Living Room - Dining Room Tour and Q&A

I finally finished packing up all the Christmas decorations and I have to admit, it feels nice to have the house back to normal again.  The live trees and fresh greenery were getting pretty dried out and I just wanted to get  everything cleaned up!

With everything back in it's place, I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of my living room and dining rooms today.  I've realized lately that I haven't been very good at sharing entire rooms of my house once they are complete.  I think it's that they never really feel "complete"...I'm always swapping furniture out, changing up vignettes, etc.  The living and dining rooms are no exceptions, but I thought I'd share what is currently there as well as answer some common questions that are emailed to me (paint color, furniture sources).

Since the living room is right off of the foyer, I'll start there.  The most common question I receive is what the paint color is on the walls in these two rooms.  It's Martha Stewart's "Hickory" found at Home Depot...you can probably get it color-matched to the paint brand you desire.  It's a great neutral and goes well with both cool and warm tones.  Sometimes the pictures make it come across yellow, but it's not...

I also get quite a few questions regarding the source of my draperies and no, they are not real silk (I wish).  I'm actually impressed with the quality for the price on these as they are from Walmart (96'' online).  They are a nice sea glass color, lined, and inter-lined...all for about $20-25/panel.  I'd love to add some woven bamboo shades as layered window treatments are my favorite!

As for the furniture, it's all second-hand.  A $60 Craig's List wicker chair, $15 end tables, and my $200 antique china cabinet that I talked about HERE.  Normally, I do not purchase used sofas or anything upholstered (unless I'm recovering them), but this extremely comfortable, down-filled  Mitchell Gold/Bob Williams sofa had to come home with me.  It helped that it was only $450 (vs. $2,000+), came with a custom-sewn slipcover, and from a nice, clean home.  Pillows, lamps, accessories are all discount store finds mixed with plenty of flea market and vintage finds.

On to the dining room... Out of all the rooms in my home, this is where I splurged.  After looking high and low for a large farm table that was a reasonable price, I gave up.  It's one of the few times I was totally impatient when it came to waiting for the right piece.  I broke down and bought the trestle table and dining bench at World Market.  I've always loved trestle tables and this one is one of the least expensive options out there.  Of course I watched the sales and bought both pieces for under $900 (ouch, it hurts to even type that)!

It helped that the chippy cabinet and wicker chairs were pretty much free (long story)! I have a set of four chairs sitting in my garage that need some serious upholstery work that I'll swap out with these...someday.

Most of my crystal chandeliers are all vintage finds except for this one from Ballard Designs.  I waited until it was a "Bring Home Ballard" special and it ended up being quite affordable!

To save on rug costs, I found this $100 indoor/outdoor rug (Overstock) with a soft, raised pattern.  It doesn't  feel like a scratchy, stiff outdoor rug, but I can still hose it off if the kids spill on it.  The framed botanicals are another vintage find.  I bought a stack of old prints for only $10, kept and framed my favorites, and sold the rest!

I hope this answers any questions out there.  I should have posted some of this information a long time ago!  It's actually one of my goals to get my House Tour completely done soon as there are many rooms in the house that I've finished, but didn't get pictures taken, etc.  I added some of the above photos as well as source information and paint colors for various rooms over on that page in case you have any more questions...

Kristen

Linking up to:

Home Stories A to Z

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Between Naps on the Porch
Savvy Southern Style
Stone Gable
Common Ground
The Charm of Home
French Country Cottage
The Shabby Nest