dining dreams.

my motivation needs a swift kick in the rear. do you remember when i shared my dining room's gross, floral wallpaper with you? that was all the way back in october. school was cancelled thanks to a tornado warning so i took that opportunity to tear down the outer layer of wallpaper. then i got to the scraping stage of wallpaper removal and my motivation bit it. it's like red bull gave me wings. and then i clipped my wings for about two months. in order to encourage me to get going again, i looked around the world wide webernet for some ideas. here's what i'm thinking. as soon as i get all of the crusty wallpaper glue scraped off, i want to slap some soft gray on the walls for a neutral palette. you know i love me some gray. i'll paint the chair rail and panelling below white.

this snap might seem a bit out of place, but i'd like to stencil this phrase along the top of the chair rail. except on a much smaller scale. and mustard yellow. shocker, i know.
i hate the faux brass chandy that's currently hanging above the dining room table. it screams "hello, i live in a dated, 70's ranch." i've had a soft spot in my heart for these two pendants for a while now. i love the chevron pattern on the first one as well as the clean lines of the drum shade. i've seen pictures of the second ikea model on other blogs and it looks really cool in an actual space. not so much just floating on a white background. it also casts some awesome shadows when lit. i might have to flip a coin. or you might need to leave a comment and choose for me.

i don't want the space to feel cold with all that gray and white going on, so i want to add lots of colorful accents to keep things jazzy. you know how i be. these curtains would look great over the sliding glass door.

and we can't forget madame g. here favorite vent is located right next to the sliding glass door in the dining room. it encompasses two of her favorite things: heat and staring at squirrels. let's accommodate her hobbies by plopping this adorable dog bed next to the vent.

speaking of gerty, her big ole' dog feet leave some big ole' dog puddles when she comes insde from the snow, so why not throw this runner by the back door? gerty gets some padding for her size 5 feet and i don't have to chase behind her mopping up wet foot prints. it's a win win situation. i want to be able to display my slowly growing jadite collection in the dining room. i've been keeping my eye on craigslist to see if an old buffet or credenza pops up, but so far nothing is cheap enough. the hutch in the photo is a bit too shabby chic for my taste, but the dishes make me salivate. especially those little green gems.

there needs to be some sort of art displayed on the big, open wall, but i'm not really sure what to use. i like the idea of a really big, colorful painting on canvas. i think i could probably DIY it. i'm also open to other suggestions. so, by all means, please suggest.

someday, after i've saved my pennies and nickels for a while, i'll cash in and put some dark wood flooring in to replace the dreaded green carpet. carpet is just not a good option for me. i'm sure in fancy shmancy houses where people conduct themselves properly, carpet is a fine option for a dining room. the combination of my klutziness (dropping food), a dog who goes to the bathroom outside via the dining room sliding door, and my hate of green carpet makes laminate a much better option.

all of the items listed above are relatively thrify solutions to liven up a dining room. with the exception of new flooring. it would also take no time to transform the space using the listed items. kind of like a lunch break botox appointment. that is, if you don't have nasty wallpaper that you need to remove. speaking of, i better go scrape. feel free to come help.