Re: Re: My New Dining Table

Hi! I hope you had a great weekend...we did! It was our sixth wedding anniversary, so we went away for the weekend (sans Suz) and stayed in Sandestin, which was really gorgeous and so relaxing. We ate at some amazing places and just enjoyed the sun and sand...plus lots of people-watching from behind the cover of my dark sunglasses. So all my thoughts and suggestions are coming from the mind of someone who is totally refreshed and rested, which will hopefully make them really useful!

Okay, so I am with you on loving the Grand Baluster Dining Table. The legs are gorgeous, but I completely agree with you - how impractical! Not only would you need to sharpen your tweezers, but it seems like it would be hard to keep clean too...would sauces or wine soak into the wood? Yikes and no thanks. Of the other two options, I really like the Flatiron Dining Table, which surprises me because I have always loved a farmhouse table with simple lines. But I really like the Flatiron Table. Maybe it's the combination of the wood where you can really see the grain and then the metal legs - it's an unexpected mix. You get the warmth of the wood but the industrial-ness of the legs. Plus, the legs on the other table just seemed really heavy to me. And with the Flatiron Table you could always pull up extra chairs for people to sit on the corners if you needed it, because there are no legs right on the corner for people to band their knees against!

So if you were to go with the Flatiron Table, you could go sooo many directions with the seating. I would be completely overwhelmed, so I'm glad it's you and not me making the decision! I'm just going to give you all my input (and a lot of pictures & links!) to hopefully get your design juices flowing!

I guess first you need to decide how formal you want to go. Also - how and if you want to incorporate color? Do you want to have the chairs nuetral but then upholster them in a colorful fabric? Do you want the chairs completely nuetral, and then bring in color with your linens and dishes? BTW - I love your dining room decor. The framed plates are such an amazing idea! Sorry for not responding sooner!

Here are a few photos I snapped from my Idea Notebook, all from Better Homes & Gardens.

I love how all these chairs are different (including the fabric), but they're unified by the stain:

I have also seen it where someone takes all different types of wooden chairs and paints them the same color to unify them, even though they're all different shapes and sizes. That's more of an informal, eclectic look, so I'm not sure that's what you're going for in here. In this room, I really like the mix of the yellow and green. And I love the frameless mirrors on the wall. It's actually given me an idea for something to do above my bed, so just keep this picture in mind for the future!

These chairs all match and are somewhat formal, but the tie on the cushion gives them some interest and are supposed to look like ribbons on ballet slippers:

These chairs are just really unique and I bet would be comfortable for a long family dinner (something to consider!). They remind me of those purses that are made out of seatbelt straps:

These chairs offer great texture, in my opinion. Plus you could swap out the cushions pretty cheaply if you wanted something different:

Speaking of texture, I really love a good woven chair. Here is one from Ikea that is a total steal at $79:

Here it is in action on the third season of Sarah's House (aka My Obession...did you see where Sarah's Cottage has started on HGTV??? Love it.):

I think it's a chair that could go really casual or dressy, depending on its surroundings, and Sarah made it work perfectly in her more formal dining room.

Another route you could go is to do some kind of bench or settee on one side, just to break up all the chairs a little bit. I love this example from Little Green Notebook:

For your table, you would need something longer, so a bench of some kind might be more economical, but I really love this idea. Or, you could keep a simple bench (almost like a picnic table bench) against a long wall in your dining room that seats more people than the number of chairs you have on one side, so when you have a crowd you could swtich out the chairs for the bench on that side. Just a suggestion.

Then there is the option of doing different chairs for the heads of the table. Sometimes I think this looks too grand and formal, but I found this example at BHG's website and I really love the way it looks:

Or you could do something kind of mod and retro with these Herman Miller chairs, also courtesy of BHG online:


I like how the table is really traditional and farmhouse-y, but the chairs are so not. It's an interesting combination that is sort of appealing.

I feel like at some point in one of our conversations (actual conversations, not just virtual) you talked about doing upholstered chairs, so I could be missing the mark altogether here. But wasn't this fun? I love looking at pictures of other people's houses, even if I'm not actually going to use any of those ideas!

I can't wait to see what you decide!

