8 year update: Dining Room as it is

I really loved how we decorated our house in 2008, but times and tastes change and we are updating a few key spaces through the home.  Before we move on, here is my Dinning Room as it has been for the past 8 years.

 The Dinning Room is just off the center hall on the right.

In our last home, we were lucky to have Mr. 31-derful's grandmother's Hickory Chair dinning set made in the 40's or 50's.   The set was perfect in our old tutor.  You may recall that I actually love the chairs that go with the set from this post.  I just don't like them with the table, so we swapped them out for clean-lined these Lazar Max Chairs in a greek-key.  I promised my husband we would have them forever if we bought them.  Luckily, I still adore these chairs as much as the day I bought them.

Here is a close-up of the china cabinet.  On display is our wedding china and the storage beneath holds the rest of the set,  my beloved whimsical Wedgwood that comes out for ladies lunches and Mother's day, and our bulk dishes for big buffets.  It is like a clown car--so many items impossibly stuffed within!  

Panning around the room,  there is a corner with a Pottery Barn display table.  I bought it many moons ago to hold my very first gift from Mr. 31-derful.  He had given me a rock fountain, which was all the rage in 1999, and I wanted to put it in a place of honor.  On top now is a cheap little vase that I grabbed at Pier One ions ago and stuck a peacock feather in (peacock feathers are my signature holiday go-to--- this one must have stayed past the holidays one year).  Below is a vase from a local artist that my friend Holly commissioned for us as a wedding gift.  Hanging on the wall nearby is a signed Leo J. Meisnner print given to us as a wedding gift from my brother in law, who was then working at a gallery in Nantucket.  The vase and print go so nicely together that I consider them a set even though they have nothing to do with one another!

    Panning around further, there is a buffet, which I have always adored. 

Just past a sunny window where my side chairs reside when the table is not extended, sits a small bachelor's chest (The sunny window makes it hard to photograph!):

I have the chest loaded up with things I love.  There is an A-B for life paperweight-- it is a property law reference and  commemorates the tenure a special law school professor of ours, but it also reminds me of where we met and fell in love.  The candles are Nambe'--I sure did love me some nambe at the time I got married!  I added the rough twine and key--a nod to a series of conversations with my youngest daughter about the key to happiness.  The tray was another wedding gift, purchased at a Tennessee craft fair.  14 years later, I have to say, I am so glad all these people went rouge off the registry.     Finally, there is a tiny painting by Renee Schuls-Jacobson, a blogger and 

artist I met on the internet! I commissioner it memory of my sweet friend who passed away.

Sadly, after 70 years the cracks are beginning to show in this furniture--literally.  

This furniture is like the shabby gentry--it has a good name and is of quality, 

but over a lifetime it has cracked up and is actually worth very little.  ( Oh dear-I just referenced 

Shabby Gentry--what am I to do now that Downton ended??)  

The point is, it is good furniture and probably deserves to be lovingly 

restored or repainted. We just don't want to invest the kind of money to restore when the

the rest of our home is really quite contemporary. I also just can't bring myself to chalk paint over 70 years of family memories. I'll be back tomorrow to show you my plans for changing the room up as a part of our continuing 8 year update!