Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Dining Room Reveal and Knitted Pumpkins


Living out here in the country is changing me for the better.   Interior decorating has been my lifelong passion.   How to arrange a mantle?  What colors are soothing in a home?  How to make something look more pleasing to the eye?  Where to arrange the furniture? Making an art of it all. 

But somewhere along my journey, I forgot,
that sometimes the most beautiful things
are the most
simple.
 
These days, a walk outside reveals more natural beauty now than any purchased accessory from a store.  I find myself looking out the window more than I look at the walls.  I am every day in awe of the powerful simple beauty of trees.  Or the creek nearby.
 
It's not that I didn't love nature before, I was always one of those kids that played outside alone all day every day.  I found solace in the trees and the dirt and the frogs.
 
But life happens, and usually we live where we have to instead of where we want to.   When we lived in town, my views were concrete streets and telephone poles.
So I focused on arranging my furniture and painting my walls and finding that perfect accessory. I had forgotten to remember some of the simple things.
 
When we found this place, I was disappointed by the brown and the brass and the 1970's chic.
 
But now,
Instead of having to go and seek out the natural,
It's just a part of my daily rhythm.
The wind rustling the ferns outside the window,
The sound of the frogs croaking at night,
The sun coming up over the horizon from the deck,
The cedars waving their lacy branches.
 
And I've found myself changing.  Being grateful.  Going more slowly sometimes. Knitting and Spinning more. Taking longer to get inside projects done.  Bringing the outdoors in as home décor: branches in the dining room, leaves on the mantle, pinecones in jars.
 
 
 
These things are becoming my home decorating accessories, more often than not.  And though I still stop dead in my tracks at the sight of a good French chair, I'm finding that the balance is sometimes swinging more in favor of the natural and the rustic. 
 
And the blend between the two styles.  Well, I like it, a lot. :)  I'm still calling it Trees and Toile. 
 
So, even though my Dining Room isn't 'perfect' or totally 'finished'. (Planning to paint the woodwork white pretty soon) I'm going to show it to you now, along with my favorite accessories, my hand-knitted pumpkins!
 
This is how my Dining Room looked before. Not too bad, but not very exciting.
 



Here it is now.  New paint, new chandelier, new half-wall (to avoid a drop down the stairs) and new curtains and rods.


 
Here's where our finished chalkboard ended up.  And of course, this would be the one time of year that I willingly embrace the brown.

 
 
 
 
It's my uptown white furniture, my French black and white toile curtains, and my chandelier....
Meeting up with brown and orange and rustic textures. 
 




 
This is our craigslist secretary.   I was going to paint it, but I actually like the natural color here.  The family laptop resides inside, but it's easily hidden for entertaining or family dinners.
 
The knitted pumpkins of course, are my favorite part.  Here's my Ravelry link to the pumpkins. They are a great beginner project, if you are a new knitter.  Knitting these helped me pass a lot of time during soccer practices, pick-up lines, and waiting rooms.  It makes the décor in my home even more personal to me.
 

 
 
 
 
And it gave me a way to use up some of my odd skeins of handspun yarn.
 

 
They look great on the hutch that we painted.
 
I hope you like our Dining Room as much as I do!
 
Sharing with:
 
Ginny's Small Things
Frontier Dreams Keep Calm Craft On
Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday
French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday
Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday
 

10 comments:

  1. Your house is lovely and I'm crazy about those pumpkins! The colors are perfect. They are going on my Rav queue right now.

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  2. Your dining room is lovely! And I adore your knitted pumpkins :)

    Tiff

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  3. I love your natural decorations especially the leaves! You are so creative and your home is beautiful.

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  4. Knitted pumpkins! So cute!!! I've added the pattern to my queue as well. Maybe I'll have time to knit a few before next fall!

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  5. I love your dining room! How lovely!! We just bought a house and will be spending a lot of time redecorating (our dining room currently has pink plaid wallpaper. Pink plaid!!!), so it is inspiring to see the changes you have made. :)

    Love the pumpkins!

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  6. Your dining room is beautiful. You have done a great job. I love the pumpkins too. Thanks for the link.

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  7. It's a stunning room. I think it is the natural touches that make it work even better. I love the branches in the crock in the corner. And I love! the knit pumpkins. I happen to have a few odds and ends of natural coloured yarn that just might work for this. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. What a beautiful display of pumpkins.

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  9. Love how your dining room turned out! From the painted hutch to your toile curtains. Great wall color, too!

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  10. I must say, I LOVE the natural colors with the black and white, the pumpkins with the toile. It's a great balance.

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