Dining Room Test Drive

This weekend, my momma (Momma B) came down from the county for a little Home Depot trip/window delivery for my uncle/table and chair delivery for me.  Yes, my mom was sporting two windows, a full size dining table, and four dining chairs in her mini van.  She rivals UPS on delivery efficiency and packing genius!  Now that the table was in the house, why not take it for a test drive?  And that’s exactly what we did:

Ever since my dramatic table find up at an antique store in the county, I’ve been petrified that the thing wouldn’t really fit in our dining room.  Thankfully, it was the absolute perfect size!  It’s not too big, not too small, but just right!  Goldilocks would totally approve!  The above photo is the view from the parlor and here is the view from the hallway looking towards the kitchen:

And the view from the kitchen looking into the hallway:

It’s absolutely perfect in size!  Phew!!!  I was sweating bullets worrying about whether or not the table and chairs would fit.  Was I going to have to “make it fit”?  Would we be constantly fighting to get around the table?  Would I have to hawk the poor table on eBay and start the great table search all over again?  No…no…and no!  There’s the perfect amount of space to maneuver around it and some extra space to add the two table leafs and four extra chairs that came with the table (yes…my sweet Ethan Allen score came with two table leaf extensions and eight…count ’em…eight chairs!).  It’s a tight fit to extend the table but I can’t imagine having to do that often.  Did you notice in the pictures that swatch of fabric covering the chairs?

That’s the fabric I picked out to upholster the chairs.  The caning on most of the chairs are in dire need of fixing.  Instead of paying someone to re-cane them I have good intentions of figuring out a way to create upholstered seats.  I love an upholstered dining chair and I came across this fabric in a complete happy accident kind of situation.  I was a Jo-Ann’s Fabrics shopping for fabric for another project (coupon in tow of course) and stumbled across this fabric and fell in love.  It’s not upholstery fabric but it’s outdoor fabric.

It’s still just as rugged and durable as upholstery fabric and at a fraction of the cost.  This stuff only cost about $7 per yard (on sale of course…plus the coupon) compared to about $24 to $60 per yard for actual upholstery fabric.  I have no idea how to upholster a chair or switch it from a caned chair to an upholstered one but I’m sure I’ll figure out a way with my trusty handy man…errrr….boyfriend in tow.  We also need to figure out a way to refinish the table surface since it’s a little dingy and dinged up from years of wear and tear.

I love how the sun streams into our dining room with the new, much larger window!  So the little dining room test drive has got me scheming up some ideas for finishing it up.  I’m thinking a round, jute rug underneath the table is necessary.  Maybe this guy who hails from Overstock for less than $100:

And also a rustic-y crafted or even found wagon wheel chandelier.  Those snazzy fixes will probably be a ways down the road.  My next dining room project is going to be a time consuming one since I’ll have to do it in stages to keep the room usable.  It’s painting the floor.  The floor in the dining room is the sub floor, which is comprised of old wide planks that have seen better days.  Eventually we’ll lay hardwood floors throughout the whole house, until that day comes, simply painting the floor will help make the room feel more finished.  I’m thinking a darker gray in the same gray family that we painted the walls with.  Then I have intentions of painting a design on the floor.

It could be a really cool effect once it’s all done.  A lot of work but soooo worth it.  Pretty is always worth it.  Right Colby?!  I kid, I kid!