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Fixin’ a Decorating Boo-Boo

So I thought I was done with my dining room. But then I submitted a couple photos to Hometalk as part of a Favorite Room thing they were doing and they posted my dining room pic (along with other people’s favorite rooms) on their Facebook page and that’s when the fun began! Some people said nice things, a couple other people said my Windsor chairs looked ridiculously gigantic compared to the other chairs at the table. After I brushed off my bruised ego I decided the critics were right! How did I not see that?  So the Windsors got moved to another room and in came some repurposed church sale chairs.

I painted the church sale chairs in Off White, using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.
The cushions were re-upholstered using a faux grain sack technique.
You can read about that little makeover here.

After I switched out those ridiculously gigantic end chairs, another problem reared its ugly head.
I felt the Duck Egg Blue side chairs and table legs stuck out like a sore thumb. Ugh!
Now I have to paint those chairs all over again! Chairs are the worst thing to paint!!
Too many legs, spindles, too many opportunities for drips.

So enter Paris Grey to tone things down. I distressed them to let a little bit of the Duck Egg show.
Just a bit though. Did I tell you how much I hate sanding? And chairs are the worst to sand.
Too many little nooks and crannies. I don’t wanna touch these chairs again.

I didn’t want to spend my weekend painting chairs since I had to paint the kitchen ceiling on Saturday.
That wasn’t fun either. But I wanted to get this boo-boo fixed and I’m glad it’s done.
What I really wanted to do this weekend was practice with my camera.

So I put some stuff on the table to practice lighting and depth of field.
I’ve been stocking up on white dishes and serving pieces for Thanksgiving.

I made a decision to start collecting white ironstone. Can anything be more farmhouse than ironstone?

I made a bid on an ironstone vegetable serving dish on Ebay today.
I’ve been outbid but I’m waiting to the last minute to go outbid the other person.

I found these old bottles at the local flea market, all three for $5.
I’ve washed them so that rusty stuff isn’t coming off.
Not that I really want it to, though. I like the grungy look of them.

Baby Boos have become my favorite fall decorating piece. I think I’m gonna try growing these next year.

We accidentally grew gourds this year (not the ones pictured here).
A seed must’ve dropped and we started to get this long vine.
At first I thought it was a cucumber or butternut squash, so we didn’t pull it up.

And then that vine popped out some gourds, much to our surprise.
Super easy to grow, so why not try our hand at Baby Boos next year?

Luckily I ended up getting some camera practice time in this weekend after all.
Practicing photography always makes me happy! Painting chairs … not so much.

Hopefully I’ll have enough white dishes and serving pieces for Thanksgiving.
I’ve been stocking up on old silver plate, too.

And as far as the rest of the room goes, I really want to be done with it!
The chairs really were too big. They didn’t slide under the table and they got in the way of traffic flow.
Oh, and if you want to see those ginormous dining chairs, you can read that post here.

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38 Comments

  1. Jennifer- Your dining room is one of my favorite rooms of yours, too. The Windsor chairs actually were an eclectic – funky mix to the whole look. I would have voted to keep them and the new ones are very beautiful, too. I agree – chairs are the worst to paint. Beautiful photos!

  2. Hi Jennifer ~ I’ve always loved your dining room and it looked gorgeous before and it looks gorgeous now! I hope you only changed it because you really wanted to, otherwise I may have to scold you!! : ) Your photography is truly beautiful!

  3. Oh that bowl of pumpkins and the faux grain-sack – it’s all so pretty! Very nice! Thanks so much for joining “The After Party”!

    René

  4. Love the look of the room. I would like to collect those small milk jars you got..love them! Your pics look great, what settings are you using on your camera? Mine tend to be a little dark sometimes.

  5. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to spend your weekend doing only what you wanted to do, but it sure was worth it–your dining room is beautiful!♥

    But I happen to think that the Windsor chairs looked gorgeous, too!; )

    xoxo

  6. Yeah whomever told you about the windsor chairs was spot on. The church sale chairs are so much better in many ways. Ouch sorry to agree. Your dining room is so cozy and welcoming. A good place to sit to visit after a meal, have a cupper. I’d love to be invited except I live too darned far away.

  7. Looks beautiful!

    I wonder if Pfaltzgraff is ironstone..the sort that you are collecting ? My local thrift store had a gravy boat that I’d had picked up but it was part of an entire set. 35 pieces for 15.00 Should have picked it up as I see a seller online selling a gravy boat like that ALONE for 17.50!

  8. I think the duck egg blue chairs look beautiful, but maybe in photo it is quite different. I like there is contrast and all the chairs are not the same color.

    Pretty.

  9. The room is very pretty — and I like your blue chairs as they are. I must have missed the windsors, so I will go back and look. What I really like is that corner cabinet!

  10. Hi Jennifer, isn’t it funny how others can point out the obvious, things we over look or just get used to? I love your chair make over, the rug is out of this world.. so unique. I love the shots of the pumpkins on top of the old milk bottles… thanks for swinging by my blog to shoot a test.. hugs ~lynne~

  11. I agree about painting chairs – they take forever because of the all the sides of each little piece! (I need to paint my dining chair and am not looking forward to it…)

    Looks fantastic after all of your hard work!

  12. I say…it looks wonderful. I would have probably thought it looked wonderful either way.
    Because it was clean! Kudos for you taking one for the team. I don’t know how I would handle ‘constructive critism’….you handled it gracefullly.

    via FJI!
    Pat

  13. Jennifer you did a fabulous job here. And because I’ve been painting a chair recently, I know exactly what you mean about the work. Good for you, I’m so glad they’re done and they came out so beautiful.
    Leslie (aka Gwen Moss)