Making it feel like HOME: Our Dining Room

Our dining room went from this...

To this...(smooth ceilings, paint, crown moulding)

Wall color is Benjamin Moore Coastal Fog 976, Trim is Benjamin Moore Sandy Hook Gray HC 108, ceiling is Benjamin Moore Tapestry Beige OC-32, doors are Benjamin Moore Kingsport Gray HC-86.  

Then to this... (refinished floors)

Floors are stained High Gloss Dark Walnut.

And eventually, to this...

This dining room table actually came from Chris's fraternity house at the U. of Alabama (Phi Gamma Delta).  It was more of a reddish color, and pretty beaten up so they got rid of them and Chris snagged it (we weren't even dating at the time).  He stored it for three or four years until we bought our house.  We sanded the finish off, distressed it, and then stained it Dark Walnut with a high gloss poly finish.  Unfortunately, this was before our blogging days and we didn't take any pictures of the process, sorry!
I spray painted these wooden chairs metallic silver (more in a future post).

I had some leftover burlap from another project (I'm tellin' you...you always gotta have some burlap around), and so I just cut a strip to make a runner.
These crystal candlesticks were one of my favorite wedding gifts!

This china cabinet is on loan from my sister, Emily.  As any recent bride would be, I was desperate to get my hands on a china cabinet to display our new china!  The right side of it opens up into a desk.  It's very old and belonged to my Great Uncle Somebody.  I think I'll try and fix it up a little bit and put new knobs on it.  

This is a neat little old child's desk, that I love, but it's totally falling apart.  Notice the leftward lean.  Chris has already tried to fix it once and I think it's hopeless.  I still love it though.  

This is a neat old cross-stitched picture of the Doxology.  It's, also, on loan from my sister, Emily.

 These three pictures were my grandmother's.  They are made with real feathers.  Sometimes I can't get enough of "bird paraphernalia".
The curtains are from IKEA.

I'm not so crazy about the light fixture, but that'll be another project.  

In the left corner is a painting my sister Liz did for us for a wedding gift.  It's painted on a glass window pane and it's Chris dipping me during our first dance.  

My grandmother had the most fabulous style!  Our house is full of her things.  She was a fashionista and even went to Parsons Design School in NYC for Apparel Design.  (I majored in Apparel Design at UA.)  These are some of her hats from the 1940s.  I have boxes full.  I hung them on a grid on this wall.  (More in a future post).

We love to have our guests pick a favorite hat.  What's your favorite?

I guess this is our...bar?

View from the kitchen...

That's all folks, at least for now.

Thanks for Reading.