a room to dine

our dining room is the one room in our house that looks the most unfinished.  we've, rather i've had a hard time figuring out the feel of this room.  for a while it was going to be green, then it was going to be all white (every room in our house would be white if rob let me) and then it was going to be a combination of many colours.  the end result is that we've settled on white walls with a grey band running around the top of the wall, and blue.  seems to be a recurring theme in our home.  funny thing these dining rooms, damn first world problems.

we didn't have a formal dining room in our last house.  one eating area was all we needed.  it was a little small for entertaining ... er intimate.  not small.  i must admit, i've kinda liked have a larger space to have more people over for dinner.  we had our first adult dinner party in november for rob's birthday.  awesome to not be stuck in the kitchen.  felt so grown up in the dining room.

in the original plans for our house, the front room was closed off from the entry by a wall with a window looking in.  we more of the open concept floor plan people than wall people.  make it into one big open space.  so down the wall came.  and so did the walls that were going to encase the stairs for that matter.  by removing all the walls near and around the dining room, flex room as it was called in the plans, it made for a much better flow.  in hind sight, i should've listened to my husband when he said "make the doorway into the family room/kitchen larger."

that's right... my husband was right.  and i was wrong less right.

these are the only two photos i found of the dining room during construction.  apparently we were more concerned/excited about the other rooms in the house.

and the dining room now.

just as with pretty much all the rooms in the house, this one has quite a bit of work ahead of it.  we've created multiple lists.  and because the space is more dining room/entry the list seems longer and more time consuming than i'd first imagined.  then again, with two small humans running around, everything seems more time consuming that i'd first imagined.

here's the list ... so far:

~ paint, lots of paint.  narrowed it down to a choice of two different whites.  who knew it could be so difficult to find the right white paint?

~ paint the "blank canvas" wall a dark blue.

~ move african masks from family room to wall right beside entry door.

~ get glossy white console table for "blank canvas" wall.   

~ fill "blank canvas" wall with art from our travels and family.

~ new rugs for dining room and front entrance.

~ get a bar cart.  

~ paint back of china cabinet ... no idea on the colour yet.

~ re-cover bench cushion.

~ print/order/make giant photo canvas' for giant wall in dining room.

~ make/find/purchase modern looking floating blue credenza for giant wall in dining room.

~ new pillow cover for bench pillow.

~ and take out the over grown fig plant.