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The Dining Room

Thank you all for your comments. All I want to do is find something to hang where that swag is cinched. I’m not going to take down the swag or the curtains. I’m not going to do anything in that room except find something to put in that one spot and, once Vince gets here, we have some things to hang on the walls.

When the realtor talked to the sellers about this house, the realtor said “it’s dated” and told him the wood needs to be painted but he said no. When we’ve looked at houses that had lots of painted wood and especially painted cabinets, I walked away. I love the wood and dated or not . . it’s what I like. I think that’s why I have such a hard time with the house in Texas – painted cabinets, painted trim. I just don’t like it.

The swags may be dated but I’m fine with them. Some day I may change them but if I was a betting kind of girl, I’d bet not. I tend to never change anything because I so hate decorating. I’m weird but most of that decorating stuff just doesn’t matter to me.

The dining room walls are deep burgundy. I had to lighten the photo because the light from the window made the photo too dark.

Just to show you how much beautiful wood is in this house, here are a few pictures taken by the realtor.

This is the dining room that the former owners used as a sitting area.

Kitchen:

Breakfast Room:

You can see that there is no shortage of wood in this house. Apparently that isn’t in style any more but I love it.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I wonder if you could put something like a small grapevine wreath at that point. Maybe 6 inches, with some fruits, berries, maybe some ribbon. Just somewhere for your eye to land.

  2. Good quality stained wood is timeless at least for me. It’ll come back in style again. Painting can peel. I’m with you, leave a good thing alone. For my two cents Worth, I think anything you hang between the swags would just accent it more. The best fix might be to take a stitch or two to bring them together to hide the space and then loosen each side a bit if needed to adjust the drop.

  3. You might Google drapery medallion for some decorative additions to that center area.

    • I could be then I’d have three spots to put something to cover up the scrunched area.

      • If those narrow spots were in the middle of the long drapes, it might blend in better. Just a thought.

  5. I cringe when I see someone painting nice wood anything. As far as decorating….we must be twins. What about a medallion from the big box stores? I do like the first suggestion however.

    • Medallion is the word I needed. I think I’ll find something now. Yes, when we had been looking for a house, the first thing I told the realtor is “No painted kitchen cabinets!”

  6. I don’t know anything about what’s in style or not, but I love the wood and think your home is beautiful!

    • I know I’m in the minority but to me, it’s whatever the individual likes. What’s in style is just a way for retailers to make money. It’s like the realtor told these sellers – they were going to have to paint the wood and the kitchen cabinets, do this and do that and if he had done all that, I would never have looked twice at this house. I think a lot of the painted wood has come about because there are fewer cabinet makes and carpenters who want to do good quality work and painting covers lots of imperfections, not to mention it’s very hard to get good quality wood these days. New and shiny hasn’t caught my attention in years!

  7. Judy, why not try to find a pineapple ornament? A decent sized one. Pineapples are supposed to be a symbol of hospitality and I think a beaded one would look nice there.

  8. Oh I like the idea of a pineapple too since it’s in the dining room. It would hide the spot and be welcoming too. I LOVE wood. Our house was built in 1965 and has wood trim everywhere . Lots of folks (including my son) say we need to paint it but never will I paint such gorgeous grained wood.

  9. I love all of that beautiful wood. Now that you’ve shown the whole side of windows I must say that I like the drapes and valance just the way it looks, especially with the blinds open. No help, sorry 🙂

  10. II’m thinking less is more and you should leave the curtains as is. But you and Vince have to live with it.

  11. I love the wood as well. I don’t like the dark wood but his lighter wood is beautiful!

  12. Your home is beautiful with all the wood. I remodeled my kitchen and the the cabinets are hickory. I love them.

  13. In style or not, wood is beautiful. I love my oak cabinets, oak dining table, unpainted woodwork. It makes a home so nice and warm looking.

  15. Honestly, first I’d take those sheers down that are in the middle-just leave the ends. To me, those are what makes it look odd. Use a piece of that fabric to make another ‘sconce’ and drape it from the middle of the left to the middle of the right. I very much dislike drape/sheer anything. I have all double honeycomb blinds in every window that doesn’t have the blind inside the double pane.

    • We put some of those double honeycomb blinds up and so far, I’m not crazy about them. Again, it may be my love for wood but I would much prefer plantation shudders but I don’t think that’s in the budget right now.

      • We get really cold here so for us it is an additional insulating factor on top of our double pane windows.

        I do love all your wood. I’m a wood girl as well. So happy that hubster loves woodwork. He built every cabinet and wood trim in our cabin as we saved it from teardown (it was really awful but good foundation and structure per our inspector).

        Cheers to wood!

  16. If you were still in TX, you could have put a metal or wood sculpted TX star right there. Maybe there’s a pineapple out there somewhere? If they grow cotton is Missouri, you could find a wreath with faux cotton on it. Spray it with hair spray though so it doesn’t drop “cotton” on your curtains.

    • You know what? I do have a red Texas Star that we bought when we still lived in MO the first time and had no idea we were moving to Texas. I need to get that thing here but I really don’t think it will work there but I’m putting it somewhere!

  17. I do not concern myself with what’s in style. Our décor pleases us, and that’s what counts. I refuse to be a slave to fashion. What’s “in” changes too often for my pocketbook.!

    • That’s exactly how I feel. Less money spent on decorating means more money for yarn. ?

    • That’s exactly how I feel. Less money spent on decorating means more money for yarn. ?

  18. I love the wood also. My kitchen cabinets are painted, but they were that way when I bought the house. They are ok but I really love the natural wood.

    • The cabinets in TX are painted but we were so desperate to find a house there that I would have probably accepted anything. I didn’t like them to start with and liked them less every day there so the kitchen cabinets in this house make me happy every single day.

  19. What about a dream catcher??? You can have day dreams in there to catch. Or look at Christmas ornaments, something like a plain tree or just a gold ball or if you can find one the color of the walls that would be perfect. Just a couple of random thoughts. Hope they are new and not repeats.

  20. I also like the wood. The medium color is not what was used in the older homes as much as a dark stain. And the main thing is YOU like it!

  21. I love the wood too. I have a few pieces that are painted but it’s because they were painted when I got them. They are free standing cupboards from my mom and my grandma. You have to realize that I’m gettin’ right up there in age so they are very old. I like them the way they are, probably because they are a reminder of a very happy childhood. I think that’s why I am afraid to buy any antique furniture for my grandchildren…..I’m afraid they will paint it and it would just ruin it as far as I’m concerned.

    • I know Nicole would paint everything but to her credit, I had a bedroom set I was going to toss. She said “This is good furniture back when they made good furniture”. She took it, painted it, did some kind of antiquing and put it in Addie’s room and it looks good. I’ll have to get a picture of it.

  22. Google “Etsy.com” and then search for Howgill Crafts. She has a “Multi Stranded Suncatcher Crystal” that looks like it would work well there in the $17 range. I would hang it where the metal medallion starts at the top and take the strand of crystals above the medallion off.

  23. I’m not much for painting good wood either. Too many times hearing Mom cuss out whoever painted the furniture she was refinishing, I guess. For me the key is GOOD wood – as in lovely hardwood with gorgeous color and grain. I don’t mind some painted woods, like pine with that yellow color. Or wood with not much grain.

    I was going to suggest changing the valance to have 3 swoops, thinking it would blend in with the curtains better. It’s the window frame that draws my eye in the current setup. But maybe it’s different in person? I do like the suggestion of a pineapple, star, or some other wood bit also

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