Xoxo,

Kara

Re: A Royal Dinner Party

Hi Kara - Like always, I am SWAMPED with work!!  (Insert British Accent Here)  Just wanted to pop in and tell you how absolutely delightful your Royal Dinner Party sounds.  The menu sounds wonderful and I'm hoping the dessert that your guest brings goes well with a spot of tea, so you and the other royal watchers can drink with pinkies in the air.  (End British Accent...didn't want you to keep talking to yourself with a ridiculous accent)

And why of course other people are equally as obsessed with the very-soon-to-be Princess Catherine and the entire royal family.  I wonder if we will see the Queen crack a smile for the joyous occassion?  She's like the Devil Wears Prada except way older and way less fashionable.  I am anxiously Catherine's choice of a wedding dress and whether she will wear her hair up or down.  Wondering if we should make a royal wager on that??

Did you watch the Lifetime move William & Kate?  Pretty riduclously good - on the Lifetime movie level of course.  I don't expect an Emmy Awards will be won.

Alright, back to the grind.  I'll leave you with my garbage find....more on that soon.

Re: An Oy Vey Project

Hi friend!

I cannot believe it's already Friday! I need to apologize for being so MIA this week. Here is my excuse: Mr. Lass was home sick from work on Monday and Tuesday, so it felt like a four-day weekend to me. For whatever reason, whenever he is home I never get anything done. Whether I'm watching a movie with him in the middle of a Monday because he's sick on the couch or not being able to clean the bathroom because he's napping in our room...it is totally unproductive. So when he finally went back to work on Wednesday, it really felt like my Monday, which would make today my Wednesday? But tomorrow is Saturday because he'll be home again...ugh! So anyway, I feel like I've been cramming in the last three days what I normally have a week to get done, and of course on Wednesday I didn't feel like doing anything because I'd had four days "off." So, yeah...it's weird how days lose their "feeling" when you don't go into an office, you know? Every day kind of feels the same in a weird way, but the weekends are definitely a highlight still, even if I'm not working full time away from home (because at home I feel like I'm working at least two jobs!).

Okay, let me first say that I love your chairs. They turned out a-mazing. I don't know that I saw the 'before' on them, but the 'after' is stunning. White lacquer was the way to go. And the fabric...I just love it. It was the perfect choice. They look so elegant and sophisticated, but totally warm and inviting too. I know they were a pain, but you must feel so accomplished now that they're done! And whenever I finish a really awful project like that I just remind myself that I never have to do it again (hopefully!). And if the time ever comes where you do decide you want them a different color, you'll have forgotten how much of a pain it was to paint them originally. (That's also what people say about childbirth, by the way!) I also worked on a chair project this week. The before:

We inherited the big chairs from some friends that were moving out of state and didn't want to haul these along. The small chair is from my parents for little Suz. It kind of bothered me they didn't all match, so of course I decided to paint them! (My question: what can't paint fix???)

Here was my inspiration:

And a close-up:

This is my father-in-law's neighbors' front yard in Dallas, where we visited in the fall of 2009. Hubby and I went on a walk through the neighborhood and I took my camera...it was in the middle of the day and no one was home, so I didn't feel as weird taking pictures of strangers' homes, but still...I got a few looks from passing cars. Anyway, I loved the red chairs against the gray house. Incidentally, while we were in Dallas we went by this garden shop that was going out of business and they had a red wooden double Adirondack chair on clearance for less than $100. I died. But there was no way we could get it home on an airplane. I kept asking my FIL if he had plans to drive to Florida at any point in the future and he kept saying no. So, fast forward to this Christmas, when he DROVE from TEXAS to FLORIDA. Ugh! When I heard he was driving one of the first things I said was, "He could have brought me that chair!" It took Hubby a second to realize what I was referring to and then I think he was either impressed or disturbed that I was still thinking about that chair. Seriously, it pained me to leave it in the store. Lesson: always buy it, even if you don't have a way to get it home but you have a free place to store it, which is a lesson I applied when purchasing a dining table off the Atlanta Craigslist (thanks again!).

