dining room updates

I've been meaning to tell you, my mom is a genius. Of course I knew this already, but let me just share with you her latest example of genius-ness.

I am generally happy with my dining room and the church pew works like a charm to corral the girls during dinner but there was one small problem with the layout. When anyone over the age of 16 sat at the pew, they had a good chance of knocking their head against the mirror before dessert was served.

So often I would blather to my mom on the phone about wanting to put something behind the bench to create a bit of breathing room between guests and the big O (that would be the mirror, not Oprah). A console would be perfect, but I can't find a console that is as long as the bench and isn't thousands of dollars. Blah blah blah. It was probably around this point in the conversation that my mom would tell me she had to go so she didn't have to listen to this conversation...yet again.

Then we were downstairs (pre-family room makeover) and she said, "What about this console for behind the pew?" Uh, that's not long enough mom, duh. And it's too deep. To which the smarty pants said, "not if you cut it in half."

Mind blown.

I should clarify that this woman is a furniture lover of the first degree and doesn't normally condone furniture mutilation. But this particular piece was a random HomeGoods buy (we all have a few of those around the house) and is by no means precious.

So of course I took that sucker outside as quickly as I could, measured to find the exact middle of the table and asked the hubs to buzz that sucker in half. We kept the tape down as he cut to prevent any splitting and in no time flat I had myself one. long. console.

Although each side of the now super long console still had two legs to hold it up, it was a bit wobbly. To remedy this we just screwed each side of the console into the wall to hold it in place and we were done.

So nothing earth shattering but now all of my dinner guests can enjoy themselves without bonking their head in the middle of an animated story. (we host a lot of animated storytellers at our house). And really I'm a fan of little updates to a room. It feeds my constant appetite for change without chucking a room and starting over again every few months ($$$$$$)

The runner is a temporary one I made from fabric leftovers and extra ribbon. It will hang out until I find a more permanent replacement one day.

What about you? Do you make a lot of little changes around the house to pacify the 'itch'? Ever cut a piece of furniture in half? I'm willing to rent my mom out to anyone who needs her, although maybe I should ask her first.

i've got my sources

One of the best parts about the ORC is hearing everyones comments. It is so interesting what people notice and what sparks their interest. I've had several source requests so I thought I'd lay it all out nice and neat, just like this room was - for about an hour. I am happy to report it is now perfectly trashed, and will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future. Also, the sun finally came out so I got some more true-to-life pictures.

The rug towards the front of the room is an outdoor rug from Home Decorators and I love it. I may or may not have spilled a small bit of paint on it and it wiped up as though it were water. (thank god it was latex). Trust that I'm not the only messy one in the house though, the girls have dropped and spilled on it as well and it always cleans up like a champ. And to know that I can take it out in the spring and hose it down makes mamma very happy.

The vintage rug in the play area was found in an antique store down in Sarasota, FL. It is soft and plush and very well warn. And because of its...age spots I know it can take a beating from toy strollers, legos, and the occasional glitter nail polish and still look great.

The white stools were purchased several years ago at my favorite local antique store and have been in just about every room in the house and every color in the rainbow. I had just barely enough Les Touches to cover them and I love how they tie the red accents from the front of the house to the back of the room.

The console is an outdoor buffet table. It folds up, has a zinc top and weights practically nothing.

The blue and white is from my collection that has made its way around the house and the lovely brass hardware is from Rejuvenation.

The backs of the bookshelves are planked, just like the far wall. Tutorial to come soon.

The fabric for the slipcovers is plain white denim from housefabric.com (they are local for me). All the fabric was prewashed and the slipcovers were made without piping to prevent shrinkage when they are washed. And they will be washed. Frequently.

The red and white pillow is from Etsy, the white table used to be black, the mirror is from the side of the road (classy) and the toy under the table is probably Fisher-Price. (real life)

The plaid fabric, floral fabric and blue and white fabric are all from housefabric.com. They know me well there.

The color on the chairs is Rust-Oleum Lemongrass. The green pillow is from World Market (although I don't think it is available any more) and the ikat pillow is from Etsy. Rainbow Pom-pom garland from Furbish and sconce from IKEA.

I told you it was a sunny day. Can you believe all of this light came in from the door at the top of the stairs?!

I think that about covers it. Do you have furniture that you recycle from one room to the next? Ever dump something in storage for a while and all of a sudden it seems new and exciting? How excited do you think HouseFabric.com is going to be when they hear I'm actually sewing now?

that console has style

I was looking thru old magazines the other night and with one little image, an idea hatched in my head. Who knows if it will work or not, but I'll be doing a little furniture moving this weekend. Followed by some console styling if things go well. I'll keep you posted.

Styling is hard, I think, but so fun to play around with. Running up and down the stairs to shop the house for what might work best. It's my cardio.

So to get me in the mood, let us take a gander at these winners.

All images via my Styling Pinterest board.

Which one is your favorite? Do you get a charge out of moving things around your house? Do you love a well styled table as much as I do?