If you’ve followed my blog (as slow as I’ve been..*wink*), you know that my husband Glenn and I have been working hard to complete our foreclosure renovation. We have an ultimate goal of 5 years to complete everything, and this started in December 2014. The dining room is not done, as this is just an update, so please excuse the partial finishes in all of the photos. The floor is birch hardwood from Menards and was the first big project Glenn completed, besides our heat/cracked pipes. The walls definitely need a painting, and the brown window next to the table will be replaced in the spring. Our sliding door is brand new, but my perfectionist husband now wants a different one that will “be a better fit”, so out that goes and in comes the new sometime also this spring. Once that’s installed, he’ll be able to complete the trim and also fix the heater covers and add baseboard.

I’m happy to report that we are updating our table, because we’d like to have a larger “grown-up” table for our family and friends to enjoy meals at. We are still waiting for it to arrive, so the photos are current and show the table that we will need to find another home for. The current table was purchased for me by my late grandmother for my first apartment in 2005. Therefore, it has sentimental value to me and I’m not quite sure if I can use it for another area of the house. It’s been a great table and has stayed in pretty great condition for being 11 years old.

The current table measures at 60″ long with the built-in leaf in place (that is a pretty great feature). The new table measures at 70″ and comes with 2 – 13″ leaves, making it 96″ when both are installed. As far as chairs, I have absolutely no idea what to get at the moment. There are so many options and I am not sure what will look good until I have the table in front of me. In the photo below, the top is the new table, although in person it is grey (photo is incorrect color). It was purchased at Hom Furniture, and I wish they’d update their website to show the true color of the table. I did go in person to make sure it would work and with our kitchen being black and white, grey should look good (hopefully!).

The light fixture (above) was purchased from Home Depot’s website and we absolutely love it. Our goal for this area is rustic/industrial/modern and this fits in great. The rug (above) was purchased on Amazon after hearing about it from one of my favorite bloggers, Kate, at the Small Things blog. The chairs have not been purchased because I’m still playing around on Pinterest and Houzz to find the right fit. I really have been drawn to the Eames style chair (white, above), and would like to buy 4 of them. The 2 chairs on each long end of the table would be the industrial metal style (above). I’ll definitely be calling my dear friend Molly for advice, as she has given us great input along the way.

This light has been so nice compared to the 1980s bronze track lighting that was previously there. I would normally post a photo, however I didn’t take many “before” shots of this room. We purchased the bulbs from a local hardware store and unfortunately due to an electrical mystery, we are unable to use LED in this particular fixture. This and our living room fixture are the only ones in the entire house that do not have LED bulbs. Love the LED bulbs!

Here is our current table on the new rug that I’m in love with. It’s an indoor/outdoor rug so it’s great for cleanup from a messy toddler.

A few more photos of the rug:

Does anyone have any ideas what to put down where this gap is between hardwoods and sliding door (above)?? We are not sure what to do in this spot.

Our coffee area that Glenn and I made together for the corner of the dining room. It’s so great to have this here because it’s not taking up space on our kitchen counter and I am a huge coffee lady. Our dining room is also on the smaller side so getting things up and off the ground not only helps with the baby/toddler proofing, but is overall much more convenient. Maybe one day I’ll invest in a fancy machine, but for now my $20 Mr. Coffee from Target will do just fine.

I’ll check back with more photos once we decide on chairs and put the new table together. Thanks for reading!