Show Us Where You Live - Dining Room Edition

It's Friday, and you know what that means......another edition of "Show Us Where You Live" over on Kelly's Korner Blog. This week's edition is dining rooms, and I'm happy to participate. We are not very formal in our house, so our dining room is pretty simple. Most (okay all) of the furniture is hand-me-downs from either my mother or grandmother, but I think we've pulled it all together nicely.

Here's a look at what the dining room looked like when we bought the house 3 years ago:

We painted the walls, installed a new chandelier (there was no light fixture in here before!), put in new baseboards, and replaced the light oak laminate with darker hardwood flooring. Here's the view now from the kitchen:And the view from the other side of the room:Here's one of my favorite pieces, our china cabinet/curio. My mother re-finished it shabby chic style and gave it to us when we bought our first house:

We don't have formal china, so I use it to display some sentimental pieces, like crystal and china pieces from my grandmother and some wedding memorabilia.

This was my dresser when I was a little girl....when I got my first "single gal" apartment, my mom stripped it and I painted it black. Once I got married and in a house, I replaced the knobs, painted it white and distressed it to match the china cabinet.

I made this sign from antique tins strung them together with glass beads, it's for sale in my etsy shop, but this is it's new home for now! This hutch is also where I take all the photos for the items in my shop.

My mom gave me these two Martha Washington chairs when she remodeled her living room. She recovered them for me and I added a couple throw pillows from Bombay & Co.
That's it! We normally eat in front of the TV (gasp!) but it's so nice to have this space when we have company or when I need to drag out my sewing machine!