Bridging the space between our kitchen & living room is a large, long dining room.
It is our pass thru, our place for holiday meals, our spot for a game of Clue or Scrabble with Ian.
The color theme for this room:
yellow & white striped wallpaper on 3 walls
maroon wallpaper on the end wall, just because
and green.
Our first order of business in this room was to remove an added closet -
which included the home's electrical box on the outside of it
(dropped that to the basement with haste)
and tear down a wall that separated the space into two rooms.
We also removed paneling and
sanded & scraped layers & layers of original wallpaper.
The many layers of wallpaper provided me with clues
that our greens & fun colors were not too far removed
from the colors this home had lived with over the 150 years...
do believe they were decorating soul mates here before me.
When we still lived in Sun Prairie, I found the wonderful
table at a shop called Prairie House -- it came with 4 leaves.
The light fixture was a discontinued Menards model.
Dale, our electrician, had wondered aloud prior to
installing this fixture about the project we had undertaken in breathing life back into this farm.
His exact words, "Have you ever thought about a bulldozer?"
After installing this light fixture through access from the study above
& a square nail constructed floor & subfloor,
Dale actually answered his own question
"A tank wouldn't take this place down."
Looking into the dining room from the other end...
the wall we removed went across the room where
the blue wing chair sits. The closet we removed was
to the left where a farm cupboard now stands.
This is the only room we carpeted.
The original wood flooring was in very rough shape in this room --
too large an undertaking,
and with my penchant for barefooting --
one more cushiony wonderful texture to walk on was in order.
Here is a detail of one of the dining room chairs - purchased at
the Columbus Antique Mall for a song.
Re-upholstered in vintage fabric with a sweet postcard decoupaged on the back.
Sitting next to the window is the original 154 year old screen door.
It was still on the front of the house when we arrived --
wrapped in plastic.
We quickly retired it to the dining room...
and it actually helped establish our color scheme --
it matches the maroon wallpaper.
The chair is a favorite napping place for our cats...
cushion is covered in a hooked rug.
To the right of the window stands this pie safe...purchased at
the now closed Broadway Antique Mall in Madison -
as a final gift from my mom from her estate.
On top sits two Watt pitchers -- from my childhood home.
Inside this beauty is all my vintage fabric.
On the wall next to the pie safe is a xstitch I did years
before finding this home. Think it says it all....
Our study is on second floor --
so I added this wonderful vintage bag near the stairs---
any paperwork that needs to go upstairs waits here.
Sweet trellis -- place to tuck a postcard or two
as well as a vintage hat & mirror.
A final dining room note...
this cupboard was our first ever antique furniture purchase.
We found this at the Antique Mall of Madison years ago.
It wasn't the "colonial" we originally sought
(yea, our taste was in refinement back then)
-- but it did set the tone for all our finds to follow.
This wonderful pine farm cupboard is likely the same vintage as our farm.
Here she is all decked out for Valentine's Day.
Have a great weekend --
and I better say, "Go Pack Go!"
...after all, green & yellow -- great colors!
