Designing an Eating Area for Connie and Chris

Well.....

Now that I've shown you how far we've gotten with Connie and Chris's living room, 

it is time to tackle their eating area in the kitchen.

Their new home doesn't have a formal dining room, but a large area in the kitchen.

This room is actually an open concept floor plan which includes the family room as well as the dining area with the kitchen sandwiched between the two.

I have shots of how the room was decorated by the two previous owners.

The first shot is of the owner before the ones who owned the house before Connie and 

Chris.

So they are before squared. ? .

As the room can't accommodate a long table as well as a server, the first owners had a folding screen placed against one wall.

The next shot, below, is the real estate agents shot, so a wide angle lens was used making the space appear much larger than it actually is.

 They kept the same chandelier from the previous people, used a shorter table to allow for the console placed against the right wall.

I think that these owners moved from house to house using the same drapery treatments, as all their window panels were WAY too long for the rooms.

There is a lot of fabric here, and it created a more formal look than Connie decided she wanted, so we went for something with simpler lines.

Keeping in mind that the wide angle makes the room look ginormous, below is a shot showing the kitchen, so you guys can understand the relationship of the dining area to the rest of the room.

If the kitchen were actually as large as it seems below, you would need roller skates to get around while cooking.

Sooooo.....

The first thing I needed to do was to find a dining table that was in a light wood.

Connie had really liked the one that the sellers had.

The meanies took it with them.

Soooooo.....

I put on my detective hat and started trying to find one like it that was large enough for 8 chairs and wasn't a new one.

WE WANTED AN OLD ONE!!!!!

Well...

I found one on First Dibs, the eBay for folks who are willing to shell out the extra money for wonderful stuff.

IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT WE WANTED!!!!!

I said to Connie.....

BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!!!!!

I was worried that someone else would grab it up, as it was a newly listed item, and this style is very popular right now.

Below is the image that was on First Dibs.

I contacted the seller to make sure that it was a size we could use, and that chairs would fit comfortably underneath, and he sent me this picture.

IT'S AN ACTION SHOT WITH SOMEONE ACTUALLY SITTING AT THE TABLE!!!!!

Connie is not good at waiting.

She claims that it is so that Chris doesn't get upset that the room isn't done.

I don't believe her.

not at all

She wanted a chandelier 

RIGHT AWAY!!!!!

No time to look for a cool old one.

No No No No No.

She wanted a rectangular one.

I don't know why, cuz I can't remember her reasoning.

But I DO WHAT I'M TOLD.

and I found her one on Restoration Hardware that was rectangular.

She liked the look of flickering candles.

Very romantic.

Cuz that's just the way that Connie and Chris roll.

Restoration Hardware Pillar Rectangular Chandelier 

Connie wanted a nice mix of materials and styles for the chairs, and left it up to me to figure out how that was going to be accomplished.

NEVER FEAR!!!!

I CAN DO IT!!!!!

I AM SUPER DECORATOR!!!!!

We found these wicker arm chairs at Grange in the Boston Design Center

We didn't like the skimpiness of the cushions, so we had them made in Flerida.

Then.....

I had to figure out what should be the host and hostess chairs.

I was getting a lot of input from the peanut gallery.

Sometimes Connie and Chris don't seem to realize that just because this is their home, 

and these are going to be the chairs they sit on EVERY SINGLE DAY during the winter.....

 their opinion comes after my fun!!!!!

Sooooo.....

I went back to 1st Dibs to look for some fabuloso chairs.

I found ones that Connie and I both fell in love with at Charles Spada Antiques

that turned out to already be at the Boston Design Center.

Soooooo....

She and I went to look at them and ended up buying half the stuff in his showroom.

These chairs are even older than Connie and Chris!!!!!

I loved the way the three styles worked together.

I don't like it when all the chairs are the same around a table unless it is a round table.

Then I like all the chairs to be armchairs.

Don't know why.

It's just my quirky brain.

Sooooooo.....

This is how far we had gotten to this point.

There's that damn wooden trough again.

It just moves from room to room.

IT'S A NOMAD!!!!!

Next time I'll talk about the fabrics I used and the window treatments.

maybe.

On that note,

Latah, Gatah