My (sort of) Finished Dining Room!

I am so smitten with the way our our "new" dining room is looking! I completed the shelves (sort of) last weekend and added the crown molding to the whole room. I still need to cut three more shelves and add the baseboard (it was supposed to be delivered to the local lumber place last Friday, but hopefully it will be there tomorrow) and a small strip of molding along one side to hide a gap.

Oh...and these photos aren't the best - I know I say that a lot...but sigh...

Other than those few little things, it's stuff ready! As you can see I couldn't wait to start putting stuff on. I just grabbed a bunch of random stuff I had in the basement and arranged it. It will certainly change and evolve as I get the rest of our possessions organized and put away, but I just had to see what it looked like with some milk glass and shell art bling.

I'd like to add more books...there have been a lot I've been wanting to reference for inspiration that are still boxed up in a big stack downstairs!

So much space to put things! Wasted space transformed...perfect for collectors like me!

And you can sit on the shelves under the window sills. Someday I may make cushions for them, but for now they'll hold plants and the random uncushioned butt.

I even added skinny shelves to the very narrow strip of wall between the window and the wall.


I'm super proud of my crown molding job...it's actually easier than a lot of people make it out to be. And the lumber yard had super cheap finger jointed pre-primed crown...I love it! I'll be crowning out the rest of the house in no time! Which means I'll be holding on to my dad's miter saw for a little while longer...thanks dad!

Can you believe it! The supplies for this whole project cost about $400, which means I saved around $4,000 by doing this job myself! And I did all of this single handedly. Ben held some of the long pieces of crown for me while I nailed, but that's it! If I can do it, anyone can!

Oh, and speaking of Dad, he let me raid his own little lumber yard in the loft of his barn (where Ben and I got married) for wood to build a new dining room table. I found rafter beams that came from the 150 year old two story shed he recently tore down to build my mom's new studio. Those became the legs. The top was cut from two huge and super heavy 3.5" thick boards that my dad had milled from trees from his woods a long time ago. He intended to make furniture from it, but as life goes, never got around to it. I'm more than happy to finish his good intentions. He helped me cut and rip the boards to the proper size (thank goodness...I could barely lift one board by myself!) and I constructed the rest.

Ben and I are trying to decide what finish to put on it. Invisible clear coat to preserve the way it looks now? Black stain to add some masculinity to the room? Dark brown to match the legs? Argh...it's so hard to decide! What would you do?

And late one night I was trying to decide what to put on the walls. I have sooooo many vintage frames and other things to hang, but I couldn't find any "ah ha!" pieces. I had my pile of table numbers from our wedding sitting near the front door (along with other wedding stuff that still needs to be put away), so I thought framing them would add the perfect graphic element! I laid them all out (I'm not sure where number 3 is...?) and they look great! I just need to get some glass cut and add a backing. Can't wait to put it up on the wall!

And lastly, my prized china cabinet has found it's home. Caddy corner in the dining room, ready to show off all my prized goodies! :)

Phew! I've got a few more finishing touches to add to the dining room, including the closet that I'm turning into a reading nook and treatments for the windows, and then it's on to the kitchen!