New Dining Room

The first room I did when we moved in was our dining room.  In fact I had the furniture ordered and delivered to a friend's house before we even moved.  It is that important to me that we have a place to come together as a family and share our meals.  I have always insisted that we eat our meals at the table.

This is also the place where we usually hold our family meetings, discuss our days, do homework, play games, or sit and visit.  More often than not, when friends come over this is where we congregate.  So you can see why I felt it necessary to get this room done first thing.

I wanted everything coming into our house this time to be new.  No more secondhand purchases or hand-me-downs from well meaning friends and relatives.  I want my home to be all me in function, style and design.  I want it to be an expression of my tastes and personality.

I ordered four leather parsons chairs for $89 a pair and used my rewards points from my credit card to knock an additional $10 off the price.  I found a beautiful rubberwood dining table to go with them and put it in my Amazon wish list.  Rubberwood comes from the trees they drain the sap from for latex.  Once the trees are no longer viable for sap they make furniture from them and replant the trees making them a renewable resource.

Over several weeks I watched as the price on the table steadily went down.  When I got an email from the seller that the price had been lowered another $20 I went ahead and ordered it.  I figured at that price waiting any longer would mean they would sell out and I wouldn’t get my table.  So I ordered it at $109 and it is beautiful.  I love it!

The items on and in the built in China cabinet were things I already had.  Special things inherited from my grandparents and things I've collected over the years.  The picture on the wall is one my great grandparents had hanging on their living room wall in their cute little house in Spokane.  I always loved that picture and was thrilled to get it.

At Walmart I picked up eight pretty black fabric placemats that were on clearance for $2 each.  At the dollar store I splurged and purchased three fall glass candle holders in leaf shapes for a $1 each.  I already had tea lights at home.  They are perfect for dressing up our table.

I gave myself a $500 budget to outfit the dining room.  The four new chairs were $89 for each pair and the table was $109.  Less the $10 in rewards points.  Plus the shipping on the table and chairs was free.  The placemats were $16 and the candle holders were $3.  My grand total for everything came in at $296.  Well under my budget. 

Later I hope to add a bar cart for wine and spirits and some nice accessories to go with.  It will be nice to have when entertaining, especially at the holidays.  And I still have plenty in my budget too.

You may also enjoy revisiting this old post.