Of course, my inherited chairs aren't wood but plastic, but no matter. Here was my weapon of choice for this project:

And actually, multiply that picture by two. Yes, four cans of spray paint at $5.99 each. Maybe not the most economical project, but as I pointed out to Mr. Lass: the chairs were free, so if I have to spend $25-ish to get them to match, I think that's reasonable. He grudgingly agreed. But we both love them now:


I need to do a few more touch-ups, but all in all, I'm very happy with the result. The little chair came out the best, probably because it was a lighter color to begin with. I love the three together - it reminds me of The Three Bears and a chair for Mama, Papa and Baby Bear. Of course, they're starting to take on an orange tinge because of the pollen that is quickly coating everything outdoors. But it's done and I think they will look great in the yard we are envisioning creating this spring.

Final plans for the birthday party are coming together. I asked a friend of mine to come and take pictures, so I feel extra pressure/incentive to really go for it in terms of decorations. I was starting to feel a little lazy about making everything I originally talked about, but now I feel a new burst of energy. I told her I want pictures of all the food and decorations, in addition to candid shots of family members. I'll let you know for sure once it's over, but I think designating someone to take pictures at a party could be one of the smartest decisions I ever made: it will free me to enjoy myself and not feel pressure to capture everything on film on my own. Plus, I might even be in some of the pictures! And for you it means lots of great pictures to look at once the party is over.

Here is Suz's 'party dress' that I ordered from Etsy:

I think it will double as her Easter dress too. So hopefully it gets here on time and hopefully it's warm in the afternoon next Saturday! Thanks for your suggestion with displaying the monthly pictures. I think I am going to take your advice and use bunting to show off the pictures in some way. I also had another idea: we have lots of what I'm calling "baby artifacts" that I would also like to show off. For instance, the little hospital cap she practically lived in her first few weeks at home now looks like a baby Yamulke when I put it on her. We have a picture of her in our going-home-from-the-hospital outfit, so I was going to put the outfit out somewhere. Plus I was going to take a picture of her in her car seat now and have another picture on display of her as a newborn in it. And a picture of Hubby cradling her as a newborn when her feet barely reached his hand, and then now where her legs spill over the side of his arm. Maybe I will use the mantle for all that kind of stuff. So those are all things I'm working on deciding now too, as I make a list of all the things I need to pick up at Michael's and Joann's over the weekend.

Whew - who knew I had so much to say? I guess it has been a week! Tomorrow I am going to a big neighborhood-wide garage sale that apparently is the creme de la creme of all garage sales. I'm not much of a garage sale-r, usually sticking to antique shops and estate sales, but I'm going to give this one a shot since I've heard so many good things about it. I'll let you know if I pick up any treasures! Anything you want me to look for for you???

Have a great weekend!
Kara

Subject: An Oy Vey Project

You know when you are really mad about something and you don't want to talk about?  That's how I feel about these chairs.  I am mad at them because I basically hated working on them.  I decided painting intricate furniture is not what I enjoy doing.  Probably painting any furniture is not what I enjoying doing.  I like finding the pieces and picking the paint and the fabric, but painting is ick!

However, I must admit all lacquered up, they are looking pretty good.  Hubby even helped me recover them with this fabric which is called Pen Pal. 

I believe the writing is French, although I haven't tried that hard to read it.  They are now around the kitchen table and pretty much that's all I have to say about them.  Oh, the grand total of the project was probably about $60.  That includes the paint, fabric and new foam inserts.  Then if I charged an hourly rate for the amount of time that went into painting them (all four coats) the chairs are probably at $1000.  HA HA!

We leave for a wedding tomorrow in South Florida, so I will talk to you next week!

Re: Project Progress & Painting

I have no idea why I am up.  But since I am, I've been dying to write to you in regards to your MIL's Chinese Chippendale office chair.  While I didn't know the technical name before, I am no stranger to that chair.  It happens to be a prop in one of my all-time favorite shows - Gilmore Girls!!  Not sure if you are a Lorelai Gilmore fan or not, but the Dragonfly Inn, which she owned with best friend Suki, had a dining room full of these chairs.

The Evidence:

Too bad MIL didn't want to just hand over the chair!!  In any event, you did a great job.  Did you spray paint or hand paint the chair?  I'm still debating with myself which technique is better.  Also, suggestions for online fabric stores?  I need something to cover the seats of my kitchen chairs.  I will be done painting them this week.  (Hopefully!)  I think I'm on coat 977.  OY VEY!

Well, hope you are sleeping!  I'm heading to bed now.  Night!