I have been toying with the idea of turning my dining room into a library. Bringing in wood floors or tile. Floor to ceiling bookshelves in the cutout. An old wooden desk newly dressed in chalk paint. Overstuffed vintage chair in the corner window with the perfect reading lamp affixed to the wall. Well, maybe a little more than toying. I just can't seem to go farther than planning because I like what is in there now.
Hand sewn curtains with perfectly picked vintage buttons added.
It took me months to find the right size and color.
Wall plaques purchased from etsy in the misty shade of blue.
Domed glass angels bought at a favorite church garage sale.
These look like they were made for this room.
My favorite pictures in some of the sweetest frilly frames.
No other room could handle this much fuss.
Handed down pecan hutch from a great aunt filled just so
with painstakingly picked transfer ware and ironstone pieces.
I have been collecting piece by piece for years.
I can give you the story behind each piece.
When and where I found them.
Whose they were.
They are a timeless story.
I love to find and tell.
Found on two separate occasions and different locations.
These pieces are the most beautiful hue of mint green with a dainty silver rim.
The label on the bottom is just as sweet.
I know this seems gaudy but I love it. Porcelain detail and all. It holds my favorite dish pattern.
This one in particular goes by many names. The Sound of Music is the one I like the best.
Beautiful shades of bright blue forget me nots.
Very delicate!
Makes me think again about where on earth I would put all this stuff.
This room is what we call the funeral room.
The room you only use during funerals.
A library could be used by the whole family.
I might just sit on this a while longer.
12 comments:
BEAUTIFUL!!!! I've thought of doing the same thing in my dining room.
I have turned my dining room table into my workspace...which works out great for me until company comes over. That is rare and now that our sons live out of state, why worry about having a cleared table?! Lucky that my husband suggested this... I love working and looking out the windows. much better than the dreary, dark basement where I used to work.
Thanks for sharing...I say, go for it!
love the blue forget-me-nots on the myott pattern. love all of the collected bits and bobs.
why not combine the two ideas? work the books into the dining room...
keep the table, maybe add alternative seating? bookshelves?
xo
~molly
I am at a baseball game reading your blog. I love your funeral room. Did I ever tell you my parents own a funeral home. My mother tries to make it cozy with her art work. It isn't quite like your room though. Beautiful touches renee.
Sometimes I think about transforming our dining room but I just hate to. We have my husband's grandmother's dining room table and buffet in there and they are almost 100 years old and I just can not part with them.
Hugs
donna
The most beautiful and cozy funeral room I have ever saw! LOL Really it's beautiful with all your special touches. I couldn't imagine packing up such beauty.
LOL, funeral room! ... not that a funeral is any laughing matter.
Renee, your dining room is almost the same color as mine. And I have forgetmenot china too. (same flower, but not the same maker or design.) I love all your blue transferware. Wish I had more of that.
I do like your idea of creating a library. I bet there is a way you could do both. Combine dining room and library together. One wall of shelves, while your dining table could have drop leaves that fold down and double as a study table. Leather armchairs for the head of the table, which could double as a comfy place to read... that sort of thing.
Oh that would be sweet to change it to a library.
You have so many wonderful treasures to find new homes for...yikes!
We do use our dining room...sometimes for just the 2 of us. The back of our house is where our kitchen and family room are...the family room is everyone's favorite spot. So-I'd like David to make the living room (in the front of the house) his study but he won't do it. We never use the living room (I call it the museum...might as well throw a velvet cord in the doorway)...we just walk past.
Good luck with your dresm Renee :)
xoxo
Joyce
Gosh, I don't know. It is such a collection of beautiful things. If you could find places for some of the items that would work. Perhaps you could turn one wall into an antique library with floor to ceiling shelving that looks antique, and place books as well as some of the items already there. So it would look like it belongs if you found the right material to make it out of. Maybe even an old hutch or something centered with shelves surrounding it. I think that would be one option. Good luck, I would hate to have to decide. I tend to leave things as they are once I like them, so I'm not the best one to give advice I guess!
Let us know what you do. I'm sure it will be fabulous!
Julie
When we were building our house, I had a hard time justifying using space for a dining room that would only get used a few times a year so we turned it into a sunroom and it gets used everyday! I have those same exact domed angel prints! TFS, Nan
Love your vintage pics they look beautiful!
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