*I received gifted product from Lamps Plus and Framebridge in exchange for this post. Please note, the items were picked out by me and all opinions are 100% my own.
Dining Room Concept by:
Shannon Conness, Interior Designer
301 Home Interiors
Instagram // Email: [email protected]
It’s officially been 6 months since we’ve been in our new home! 6 MONTHS and we still have so much more to do! In our defense, we were away for an entire month, and Casey’s travel schedule for work has been the usual insanity. And, if you think I’m capable of accomplishing much on my own these days, being pregnant, having a toddler, and working full time, well, then you are really, really funny! 😉
So, with that being said, it may have taken us longer than we’d like, but we finally got our ish together and created a dining room space that we’re really proud of. When we moved in, we brought the dining room table from our apartment in Charlotte, along with a set of chairs and a bench. What’s crazy is that we really liked this dining room set in our last apartment, but, having it in our current home DID NOT WORK. In fact, it actually looked kinda fugly! I’m almost embarrassed to show you the pictures below on what this room has looked like up until now.
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Sad, right?!
Obviously the room itself was bare, but I just couldn’t get inspired to design around that.
That table was built by Casey, along with the [much needed] help of his brother and dad. We actually ended up keeping it and using it for our kitchen. The chairs are currently in our garage and will be used for extra seating when needed.
Here’s our dining room now…
Tada!
Now we finally have a grown up dining room!
I knew what I wanted for this space, but it’s so hard for me to make a final decision when the options are endless. I’m scared to make an expensive mistake, so thankfully Shannon from 301 Home Interiors worked with Casey and I. She helped confirm things I wanted in the room, like an area rug and drapes, two items Casey thought were unnecessary. Before I purchased the chairs, area rug, curtain rod, and curtains, I ran it all by her to get her approval, and she fortunately put up with my hundred text messages!
Here are more details on what makes up our dining room:
THE TABLE
Shout out to Casey on creating this fine masterpiece! I was adamant on having a farmhouse style dining table. We struggled finding one that was the perfect size and made of real wood. Our dining room space is not big at all, however, a typical Sunday family dinner can easily involve 12+ people, so we wanted a table that extended long enough to fit everyone.
After visiting a few furniture stores and surfing the internet for what seemed like eternity, Casey was like, “let’s go to Home Depot. I’m making us a table.” So that’s exactly what he did.
The table is made of Oak wood. He made two rather large leaves that can be added into the center, and used this piece to allow the table to extend. It now can comfortably fit 14 people, maybe even more! The legs are actually from my grandmother’s old dining table… she recently moved and told us we can take her table if we wanted. It was a bit too traditional for us, so we just took the legs off, removed the feet from the bottom [they looked like claws], and then sanded, primed, and painted them white. And by “we” I mean Casey, LOL.
I’m super impressed by him as this was NOT an easy project, and not something he’s familiar with. The most experience he had was assisting his brother and father to build our last table, which was much more simple. Gotta be thankful for YouTube and Google!
The tables shown below are ones we considered buying:
THE CHANDELIER
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Thanks to Lamps Plus, we were able to remove the very basic chandelier that was most likely installed by the previous owners when they built the home 5 years ago, and swap it out with something more our style. We love industrial looking chandeliers, and thought this one was perfect. It’s very Restoration Hardware looking, but much more affordable.
I first heard about Lamps Plus from my mother-in-law. Before we moved into our new home, she had told me that several of her friends purchased chandeliers and different pieces of furniture from there, and they were all super pleased. Lamps Plus has a ginormous inventory of all different sorts of lights, fans, furniture, and home decor. You can spend hours looking on their site!
THE PICTURE & FRAME
Casey and I bought this original painted canvas while in Rome this past May. We didn’t have intentions of buying artwork during the trip, but while walking through one of the market areas, we fell in love with this particular man’s work.
Several of my friends [including my Interior Designer friend, Shannon] recommended I use Framebridge for any and all of my framing needs. I can’t even begin to tell you how easy the process was! I simply measured our painting and took a picture of it using my iPhone, then uploaded it to their site. I followed the prompts and chose the mat and frame I had in mind, while also taking a recommendation from one of their designers. They sent me a secure pre-paid mailer to stick my artwork in and send it back to them. About a week later, our painting was framed and back in our home!
Framebridge was kind enough to offer a 15% off discount code to my readers, so be sure to use: JAIMEC15 at checkout! You can visit their site here.
EVERYTHING ELSE!
Our first floor is very open, so you can pretty much see from one side to the other. Plus, it’s not that big. Therefore, we wanted everything to flow and coordinate really well together, while having clear, distinct spaces. For the most part, everything is on the light neutral side [remember our living room?], but soon there will be some blue and green accents in our kitchen nook which is why I decided on this blue herringbone area rug, and these ginger jars, which I’ve been using as vases. Last time I was in Homegoods, they had so many great ginger jars if you’re on the hunt for them! Oh, and you’ll see what I mean about the kitchen nook… it should hopefully be completed within the next two weeks or so.
To finish the room, we went with a simple curtain rod in the color antique brass, and then plain white curtains. We may or may not end up adding a thin peekaboo console table against the half wall that separates the dining and living rooms. It would mostly be a decorative piece and then can be functional when having people over and having a spot for apps and drinks. Lastly, we are still needing two end chairs so that the table regularly seats 8 and Casey can be “head of the table” [insert eye roll].
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today’s post! Since moving in and sharing this whole process with you guys on Sunflowers and Stilettos, as well as my Instastories, I’ve received really positive feedback and a bunch of home/home decor related questions. So with that being said, if there’s anything you want to see more of, please let me know. Love hearing from you all!
