House Week: # Six

I mentioned that we had done some room swapping at our house. I don't have a good 'before' picture of our dining room, but this is a decent shot from my mom's birthday party last summer. It shows the old light fixture that came with the house, our tall hutch and the dining table in the middle of the room.

This is the new arrangement ...

Our slipcovered chairs and our old kitchen table in the corner. We technically have an eat-in kitchen, but we couldn't maneuver around the table with Ellen's high chair, and we honestly usually eat in front of the TV (terrible, I know). The things on the table are a hodge podge of items that I didn't have another place for. We got rid of the hutch and cleared out a lot of cabinets to make room for Ellen's toys, so most of the stuff went to the basement and I kept out a few things.

I've shown this before (during the Pantry Moth Infestation of 2010). This light fixture is from Overstock.com and is a virtual replica of one I fell in love with at Restoration Hardware, at a significantly reduced price. (Have you seen Copy Cat Chic? She always has great stuff like this). Apparently Overstock.com replicates lots of 'signature' pieces from all over the place at a lower price. Some people may balk at this, but I love it!

This desk is now where the hutch used to be. Yet again, another piece from my parents. (I also have a matching toy box in very bad shape and my parents still use the matching kitchen table). This stores all kinds of important stuff and it's great to be able to keep it hidden. These are the other two dining table chairs that I decided not to recover in ostrich just yet. The rug is from Flor and we've had it for several years and have been really happy with it.

And this buffet has always been in the dining room. It was my dresser growing up and it came from my Grandmother Hampton's dining room. It used to store only linens and dishes and things, but now the cabinets store Ellen's toys and books.

The silver tea service was my Grandmother McKnight's and my Aunt Susan gave it to us for a wedding gift. I love its shine! The elephants are kind of a crazy find from Good JuJu. I bought them for $24 and originally planned to spray paint them a fun color and make them into lamps. (Dave Smith the Lampmaker is great for this!). I will probably still do that at some point, but for now they kind of match the room and are strange and fun. (So says me).

And, of course, there is a touch of Ellen in every room. You can't avoid the kid stuff that builds up everywhere, but I am really trying to keep it contained and minimized as much as possible!