it’s really happening
you know that feeling when you get a package in the mail? like Christmas, but just a little bit of it?
I got to have that feeling a lot this week... as so many of my dining room items arrived! we have most everything but the rug and table by now, and the few things that I am going to attempt to make. unfortunately, I was so busy this week that I haven’t even gotten to unpack them yet. But I get to do those honors soon.
why am I buying so many things at once?
well, we’ve crossed the halfway mark of the fall 2021 one room challenge™, a twice-a-year virtual hullabaloo for designers of all experience levels get together to cheer one another on in our quests to finish one room in eight weeks. it’s not a competition - just a way to build community among diyers and professional designers alike.
I don’t normally go for a whole finished room at one time. I have tons of things throughout the house that have moved from room to room, or been acquired over time, as I spot pieces that bring me joy and need a good home. Plus, A whole finished room can definitely be a bit overwhelming to do yourself - both financially and mentally speaking. Which is why interior decorators like me exist!
so, last week I did a proper mood board and this week I bring you...
mood board irl
the next step is translating the magazine shinies into actual objects that reside within a realistic price range.
when narrowing down the bazillions of items available nowadays it’s essential to have the mood board and your room goals to guide you. our dining room goals include:
room at the table to play dnd/board games and eat food
seating for 8 people
easily washable rug to help absorb echoes but not be totally stupid under a place where we will inevitably spill something
storage for seasonal dining stuff
making the door to the bathroom seem less awkward
Then, we have to decide what to build, what to repurpose, and what to buy. here’s where we landed on that.
build/repurpose: frame for a mirror we got out of the neighbor’s trash, frame for a bench that will incorporate an old headboard we no longer need for a bed. we’ll also move the globe bar and long sideboard from the kitchen, and artwork from around the house (I usually keep a stock of frames around too - but we may end up needing to buy a few).
buy: dining room table (sorry, wallet), six chairs (we have a set I will keep in there), light fixture, rug, floor grates, wall outlet covers.
it’s mail time
now we get to the part where things start to feel really real: ordering.
here’s what we ended up getting. by talking through why we got what we did, I hope it can help you make your decisions a little easier!
you can find all the items linked up on my Pinterest board.
dining room table
the dining room table was tough. we wanted something wide enough to seat up to 8 and also play games on. this was actually great because it narrowed down options tremendously. we liked the rustic look of this guy - since our floors are also pine, and mismatched, and reclaimed from their hellhole of a life before, I figure, a reclaimed table is basically poetic. also, because of the shipping and supply chain issues, our selection was narrowed as well. Some things we liked weren’t available til early 2022! (not that far off, when I think of it...).
chairs
I wanted mismatched chairs, and because we are going to be playing games on them, they need to be comfortable to sit on for extended periods of time (people who have played pretty much any tabletop RPG and experienced the loss of an entire afternoon or evening, you feel me, I know). No bench seating, I am in my thirties and I need my own dang chair. My partner is really into chairs with arms, but unfortunately, as I told him, those are like top dollar and also quite surprisingly rare. So we nixed the arms, decided to keep a couple of our existing chairs I refinished and already have comfy cushions for, and buy the other three sets. here’s what we went with.
light fixture
we were choosing among some cool light fixtures:
we ended up going with the long wood-and-brass fixture, since we will need even, bright light for games - and it will match better with the size of the table we picked out. the other lights were not nearly as long as the table, which might be ok for dining, but will be annoying when we are trying to play tabletop games. Another option would have been to supplement with lights around the rooms.
rug
For the rug, we matched a ton of them against the rest of the items on a pinterest board. Ultimately, we kept going back to this Frida rug from Ruggable. Knowing it was washable was a big plus, although realistically, throwing a rug this huge in our washing machine does not seem possible... just gives me more confidence to spot clean it.
floor grates and wall outlet covers
Who even thinks about floor grates? um, moi. Tooling around on my favorite site of all time, House of Antique Hardware (believe me, I wish this was a hashtag-ad), I matched an outlet cover to the style we went with for the rest of the room (idk why I missed just one in the last order) and ordered four plain white covers for the outlets that sit horizontally on the baseboards (since those are white as newfallen snow).
for the floor grates, I could find one I liked on the site but I needed an unusually long one for the second grate. I emailed them about it, and while they can’t customize something, they literally sent me the link for it on another store. they are the ultimate best, seriously.
that’s the easy part
Now it’s time to put it all together (some of the furniture, literally) and get cracking on the final touches to the room:
touching up the baseboards where we dinged ‘em with the sanders (everywhere, roughly),
making the bench frame and cushion,
making the mirror frame,
deciding what art to hang,
and arranging the repurposed objects from around the house.
I am stoked to get started and very glad there are more than two weeks left to get things finished... bc I am going to need every ounce of that time! whose idea was this anyway?
