3/18/11

the dining room- through the ages.....

BEFORES-

This is my living room from about 5 years ago.... The mirror shelf thing is really special isn't it?  This room has no natural light and no artificial overheads either. I have to use lamps and swag things. As you can see, I had a really cool 1950's dining room set (since sold) a large collection of tikis (bigger now- but in storage) and a watermelon. I was living large.....
This was the view of the dining room from the living room. To the right you see the large brown door in the corner- that is the front door. We had removed the tri color shag by this picture but were walking on floorboards painted dark brown at that point (lack of funds) Don't ask me what the large red embroidered thing is. I mean, I know WHAT it is- it's a duvet. I don't know why it is where it is in this picture though.... at the front of this picture on the left side is a doorknob. It's attached to a door. That is an exterior door that was in the interior of the house- specifically it went to the laundry room. It was an add on- and I suppose they just decided to keep the original door because it was there. The area that is carpeted in this picture is the old dining room. The dining room was the old living room. We think. Look closely at the bottom right- that is the ugly kitchen carpet. Yes, tri color shag AND kitchen carpet. WOW- I hit the jackpot back then didn't I?


NOW-
This is the tiny, tiny, tiny entrance. The outside door is left, the closet is the right.  Better in white, right?


This is from around the corner. The large orange artwork is covering up those mirrored shelves. They are still back there.

 Looking from the front door into the rest of the house. It could have been cleaner when I took this picture this morning. I blame the H1N1.

Looking backwards into the dining room from the computer....I wish I had a better location for the fireplace....


Below-From the computer back towards the door. The door on the right is my closet door and that is the long hallway that goes to the bedrooms.... That is my favorite desk ever. I wish I used it more, but it's very useful-it has a built in file cabinet! The blue artwork is prints by Gwen Frostic. The yellow chair is to help put on shoes. The skull on the wall is because I live in the woods and we do things like that up here.



Below- From the front of the dining room windows into the kitchen then the living room....this is the to the right of the dining room table and across from my closet in the above picture. Farther to the left in the picture is the hallway.....




Still from the front windows, looking back into the house to the living room....Boy, do I have an UGLY table centerpiece. That MUST be changed ASAP now that I see it in print. Plus, that computer area is a sty........




 From the living room back into the dining room.... we built that bead board header you see at the top- but more about that in the next post which is the kitchen and the computer area.....
So that is the dining room. It's big, it's a rectangle. I wish it wasn't so big, because I feel it's a waste of space. We hardly use it. It becomes a dumping ground or a walk through to the rest of the house. But we need a dining room, and this happens to be it. Ideas are always welcome. Always.

3 comments:

Alana in Canada said...

This is a test.

Alana in Canada said...

OK. I just had a long, windy comment that didn't go through, so I'm going to try again.

Love the big canvas/art thingy over the shelves. It really gives the wall some distinction and definition.

The chairs and the table together aren't working for me. The chairs seem to be huddling--like gossiping girls grabbing a smoke at break. The contrast between the dark wood and the whitish backs is too strong. The lines in the table compete with the roundness of the chairs. Do you need 6 chairs, there? Maybe two could go live somewhere else and you could pull up what you need from the desk and so on.

I see something light and Scandinavian in this space--but until then, what about pulling in some colour from that area with the credenza? That's gorgeous with the gold shade and all. Some of those purples and greens and gold in the shade and the curtains--maybe even a runner on the table --would be great.

I wish you had a better place for that fireplace, too.

thefarmersdaughter said...

Those chairs were a stop gap measure that have lasted 5 years now..... they don't go with the table you are so right.... but I do need 6 chairs so right now that's what I'm working with.

Color though would be a wonderful change. I'm just unsure about what would go with that giant orange piece.....

I would love to put the fireplace in the living room- but there's no place for it there either.... right now it's in limbo.... and it sucks.