welcome to our dining room…

today i’m sharing our dining room in its current state…because the room may have some changes on the horizon (more on this below).

we love this room with its high-beamed ceiling…

here is a better shot of those pretty beams…

but to be totally honest – we spend almost zero time in this space. pretty sad, right? i say *almost* because one afternoon a week our 7 year old has a piano lesson in here. otherwise, the room sits empty 99% of the time.

*insert sad face*

we eat most of our meals at the kitchen table, not in the dining room. mainly because our kitchen table is kid-friendly, with the chairs and table being easy to clean. and since i cook near the kitchen table, it’s easy to have the kids sit in there while i serve up their meals.

however, we do love having this pretty dining room. and when there is an occasion to celebrate, we enjoy sitting at this table.

so, let me show you around a bit more!

the tabletop decorations in this room change with the seasons. right now i have several candles and the 2 pottery barn lanterns i snagged on sale. remember the lanterns with the broken closures that were an easy fix with magnets?…

this old bar was gifted to my husband from a friend. we love the piece and maybe one day we’ll actually use it for entertaining. not easy to see in this photo, but the bar holds glasses in 2 spots on the top and on the bottom there are 12 openings for holding wine bottles. there is nothing set on this bar right now because of the 6 little hands living in our house 🙂 this is definitely not a child-proof piece…

because i am an organizer by nature, you know the buffet has to play double duty….

i love this buffet not only because it’s beautiful, but also because of its hidden storage. there is a great drawer for holding placemats…

2 side cabinets that hide away cake stands, candle holders, and small vases. one side is actually empty at the moment!…

and finally, the large center cabinet is a great spot to stow away platters. but most of the time you can find games or puzzles tucked away in here. we frequently play games at the kitchen table and this cabinet is a great place to stash them away until the next day…

on the opposite wall is my husband’s grandmother’s piano…

on the same function note, the piano bench opens up to secretly stash away sheet music…

i have one more dining room secret to share. the chairs also play double duty…

this chair is actually slipcovered. the original chair underneath is completely different than what you see above. when we feel like lightening up the room, all we need to do is unzip the slipcover…

to reveal a much lighter, summery, beachy-feel dining chair…

it’s our little piece of the west coast while living so far away from home.

we purchased the table and chairs before having children – hence the light colored material.

oh, what you learn after you have children.

we were worried about what the chairs would endure once our first child was toddling and if we decided to have additional children. to add more life, we had slipcovers made to keep them around a bit longer. it has definitely kept the chairs in great shape – and it’s nice to mix things up a bit too.

now to potential changes…when we moved in 5 years ago, we bought a few items to fill in this space. the dining room is to the immediate right as you enter through our front door, and the living room is to the left. we had the dining table and chairs, the piano and the upright bar prior to moving in – but the back wall was so empty that echoes could be heard (loudly) in the entry and living room. it was awful. may have been from the high ceilings? and it wasn’t a very welcoming room sitting there so close to the entry and without decorations.

we purchased the faux tree, the buffet and art on the wall…and that was it. it did help fill in the space and reduce the echo, but i can say with almost 100% certainty those 3 items aren’t *us*. they don’t reflect our style. are the beautiful? yes, we do think they are so pretty, but we also think they deserve a home where they will be really loved and cherished. they are getting no attention in their current living space.

my plan is to sell all 3 items and eventually fill in the space again. this is not something that will happen right away. i am not a “rushed buyer”. i am more of a “it will happen when the time is right” kinda shopper. i’ve been casually looking around and making note of new ideas and wanted to have our current dining room on record in here for the time i share an update.

thank you for stopping by to see our dining room!