This is the first area of the house that I’m calling “done.” It’s actually the only place we eat in the whole house because we don’t have a traditional dining room right now. I scoured deep into the archives of my photos to find a “before” picture for you. Here it is when we moved in:

There was a lot of wood. The paneling extends to the entire living room as well. A funky light fixture. Pinkish cream paint. Cheap blinds.

Here it is now:

The first big project we did in our house was to have the paneling professionally painted. Back then I was obsessed with this green color. I still like it, but now I am kind of itching for a change. It’s such a huge undertaking though, so it probably won’t get done for a long time.

One of the things I knew needed to be done was to switch out what was on the wall, and I finally did that recently.

I have a special love for this table. Other than our bed, it was the first piece of furniture we bought for this house. I found it in a local antique store, and although I think it annoys David because it’s a little wobbly and has scratches all over it, I think it’s beautiful.

The chairs are from IKEA and the cushions are Target. I would love to do a mix of vintage chairs, but that’s the kind of thing that you have to put together over time and these are sturdy and comfortable and I still like them well enough.

Since I knew I wanted to keep this area simple – it’s not very big after all – the last thing I had to do was finish off the table top. My original idea was to put down a pretty vintage tray with a wire basket for napkins and a vase of flowers. I still love that idea, but I couldn’t find the exact tray I had in mind, and anyway I thought it would be smarter to use what I already have. So I just used these placemats as a base and stacked the napkins. This is how I leave it when it’s not in use, then when we eat I just push the vase to the side and pull out the placemats and napkins.

Lastly, I used this gorgeous vase that was my grandmother’s and that I recently found while “shopping” in my parents’ garage. And instead of buying flowers, I clipped these pretty branches from a huge overgrown bush in our backyard. When these die I will just clip some more branches. So pretty and so free!

I admit that it’s a bit green overload here, and I wouldn’t mind bringing in some different colors, so I’m on the lookout for more cloth napkins to mix in and of course I can always splurge on flowers. I am also thinking of getting a different color chair cushions. Any thoughts on colors for those? (Okay, now it’s sounding like the room isn’t so “done” but really, I’m happy with it and feel good about moving on for now!)

Oh, and if you’re wondering, which you probably aren’t, I went ahead and took down our high chair because Meredith refuses to use it anymore. Most of the time she just sits on my lap, which can be annoying but I know I will miss it one day.

It feels so good to actually get one space finished!