Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Craigslist Deal for the Dining Room

The formal dining room at the house in Hooterville has not been a priority for me to furnish, especially when we have so many other projects I deemed more important.  We have a breakfast room we use for our day-to-day meals so I couldn’t really justify spending a lot of time or money right now on a room we will likely only use at the holidays.

DR before

That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a plan for the dining room though.

About the time we were in the process of buying the house in Hooterville, the mega-talented Layla @ The Lettered Cottage designed the dining room below for one of her clients and I was instantly smitten.      Layla’s design became my inspiration photo for the house in Hooterville dining room I would get finished “some day.” 

(I took the liberty of flipping  Layla’s  photo so you can  better visualize how well my favorite elements from her design would work in my dining room.)

BRIGHT_DESIGN_PLAN-layla-flipped

I loved the bead board in Layla’s design so when I painted my dining room, I added my favorite  Graham & Brown Super Fresco bead board wallpaper, which is available for purchase here.    Although I’m not a huge fan of fabric window treatments in my own home, I was  intrigued by the simple white panels used in conjunction with the bamboo roman shades.  I also liked the look of the dark table, dark buffet and mirror mixed with the different styles of chairs, particularly the slip-covered parson’s chairs.

Kate @ Censational Girl has also mixed a classic style wood table with  4  parson’s chairs  with short, white, pleated slip-covers in her dining room. 

kates-dining-room-french-doors_thumb photo source:  Censational Girl

I have actually swooned, drooled and lusted many times  over the same upholstered couture parson’s chairs and short pleated slip-covers  on the Ballard Designs website that Kate has.    When it comes to slip-covered parson’s chairs, I think Ballard’s  are the  crème de la crème.  

CensationalGirl parsons chair (2) photo source:  Censational Girl

But four parson’s chairs and 4 slip-covers from Ballard’s seems a bit pricey for a seldom used dining room though so,  we’ll see… 

About 5 weeks ago, I happened to be perusing my local Craigslist  and saw a classic style mahogany dining room set for sale.

The table…

craigslist table photo via the Craigslist seller

and EIGHT chairs—

2 arm chairs and 6 side chairs.

chair collage   photos via the Craigslist seller

Price:  $675.00

Me to Hubby:  “I wasn’t really planning to buy furniture for the dining room now but we’ve GOT to go see this set!”

The set was in beautiful condition so it came home with us.  He was absolutely ecstatic over the deal we got.

IMG_3529 (C&E)

The top of the table is almost flawless.  I need to check into getting a piece of glass cut for it to keep it that way.

IMG_3457

In keeping with my inspiration photo from Layla, I’m now I’m on the lookout for a deal on a mahogany buffet similar to this style.louis philippe style credenzasource

Or, I could move this buffet to the dining room but I’d have to find a replacement for it as it is providing much needed storage in our home office.

Once I find a buffet, I think a buffet plus the  8 chairs that match the table is  too matchy-matchy and too much wood for the lighter look I’m going for.  My plan is to sell  the 2 arm chairs and 4 of the side chairs that came with the table.  I’ll keep 2 side chairs and replace the 4 I sell with 4  white slip-covered parson’s chairs.   (Maybe from Ballard’s, or perhaps I can find some  on Craigslist!)  If I need more than 6 chairs for a family get-together, I can always pull in the 2 mahogany arm chairs I bought off Craigslist for the living room.

IMG_3464 (C&E)

So, although I wasn’t planning to buy furniture for the dining room right now…

IMG_3575 (C&E)

sometimes you just have to jump on a good deal when opportunity knocks.

Have you jumped on any good deals lately?

9 comments:

{Bellamere Cottage} said...

Wow! What a great deal Shari! It's just perfect and soooo pretty!

Whadda buy..... good luck on the buffet hunt too. I'm sure you'll find the perfect thing.

Hugs,
Spencer

Pink Roses and Teacups said...

OM goodness! Just beautiful! I am still looking for one for my dining room.

Cindy said...

What a beautiful dining room set and what a great price! I love the dark wood with all of the white around it, your vision of what you want is wonderful!!!

CaraRose said...

Beautiful Shari. Bet your thrilled. Can you please tell me the color of your walls in the dining room? Love it

Shari @ My Cottage of Bliss said...

Thank you, CaraRose!

Your email address is not linked to your comment and I cannot find an email address for you on your profile so I hope you will check back here for the paint color you asked about.

The paint color in the first photo of the dining room is called "Winter in Paris," a Valspar color from Lowes. After I lived with that color for a while, I decided it was too blue and dreary for the north-facing formal LR & DR so I repainted in June 2011. The new color is an Olympic paint color (also found at Lowes) called "Moondance." The rest of the photos in this post of my DR & LR after the first photo are Moondance. There seems to be very little difference in the two colors in the photos. However, in person, there is a huge difference. The Moondance reads lighter, brighter and more gray (with a hint of lavender undertones) than the more muted and very bluish-gray Winter in Paris.

If you want to see more photos of Winter in Paris, you can go to my post of January 23, 2011 which shows photos of my bathroom renovation. I used Winter in Paris in that bathroom.

CaraRose said...

Thanks so much Shari. I will look at both those colors. Sorry I didn't like or add my email address. Not even sure how to do that. Started a blog but never did anything with it. Sigh.

Bring Pretty Back said...

Shari - What awesome deal!! Love the set!!
Have a pretty day!
Kristin

Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

The set looks like it is in perfect shape. What a great deal. I love the slip covered parson's chairs. I keep my eye out on CL for some all the time. They may just pop up some day!

Kathleen said...

Beautiful table! I have an old, drop leaf Duncan Phyfe table that I plan to paint, but I might leave some of the wood showing on the legs. It didnt come with any chairs, so your idea of the covered cahaors is perfect, although our fat, furry calico kittirszwill just use it as thwir personal pillows.