A Few Changes To Our Dining Room

I thought I would share some of the changes made to our dining room.  The only “before” photo that I could find is the one below.  It was taken in 2010 at Christmas time.  Since then we have replaced the carpet downstairs with hardwood floors.   I love our floors and am pleased with just how they reflect light and warm up the rooms.  And besides the change out of the holiday fluff, a few items on the walls and curtains have been changed as well.  Next to the hutch is an old wood bench with a wonderful worn green paint.  On top sits a large rectangle wood dough bowl and inside some round wood bowls.  Hanging on the wall is a trio of favorites – an oil painting of yellowy white roses, a piano mirror and a Sunday Oil of pansies. 

The most recent change to the dining room is that I replaced the IKEA Swiss Dot panels with curtain panels from Cost Plus World Market.  The new curtain pattern is Whippoorwill and the link to them is HERE.  The only thing I regret is not having purchased these online.  The store carries the 84 inch length and I should have ordered them online to get the 96 inch length.  I chose the Whippoorwill pattern because it goes nicely with my collection of brown transferware.

Casually stretched on the table is an antique tablecloth that came from a private collection of beautiful linens that were offered to me to purchase.  Some I have kept, like this piece, and some I have sold in the store. There is something extra special about this tablecloth and I especially love all of the cross stitched handwork on it.  Having made several cross stitched samplers over the years, I appreciate just how much time was spent creating it.  And I love the soft blue/gray color of the stitches.

The drawn thread edging is so delicate and fanciful and shows off against the dark metal top of my table.

A simple centerpiece of stacked European dough bowls filled with dried hydrangeas and deer antler sheddings rest atop the tablecloth.

Bird motif English ironstone and transferware mingle with bird nests on a shelf of the white step-back hutch..  My husband found an abandoned Hummingbird nest in the office park he works at and brought it home to me.  It is just precious and I have it lovingly displayed under a cloche.

The feather that is sticking up in the nest was found in a Hunter’s Diary that was written in the late 1800’s.  So…. I’d say that it was well preserved all of these years.   Now it adds a delicate flair to the nest.