From the Osmonds to…my dining room.
Huh? (In my head, it completely made sense.)
My dining room is currently a mishmash of stuff.
And that is kind of driving me crazy. No, it’s really driving me crazy, actually.
As I explained last week, I used this old door/window on the buffet. It is the perfect size and shape there. I really like it there, in fact.
The thing is, it just adds to the mishmash.
Please ignore the fact that the silver wine bucket is on both the buffet and the table – I took the pictures at different times. It actually kind of highlights the problem…
I don’t know what style my dining room is exactly. And calling it “eclectic” just to make me feel better won’t work…yet.
The plate wall above echoes the problem. Some parts modern, brightly colored. Some traditional, like the plates on the wall.
Honestly, I lie awake at night thinking about this.
I don’t know why the dining room is so tricky for me. Maybe because I pieced it together over time and it just didn’t quite come together as a cohesive whole?
I got the table from Home Goods – it’s kind of French country-ish. On the one hand, it’s a great table because it seats up to 12 (two leaves) and it is solid. No doubt that it is solid, beautiful wood. That thing is heavy (trust me, I’ve moved it more times than I’d like to count!). And it was a bargain – too good to pass up. So, I didn’t.
On the other hand, it’s so not my style. Ugh – there’s that word again: “style.” But, honestly, if I could do it all over again, I’d have a big ol’ farm table, with bumps and character. I’m not fussy or into a lot of curves in my furniture, despite this table (and the light fixture).
The chairs are upholstered with paisley, earth-toned fabric. Very comfortable. I got them not long after I got the table and chose them because (a) they were super comfy and (b) at the time, my dining room was an autumn, earthy red, and they fit right in. This was my “earth tone period,” apparently.
The buffet is from Pottery Barn (outlet – love it).
The chandelier is from Lowe’s.
If you’re a Dogs Don’t Eat Pizza regular, the orange painting you’ve seen before. It’s made appearances in the breakfast room before the kitchen renovation, the dining room, and my living room mantel. I love it, but can’t quite find a good home for it.
The rug is from Home Goods. It’s kind of a Moroccan pattern, again in earth tones.
The paint color is “La Fonda Wild West Green” (Valspar Signature Color) from Lowe’s.
The chair rail was there. The trim and chair rail are painted Ultra White (Behr).
So maybe piecing all those things together, along with some stuff – like the silver – I already had, didn’t work.
I do see a lot of me in this room – not because it’s a jumbled-up mess, although I am certainly that sometimes. More because it reflects influences on my taste throughout my life.
The silver is my mother. She loves silver and proudly displays beautiful pieces of it in her home. Is it my style? Not at all. Too traditional. Too fancy. But something one day told me to put it on the table and hang it on the wall. Maybe because I grew up with a traditional dining room at home, even though it’s not my style nor would it fit our family’s lifestyle (we are SO un-fancy).
The French country? Also probably my mom – there’s a lot of that in her house. But I bought the table because I liked it (I didn’t love it) and it was a super-duper schmuper bargain.
The bright colors? Totally me. Love them. There is a part of me that would paint this table bright green, the walls yellow, the chairs white, and be totally and completely in love with all of it.
The earth tones? Also me. Me in a safer time.
The window? Me, as a recycler and lover of old things with character. I don’t like chippy or rusted things, but I like taking old things and giving them new life. That’s the window for me.
So in a way, this dining room is exactly me. And yet, it’s not.
The chair rail is too traditional for me. I’ve been thinking of removing it for some time. The wall color is not quite right, but better than the dark red that was there.
What do I do? Help!
After writing and rereading this post, I’ve decided to empty the room and start over. Just leave the big pieces and figure it out from there, weeding out what I don’t want.
I don’t know.
What do you think? What should I do? Do you have a problem room in your home? What did you do?
Dogs Don't Eat Pizza 
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