Since we moved into our new apartment, we’ve made a lot of progress. There’s certainly still huge projects to tackle, like our entire bedroom, and a small ‘office’ but generally speaking, I’d say we’ve been busy getting cozy.

• We painted the living room, and then hated it.
• We added a new area rug, and a ton of amazing white throw pillows.
•  After a few weeks of still hating the paint color, we repainted.
• We scored a huge piece of wall art from the town’s biggest yard sale.
• We also painted the bathroom the most gorgeous shade of blue
• And added an amazing almost shag but not really white, fluffy bath mat.
• We topped off the bathroom with a lobster boat print in a large, white matted frame.
• We even pieced together my favorite part of the apartment: our new entry way gallery wall!

What we didn’t tackle… was a dining ‘room.’ Our living room is pretty massive, so we’ve always had it in our heads that the space would serve as a living room, dining room and office. I’ve also had it in my head that there would be a round, pedestal table, painted white for our dining space.

Photos found on Pinterest here and here.

Well, turns out pedestal tables are really, really expensive. And since I don’t have the patience to look on Craigslist every day, I went ahead and visited my good friend Bob. I found this bad boy in the Pit for $79. A dining room table, made of solid wood (something you can’t say about most things at Bob’s), that seats 6 comfortably. It came in a gorgeous espresso finish so without really thinking I bought it. In the back of the car it went!

We set it up immediately and added two circular, woven place mats that (I think) I snagged at Ikea awhile back. I have a few different sets of 4 and 6 place mats, for when we actually have guests, but in the mean time I like a table for two. I’ll eventually find a great vase or bowl for a centerpiece, but for now I like my tray, also most likely from Ikea. It’s holding a few of my favorite coffee table books, but they go back to the bookshelf during dinner, when I use the tray to carry dishes and bowls from the kitchen to dining table. It all works out.

By far, my favorite part of our dining ‘room’ is the rectangular framed print that we hung on the small side wall behind the head of the table. I bought the print from HomeGoods 3 years ago. Yup, 3 years ago. I saw the old skiiers and literally could not not purchase it. This picture… is my family. My grandparents and aunt and uncle’s home is filled with pictures, just like this. So the print could practically pass as a real photo from the family. I love, love, love it. And the dark frame actually goes nicely with the espresso wood and ties in the dark framed art over the couch.  A welcome contrast to all the white in the living room.

So there you have it. Our new dining ‘room’, after it’s first few days. Noticeably missing are… well, chairs. And the old, wobbly tree in the back corner needs to be replaced by something new.  I also plan to swap out the centerpiece like I mentioned before, and I’m considering installing a floating shelf on the long wall behind the table. So, more work to be had, but it’s definitely nice to have that corner of the room start to look alive.