Decorating my dining room

Have you noticed that dining rooms are becoming passe'?

It seems that more and more people are turning their formal dining rooms into offices, craft rooms, libraries, or other spaces that will be used more often.  And I understand that.  But I'm so glad to have a dining room.

I love the fact that there's a room in my house that's only used upon occasion.  For me, that means it stays clean--which means that it's ready for any kind of use at a moment's notice!  Our dining room table gets used for meals only once in a while, and it also gets used as the buffet table at showers and parties.  Aside from that, though, it's a great spot for the food spread at a shower or party. it's a good place for meetings, tutoring sessions, interviews--any sort of gathering of people that benefits from having a table and chairs.

I usually just keep a porcelain footbath with a green plant in the center of the table.  This is easy to move if I want to use the table at a moment's notice.

For holidays, I change the centerpiece, like this basket at Easter surrounded by my mom's egg collection at Easter:


I keep the footbath and fill it with ornaments at Christmas:


My dining room decor is based on a rug that I've had for many years.  I love this Karastan rug, and I'm constantly amazed at how well it hides dirt and dog hair.  And just look at all the colors!


I pulled a blue from the rug and had my wall paint color custom-mixed.  I like deep colors in a dining room.  After many years of having red walls, I'm really enjoying the French blue.  The blue might be a bit overwhelming if it covered the entire wall, but above the chair rail I think it looks smashing.  And as you can see, this room has lots of white trim and built-ins that really pop against the dark walls.


My dining room table, china cabinet, and tea table were my mother's.  Queen Anne furniture is not my favorite, but I am thrilled to have my mom's furniture.  The primitive sideboard I really like.  My mom and dad found it at an estate sale years ago.  I'd love to know the history of this piece.



My favorite piece in the room is the deacon's bench that serves as seating for one side of the table.  This deacon's bench was in the little church in Kansas that my grandmother attended all her life.  My mother was baptized and married in that little church, and I have fond memories of visiting it when I was a kid. The congregation moved into another building several years ago and the old church building was torn down.  My grandmother was given this deacon's bench, and I was blessed to inherit it.


My dining room decor is a mix of treasured pieces, inexpensive accessories,  and DIY decor.  For instance, I made the floral pillow that graces my treasured deacon's bench.  I also made the toile candles that sit on the china cabinet.


Of course, I love making special decorations at Christmastime, like the swags in the windows.  Because these windows are untreated, I can also add fun touches like the ornaments hanging from ribbons.


Do you have a dedicated dining room in your house?  Do you use it?

I'm joining Kelly at Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life party. 

Quick, easy birthday gift

Ever need a quick birthday gift for a kid?  Or get tired of giving the same old Target gift card?  Me, too.

My own children assure me that kids love to receive money as a gift, even more than gift cards.  But tucking a bill into a card doesn't seem like much fun to me.

Here's a fun way to give a money gift.  Obtain dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in the number of years that the birthday boy or girl is celebrating.  For instance, here's the money you'd need for a gift for a 5-year-old:

Now package the money however you like--in a small gift bag, in a clear plastic bag tied with festive ribbon, or maybe in a little bucket from the dollar store, like this:

This made a great birthday gift for a total cost of $7.05 plus an extra dollar for the packaging.  (And since I had the spare change just sitting in a drawer, it felt like it only cost $5.00.)  Not a bad price for a fun birthday gift!

Needless to say, this gets more expensive for the older the kids get, but for younger kids it's lots of fun.  I've made a tradition of giving this gift to my boys every year, starting when the oldest turned five.  It's an extra little gift from Mom to the boys.  This year, Will's gift totalled $29.61 of cash.  I asked the boys if they felt like they'd outgrown this little tradition, and Preston replied, "Are you kidding?  We'll never outgrow this!"  I'm hoping that I'm still around when they turn 40; it would be fun to wrap up $56.40 in small bills and loose change and watch them open it.

Have any ideas for quick and easy kid's gifts?  Please share!

I'm joining Beth at Home Stories A to Z for Tutorials and Tips
Vanessa and Heather At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday

and Lorie at Be Different, Act Normal for Show and Tell.

Window treatment secrets

I love windows.  I like everything about them--the way they let light shine in during the day, the way they let light shine out at night--windows are one of my favorite things.

I like window treatments, too--all kinds of window treatments.

One of my favorite window treatments is the plantation shutter, like these in my bedroom.  One of my favorite looks is color-painted walls with white trim, and plantation shutters just blend in seamlessly with the white trim.  They're great for privacy and light control.  I like the way they look when they're closed or open.  They look great from outside, too.



Another of my favorite window treatments is woven blinds, like these matchstick blinds in my living room:
While I really like fabric window treatments,  I don't like to pay for them.  So all the fabric window treatments in my house are homemade, like these full-length curtains in my guest room:



Here's a confession, though.  The guest room is the only room in my house with full-length curtains.  I admire the look of full-length curtains and draperies, but somehow I just don't like to mess with them.  Mine always seem to collect dust and dog hair along the bottom or get pulled from their rods or hang crooked.  Besides, full-length curtains require so many yards of fabric that I balk at the cost.  I do like to add color and pattern and texture to a room, but I usually do that in the form of decorative valances.

My kitchen window sports a no-sew faux Roman shade.


My youngest son's room has a simple valance to coordinate with his colorful walls and homemade upholstered headboard.

My laundry room wears a simple straight valance made of cheerful fabric.

That laundry room window treatment is made my favorite way:  it's just fabric stapled to a board with trim added.  To make this kind of valance,  I cut a board (I usually use a 1x4) the width I desire.  I make a fabric panel the width of my board plus enough to cover the sides.  I usually just double over a piece of fabric and use the bottom fold as the bottom of the valance.  If I don't have enough fabric to double over, I sometimes sew a lining to the back of my decorative fabric.

I attach L-brackets to the bottom of the board and to the window frame or wall above the window, like this:

Then I staple the fabric panel to the top of the board, making sure that the panel hangs straight.  From there, I can add as little or as much embellishment as I like.  The laundry room valance simply has a couple of layers of trim glued onto the top.

In the breakfast room of my last house, I layered envelope-style panels on top of straight panels, then added trim at the top and a large covered button to the middle of the top panels.

In the bedroom of my last house, I made a valance from scraps of fabric left over from my bedding.  This consisted of a flat panel stapled to the board, two panels draped over the flat panel, pelmets added to the ends and in the middle, eyelash trim stapled to the very top, and covered buttons added to each pelmet.  I just sketched designs out on a piece of paper until I came up with a combination I liked.


Here's a secret for you:  window valances don't get any wear and tear, so they don't have to be perfectly made.  You have no worries about how they'll hold up, so you can just put them together with staples and glue and a little spit!

And here's another secret: windows don't have to be treated to look great.  If your walls are painted a lovely color and your trim is crisp white, untreated windows can look great.  For instance, the windows in my blue dining room are completely untreated--except at Christmastime, when I have fun adding decorations to the window frames, like this:


So how about you?  What kinds of window treatments do you like?  Do you make your own?  Check out the window treatment party at Kelly's Korner for lots of ideas!