white dishes, you may want to choose a more decorative finish.  Some options include: red, green, silver, gold, and metallics.  If you really want to add some sparkle, spray your charger then while it is wet sprinkle glitter of the same color onto the charger for a more festive look.  Here was the before...

The dishes you use, depends on what you are serving for dinner.  Here are two different options for place settings that I have used in the past.

Dinner can be a lot of work, so try and remember to get as much done the day before your dinner as possible.  This will make hosting a lot easier and much more enjoyable for you.