Dining Room Update & Inspiration

After a few months of searching, stalking, hemming and hawing - I finally decided upon, and purchased, a dining room rug!

Originally, I was swept up by this Metro Grey rug on Overstock.com. For weeks, I kept going back to it, thinking it was exactly what I wanted. Well, one Friday afternoon when I was finally ready to make the purchase, I clicked on the link saved in my favorites and - crap - the rug was sold out. I signed up to receive an email alert if they got any more in stock, but knew not to hold my breath - after all, I've been waiting 2 years for another houndstooth slipper chair to come in.

Utilizing my natural retail predatory instincts, I tracked down the manufacturer of the rug, but alas, their site is only for people "in the industry." One of my cousins happens to be in the rug trade - but I just got to a point where, not only did I not want to bother her over this, but I had started second guessing the rug choice.

My requirements for the dining room rug; shades of white/grey/black, highly patterned, and no less then 5x8 size. The Metro rug met all of those conditions... almost. While the rug had a nice, big bold pattern, it also had several large open areas of white. I kept envisioning a meatball rolling off the table and splat! right onto one of those white patches. And since I couldn't get the rug anyways, without great effort at least, if at all - then it was time to keep looking.

I had seen this Michael Payne Foreign Accents rug, also on Overstock - but thought at first it looked like a geometric, stained-glass nightmare. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. It met all of my requirements and then some (meatballs are no match for a pattern like that) - and it was just the sort of Jetsons, mid-century design I have a soft spot for.

And for $160 with $2 shipping - why the heck not, right? I could always just return it if the rug turned out to be a disaster. Before committing to the purchase, I did some online stalking and found the rug at two other online retailers for 4 times as much as Overstock was charging, so I felt confident I was getting a good deal before clicking that "buy" button.

The rug came pretty quickly, and after laying it down in the dining room, I'm now positive it was the right call.

I know, I know - you're probably thinking, "Where is she going with this Jetsons dining room?" But I do have a plan. Sort of.

Things are always easier to explain with visuals, right? So here are my inspiration shots for the future of our dining room:

This is the dining room from the HGTV Green House 2011. I love the mustard/gray/black color combination - and I'm now implementing a mustard/grey/plum color combo throughout the living room (more on that on Thursday).



{ photo via }



Now if these two photos got together and had a baby, it would be my dream dining room. Surprisingly, when I brought up the design concept to Mike, he said yes on the yellow chairs, but no on the plastic. I'm a big fan of Eames design, and was set on having mustard Eiffel chairs in our dining room, combining the warmth of the first inspiration photo, with the futuristic-yet-mid-century modern of the second photo. But Mike was not down with the Eiffel chairs. He said they reminded him of high school. *shiver*

I came up empty on my hunt for mustard-colored dining chairs that had the right lines and contemporary feel I was going for. I finally settled on the conclusion that I was just going to have to buy plain chairs, and make slipcovers. Actually, I think that might be the best solution, since if the cats end up clawing the chairs, I can just make new slipcovers. Or if a meatball goes rouge on us (yes, we eat a lot of meatballs!) and lands on a chair - it'll be easy to take the slipcover off and toss it in the wash.

I went to my old standby, Ikea, and found these Nils chairs:

Right lines, right size - and if I cover them in some mustard microsuede (kitties don't like to claw microsuede) I might just have my perfect dining room chairs. I think I like the idea of pairing two armless chairs with two armed chairs as well. Plus, they look just like these chairs from West Elm, but are a fraction of the price. I think on our next Ikea trip, we're going to have to take Nils for a test drive. It's hard to buy a chair without putting your butt in it first.

It will be a little while before we purchase a table. I like the size of our table now, and want to stick to the same dimensions - but when we knock down some walls next year, we're going to have more space, and the size of that space is going to dictate what table we select. But for now, I'm obsessed with this Holbrook dining table from Home Decorators:

I'm aiming for an industrial-style table with a warm wooden top and metal legs. This table fits the bill exactly (just not in love with the price). I want to balance the high-contemporary elements like the meth ball lighting fixture and our geometric Jetsons rug with more cozier pieces like upholstered chairs and natural woods.

Helping to tie things together will be the drapes - which I've only managed to cut down into panels so far (but the drapery lining arrived this week so we may have another curtain sew-fest on our hands this weekend). I purchased Kajsastina fabric from Ikea in white/grey for the dining room (and for the living room, I'm going to do the same pattern, but in reverse colors to marry the two rooms).

I'm hoping it all comes together cohesively. I've been stuck in a matchy-matchy box for far too long, unwilling to take some design risks. But the truth is, I like me some funky designs - bold colors, fun patterns, and interesting pairings. Now that I have my own house, it's time to inflict infuse my personality into my environment. I'm also very fortunate to have a husband that doesn't give a lick about design, as long as something is comfortable and doesn't cost a kings' ransom.

What do you think? Is my dining room a train-wreck in the making?