Dining Room Reveal

I get emails and comments from people all the time wondering why I’m not giving more “virtual house tours”.  Honestly…I’ve got lots of irons in the fire right now and although I am working on the house, I still have to work.  Some of the rooms still look like this….That was the state of the dining room as of Monday.  Who wants to see that as a house tour picture?

If we had shelving in the closets and cabinets where we have planned it would be so much easier.  I’m not complaining.  I am happy we’re here.  That’s just the stage we’re in right now.  Everything that can be easily put away is.  What needs more thought or time isn’t.

I have found that I am taking LOTS and LOTS to the thrift store.  At the old house it was definitely “country” decor.  Here, lots of that doesn’t work.  I’m finding that many of my small quilts don’t even quite work.   I love the open space and the light colored walls.  I just don’t want to clutter it all up with stuff.  That might change but for now, that’s where I am at.   Just today I took all but one of the wood shelves and gave them away.  The house just doesn’t support that look and I’m okay with that.

Anyway…back to the dining room.  I FOUND THE TABLE…well actually the table was always there.  I did find the surface though.  You can see here and there I have started getting childcare things out.  This is the view from the office into the dining room.  I absolutely love that the table can be out and full sized.  Were we actually eating there we’d probably move it out just a bit away from the pump organ but for day to day, this is great.  No more storing table leaves!!  In my world this a HUGE luxury.

I always considered dragging the leaves up and down the stairs the biggest pain when hosting Thanksgiving!  This is the view from the living room through the dining room and into the kitchen.  Yep.  there’s junk on the island.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not going to fight that….hopefully manage it but not fight it.  The ceiling from the dining room into the kitchen actually drops about 6″.  Our carpenters did such an awesome job, it’s hardly noticeable.

Now here is a picture from the kitchen-through the dining and then to the living room.  We’ve debated about the best position for that rug.  We’re trying to keep it out of the traffic area making the where the table is the dining room and where it isn’t more of a “hallway”.   I don’t know if that’s the “right” way to do that or not.  Feel free to chime in…

To the far right in what is the kitchen is the cabinet Hubby bought.

This next picture is taken standing right next to it.   The view is through the dining room and into the office.

I LOVE IT!!

We are suppose to have a built in cabinet to the left of the column divider.  We had to remove that when we removed the old part of the house.  We have all of the pieces and have every intention of putting that back in place.  It’s on Hubby’s to do list….but it’s like number 37 or so-I’m not holding my breath for anytime soon.  That’s okay.  I’m not in a huge hurry….

Hubby and I both like old things so we are making a big effort to include as many memorabilia type things as we can.  The pump organ was my Grandma Johnson’s.  It was rumored that my Grandpa bought it for her and he bought it used from a bar in Parkersburg, Iowa.  I have no idea if it’s true.  It’s a fun story though.  The hardanger piece on the organ was started by the same Grandma.  After she passed, my aunt Agnes finished it.  She gave it to my daughter Kalissa but Kalissa gave it to me saying that right now, she didn’t have a place for it….I guess I’m in charge of safe keeping it.

The glass hen on the nest was my mom’s.  The woven basket was something my Grandpa Johnson brought home with him after a visit to Sweden.  My grandparents both came from Sweden and in later years my Grandpa went back and visited.

The Lord’s Supper picture was my Hubby’s Mom’s.  We both really love it.

The two photo album books my sister put together.  They are of my family’s history.

The cabinet below Hubby and I bought while antiquing in Marion, Iowa.  We love the piece.  We bought it about four years ago.  At the farm we used it in the kitchen to hold dishes.  I just love it.  It’s a piece I don’t think I’ll ever part with.  Inside I have a bunch on vintage toys.  I don’t know that they will always stay there but for now, that’s what’s there.  In the bottom I have childcare toys.

In the corner next to it I have a few vintage “playing house” toys.  I need to make a mattress, pillow and quilt for the doll bed.  It’s on my list…but it’s on about #17 or so-so it will be a bit yet before that happens.  Hubby and I have a vintage child’s cupboard that will likely go in the corner at some point and time.  It needs to have the doors fixed and counter top redone so it’s red like mine in the kitchen.  That’s about # 76 on his list…so we’ll all patiently wait for that.  For now, there are enough things to play with.  Besides it’s fun to have something new occasionally rather than have all the goodies at once.

We had LOTS and LOTS of people question our sanity when we said we were going to pull up floor boards from that old farm house and lay them in our new home.  One of the reasons why we wanted to is because four feet of the dining room were torn off when we took the old part off.  If you scroll back up to that picture of the Lord’s supper, in about the center of that is where the old house meets the new addition is the splice.  You can’t tell at all can you?  Our carpenters were wonderful.

But back to the flooring…See that darker board-count three boards forward from there.  That is where the original floor meets the boards we recycled.  The work was totally worth it!!

Unless we tell people, no one knows.  That’s what we wanted….aren’t the floors perfect.  No way.  Are they good enough for us?  Definitely.

So that’s the dining room.  I can’t wait to plop down the Kramer kid clan for an Easter meal at the table this year….It’s going to be the hugest treat.  No dragging table leaves…I can see the dining room from the kitchen…PERFECT!!  (except the trim that needs to be redone, the trim that needs to be put up, the ding that got in the floor when we moved, the built in that needs to be put back, the windows that need to washed…) Perfect for me right now!!