Dining Room Reveal......

A simple French country house seems to center around the kitchen/dining room. Often it's one comfortable, large space where family and friends congregate at a large table to celebrate and eat.

Remember, the French attitude to food is very important. The growing, preparing, eating of regional specialties, and the pride of presenting it to the table knowing it's fresh, locally grown whenever possible, and each dish is made with much love, is what defines the French more than anything else.

Getting good pics of the overall new look in the dining room is difficult ~ I basically have to stand by the front door to get this much in. This is taken early morning with sunshine pouring into the room which looks out onto the front porch, facing South. I love the new table! I'm pleased with the new look ~ of course the chairs have yet to be refinished so try to imagine them a soft grey ~ my next big paint job.........anyone interested in stopping by with a paintbrush is welcome!

I don't have a large kitchen and my dining room is separated from it by a wall......which I've often wished we could remove. The doorway to the right of the dresser leads into the kitchen. There's a small breakfast area and an island which gives me a nice worktop for food prep. but not a lot of room for the people who like to hang out when you're cooking!



The dresser make over no longer looks quite as casual ~ I removed the cup hooks and decided not to have all those cups/mugs hanging which was a typical English Country Living look. I'm displaying the white Mikasa French Country china, mixed with a few other much loved pieces and the tarnished silver.


I kept this mirror which I love, as well as my beautiful sconce....you just know that's my favorite piece ever, and found at fabulous SuzAnna's Antiques here in Raleigh, NC.


This French chipped frame floral tapestry, also from SuzAnna's, with such an unusual shaped mat, has subtle colors and is perfect on the very pale grey wall. Note I have nothing at the window other than the curtain pole and brackets. I'm thinking antique French linen sheets sewn into tab topped panels which are a typical French country window treatment. Just wish I'd stuffed the sheets into my bag when in Provence last October....but they were really heavy. Guess I may have to go back with an empty suitcase next time!


The sideboard is finished other than finding two large clear crystal door knobs - these are small temporary ones. The paint is powdery grey and I decided not to wax it like the dresser as it adds another texture. The top painted with the almost black Graphite color from the entry, was given the crackle treatment which actually ended up looking more like slate! For some reason the little cracks didn't appear as expected, instead this rather natural slate look appeared and I really like it. I waxed the top with clear Briwax to seal the paint finish.
Note ~ all images can be enlarged to see details if you click on them.


My old window frame with the colorful tulip prints has been given a neutral look. I added pages from an 1800's French book and think it looks great. These dried hydrangeas are from last year's garden ~ surprisingly they've kept their lovely colors and are perfect in the room.


These larger hydrangeas I purchased two years ago and moved them from the top of an armoire to this French dough bowl. The linen runner I purchased in Cortona, Tuscany several years ago.


In the evening the room takes on a soft look. I need to hang a couple more things and paint all those chairs! We enjoyed lunch in the room yesterday ~ tomorrow I'll show you the arrival of unexpected visitors outside the window while we were eating.