Divine Dining

You know I always love seeing gorgeous dining rooms, and these rooms are no exception. Every one of these dining rooms is so chic, so full of personality. I think the best spaces, the ones which draw us in and make us want to linger, are the ones which express the owner's personal vision, don't play by the rules, like these. How could you not enjoy a meal in one of these rooms? 

They are just divine.

Happy weekend, everyone!

{image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}

New home inspiration!

I've been a busy bee lately! There has been a lot going on in my life, mostly good things (other than a broken foot, which has got me rockin' a "moon boot" for 8 weeks). The biggest thing happening is that my family just moved house.

My fiance and I spent countless hours looking at houses online, and we went to several open inspections. None of the houses we looked at seemed very promising. Then Glen spotted a hidden gem, a modern-looking new house tucked away in an unusual location in our suburb. He showed me the photos online, and I immediately knew that we had to look at this house. Since he had to work when the inspection was happening, I decided to go to it by myself. The house is only a 10-minute walk from where we were living, at the time. (I even walked down to see it with a broken foot!--but I didn't know my foot was broken, at the time.)

When I walked into the house, I fell in love with the timber-covered vaulted ceiling, the white kitchen, complete with dishwasher, sleek bathroom, and spacious bedrooms. The outside boasts a courtyard with a vine-covered 150 year-old stone wall, and--the crown jewel of this hidden gem, a deck with a lovely jacaranda tree, which will have beautiful purple blossoms in spring. Something told me this place was meant for us.

We've been living here for just over two weeks, and we really like it. Now we want to make the house feel more like home, so I've been looking for ideas. Here are some images which are inspiring me, for things I would like to do in the main open-plan room.

The Sweet Groove of the Melodies by Yolanda Sanchez

 West Elm

 Vases from The Design Farm

 IKEA Leksvik desk

I really want to add more colour and soft furnishings to the open-plan space, to make it more fun and family-friendly. The design elements which I'm most hoping to add to the room are: a dark blue patterned rug, to cozy up the sitting area, a big abstract painting, created by yours truly, a few colourful cushions for the sofas, something gold, such as a table lamp, a turquoise or kelly green Moroccan leather pouf, interesting contemporary accessories, to contrast with our more traditional furniture, and a bit of greenery, perhaps a fiddle leaf fig, to bring the outdoors in. I also would love to get a small desk for this space, since the desk we have is very large, and doesn't fit in the room. A mirror collage hanging above the desk would be lovely, I think. That might be something to do a bit later on.

Once the makeover is complete (or at least when the room is looking a little more fabulous), I'll have to show it to you, won't I? I'm also looking forward to decorating our son Levi's woodland-themed nursery (see my blog post about it here). He is, after all, the reason why we've moved, so he can have his own room. It will be so much fun!

{image sources: 1-3, 4-6 my own photos; 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17}

Gather 'round...

Some dining room loveliness for you today...

Nate Berkus deisgn

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 Le Petit Bijou - Vicki Archer

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 Meyer Davis Lake House

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 Photo by Johan Sellen

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A few weeks ago, I mentioned that my partner and I were on the hunt for a new dining table and chairs. With our family expanding, we decided that now would be a good time to make more room at our table. We aimed to find a set which would comfortably seat at least eight people.

Our old dining set had a small round table, and sat four people. It was cozy, and it worked for us for the time we had it--other than at Christmas and Easter gatherings, when we had eight people to accommodate. On those occasions, we brought our outdoor dining set inside, and pushed the tables together. We made do.

While hunting for our new dining set, we looked at just about every furniture store in the area, only to wind up at Ikea. Honestly, we had hoped to avoid getting the set there, but they had the largest table, which was still within our budget. We decided upon the brown-black Stornas table, which has two extension leaves, and can seat eight to ten people, eight white Ingolf chairs, and matching white chair pads, for comfort's sake. We had been considering getting upholstered chairs, until we imagined tiny sticky fingers smearing across the fabric. Having a baby is definitely changing our perspective on things!

All in all, we are quite happy with our choice. The table is massive! The chairs are very solidly built. Since the table is a bit darker than we would like, we are considering painting it more of a chocolate colour, sometime. Also, down the road, we would like to upholster the seats on the chairs, which seems like an easy enough thing to do. The chair design would allow that to happen. We'll see how much time and energy we will have for such projects, once our little one is here. Bonus: yesterday, the new Ikea catalogue arrived in our mailbox, and we saw that our table has gone up in price by $40. How is that for good timing?

We are so happy to have plenty of room at our table, for family and friends to gather 'round. That's what really matters.

Sorry for the not-so-great photo, taken on my phone. Just thought you might like to see the finished result...

Chic Entryways

When you first step inside a home, you want to see something beautiful, right? These chic entryways are full of personality, creating a great first impression for all who enter.

{image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14}