From GreenHouse to Small House...Dining Room

Yesterday I showed you the cheerful little dining room in the CharityWorks GreenHouse, so today I thought I would show you my own cheery little dining space.

It's a small intimate space at just 10'8" by 11'.2", but it's plenty big enough for me and when I have a gathering, it forces everyone to chat to everyone else (no room to be a wallflower here).

 

This is the view into the dining room from my living room...

 

And the view from my kitchen.

I recently gave the dining room a makeover to give it a more casual look.  The feel before was way too formal for the way I live.  I had very formal green damask slipcovers from Ballard Designs on the parsons chairs that I replaced with these cotton twill ones (color is called butter), also from Ballard.  That table is from Ballard Designs too.

I took down the sconces on the wall and put the plates up and switched out the other artwork with some pieces I had purchased on vacations and at local art shows over the past few years.

 

 

The only piece I didn't change was this sweet portrait of a woman I bought years ago in an antique store (pretty sure it's just vintage, not antique) that has since closed.  I'm a terrible photographer and the light is shining on it, but it's actually beautiful in person.

Here is something else I didn't change...the rug.  It's a Karastan (called Kirman I think) and I love the millions of colors converging in this design.  I fell in love with this rug when I was still living in an apartment and was determined to buy it and put it in my dining room once I owned a home.  It was one of my first purchases and I still love it.

I'm still not happy with the bookshelves, but storing books here is a necessity.  In a small house, rooms often have to serve more than one purpose.  Having all this storage for my books is something I love and have always taken advantage of.  I used to store my decorating books here so that I could access them quickly when I was sitting in the living room watching TV (cause God forbid I actually focus on doing just one thing at a time).  But the decorating book collection eventually became too large and had to be moved to the home office.

So how do you like that 1940s temp control on the wall?  He..he...it's bad, I know.  I'll update it one of these days.

 

I store my cloth napkins, napkin rings and wine ID rings in the cabinet below the built in bookcase.

 

No idea what the point of this little built in cubby is, but there you have it.  Someone told me once they used to put these in homes as a spot to hold the telephone (phones in 1940 were quite a bit larger), but I'm not buying it for this space.  I mean why would they put it in the dining room?  That's usually the one time when no one is willing to answer the phone right?  While dining?  If you have a clue, let me in on the secret.

Small House Loves Green House

No color, decoratively speaking, makes me as happy as green.  It's all over my house and I never get tired of it. 

My beloved green is prominently featured in the dining room of this DC area CharityWorks GreenHouse.  There are many other beautiful images of this house posted at My Notting Hill.

I love absolutely every square inch of this space.  LOVE the window treatments, both the fabric and the fun fringe trim.  That small strip of wallpaper is perfection - just a touch for interest and color, but not one big overwhelming wall.  The chandelier and rug could not be more perfect and the furniture ... sorry, I'm having a moment.  As much as I love my own dining room, I heart this cheery little space.

This is exactly the kind of mirror I searched for for my own dining room - right down to the paint job.  Taking an over the top ornate mirror and washing it with ivory paint instantly makes it fit this fun, fresh little dining space.

Even the pillows are perfection...especially that beautiful two toned green velvet number...sigh...

The china...

This carbon neutral house, the first of its kind on the East Coast, will be open through the end of October.  Wish I were there to take a tour, but if you're anywhere nearby it looks to be well worth the visit.

Staging Your Built In Bookcases

Last week during a staging consultation, I had to tell a client who had a large beautiful built in bookcase in her living room, that nearly three fourths of the contents needed to get packed away. 

Additional suggestions for staging said bookcase:

1. Add some pretty baskets along the bottom shelves to hide her husband's large collection of CDs and everyday "stuff" the family needs to have easy access to.  You can find a great assortment of different size baskets (at awesome prices) at Michael's.
2. Remove all family photos.
3. Remove all but a few books on every third shelf, some upright, some flat for visual interest.
4. Bring in a few more of her pretty glass pieces to highlight the bookshelf without taking up visual space.

The way we dress a bookshelf for living is an entirely different matter...

 

 

 

 

...than how we dress bookshelves for staging.

 

 The simple secret to staging bookcases in a home for sale is to use enough books and decorative items to highlight them, without having so much in them that the eye becomes completely distracted. 

Too much "stuff" in staging reads as visual clutter.  You always want the prospective buyer to notice the architectural details of your house, not your stuff.  After all they are buying the house, not your possessions.

So go decorate your bookshelves...unless you plan to sell soon ;-).

It's All In The Editing

Before I even printed out directions (lousy Garmin died after just 6 months and they won't replace it) for my staging consultation appointment this morning, I had to check my favorite blog to see what The Nester's day 6 suggestion was in her 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest.


I was thrilled to see that (feeling very puffed up and important right now), I had already nailed this one last weekend.  Today's idea was to decorate your bookshelves and although my bookshelves have always been carefully decorated, I had only just this past weekend edited my living and dining room built-ins to a two color scheme (one of The Nester's suggestions today was to "focus on a neutral and one color") and loved the results (details below).

Here's the before total view of six shelves before....

Close up of the top two shelves that I did not change at all. 

I didn't change the third shelf either...

but here are the bottom three shelves that I tweaked last weekend.  I love that sweet little tea set from Pier One (purchased many years ago) that had all the colors represented in my living room and adds a bright spot to the bookshelf.  But, I recently removed all of the rust color touches in the living room, so the tea set and the red books didn't really fit any more.

And here's the after.  No, it's not super dramatic or anything, but I do love the black and white color scheme.  I replaced the brightly colored Pier One tea set with this creamy porcelain  Beleek tea set that my Mom bought me on our trip to Ireland.  All I did on the fifth shelf was swap out the red books with some black ones from my dining room and moved the sea life (from a family trip to Hilton Head) around a little.

So that's my tiny weekend bookshelf update.  What have you done lately to freshen up your space?  Remember to try shopping your own house before you head out to the stores.  I always get more excited about a mini redo when I manage to do it without spending a dime.