Ideas for the Dining Room

The Dining Room is trickier. On the one hand, I have some definite ideas. On the other hand, I'm unsure about colors.

I want the dining room to be a blend of older retro & of nature-themed designs. I love the old Kromex serving pieces we have, and I'd like to fill them out a little. I even like our little chandelier, as 40s or 50s as it is. I also love our table and china cabinet, but I think that having that blonde wood in a house with so many darker woodtones and other colors might not match or blend well enough. And I'd be happy with just about any china cabinet, really. The big thing is the table - I love that the table can expand to seat from 4 or 6 to 12 places. I love the beautiful wood top, and I love the substantial pads for when we want to use a tablecloth. I like the lines of it, too. I know that the cats are ruining the legs, but I will have a hard time replacing that table. (Oh, and chairs. The chairs are shot. We need new ones. Maybe nifty leather ones.)

I'd love to find a small bench or even bookshelf the size of my hope chest to tuck under the window in its place. I'd like to find something which could function as a buffet to go under the display case (in place of the sewing machine). It would have to be small. Until then, I want a cloth/cover for the table that is there. But then what shall we do with the scratch post?

I really want to turn the long wall into a picture gallery (a Hogwarts Wall, as we've been calling it). I think the frames should not match, but should be a wild array of styles, colors, textures, and designs. I'll gladly let Spencer have the final say on what should fill those frames; I think a mix of things, people, faces, silhouettes, landscapes, flowers, pets, and whatever else he wants would be great.

I think that a large photo of a tree in our back yard should go on the wall by the bathroom; we have the magnolia in the snow for most of the winter, and I would love for Spencer to take other photos around the yard for other seasons. Of course, Grandma & Santa should be there during the Christmas Season (December 6 - January 8, didn't you know?).

This leaves the short wall between the bathroom & kitchen doors and the long wall by the fron room left to decorate. The short wall has a good candleholder. I might want some other small thing, but I don't yet know what. The long wall should be fairly plain. I want a large tree on it, but I don't know how to describe what I want. Whether it is a photo, a print, a decal, a fabric hanging (tapestry? quilt?), a painting, or what, I don't know. But I want it to strike me as a Tree Of Life, to be large, and to be beautiful. I'm still looking for ideas.

What haven't I mentioned? Color.
I have blonde wood, but I think cherry, maple, or painted-black might be better. (Maybe even white, sometimes.) I'd like there to be plenty of green in the room, and leafy accents. (That doesn't go so well with my blue and gray dishes, but maybe one of these days we'll get the china we always wanted: white with a silver band at the rims.) I'm pretty sure I want the trim and the doors to be very bright white. I would love to use chalkboard paint on one wall, but that seems less and less likely; maybe the hallway wall.... But what color should I paint the walls? Something neutral, because of all the details I want in there. Not white, because Spencer won't like it. Maybe a non-yellow cream. Maybe a tan/beige/sand kind of color. Maybe a light green, but probably not. I just don't know.

And, oh yeah: that floor needs to be finished and the ceiling needs to be fixed or replaced. In fact, I'd kind of like a rug under the table - but I also don't think it would work very well.

Ideas for the Bathroom

The bathroom is tough, because it need to be replaced. So I have 2 ideas in my head, one for working with what we've got and another for a dream room.

In any bathroom, I like white & dark green towels, shiny silver/nickel & light wood accessories. I think this is where I could have some flower pics, but I'm thinking small (like postcard size) framed stuff. Also like the idea of modern fun stuff. There are novelty shower curtains (but not many) which I would consider, maybe. I want to have some seasonal hand towels. Need some sort of tank-top toilet paper storage!

I like the pink countertop. Don't know why. Also, as-is, I think I want more blue towels to even things out.

Ideas for the Kitchen

The kitchen has color: country blue and white, silver and black. I agree with earlier (non-blog) discussions that when we re-do the floor, it should be a dark woodtone.

I'd like to get that Oreo print I keep seeing to put up on the wall by the back door (over the dishwasher and, importantly, over the red rectangle).

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