Keeping It Simple

So sunflowers and citrus colors are once again the theme of the day as we head into the dining room. Really am trying to keep things at a minimum. Didn't even use a runner or the "ever present" shutters in the niche this time. As I've been posting lately, I have mentioned some things that are ready for an update. The wall of cupboards that houses this niche is another of them. I had it added many years ago to the end of this room when we moved the dining set in here.

You see, I am a bit of a hoarder. And, I love dinner ware. I have over 9 complete sets and at least 6 partial sets of dinner service. Even though I don't entertain as much these days, when I do, I want to set a beautiful table. No surprise that most of my sets are for a particular season, holiday or theme. In any case, once again storage became a huge issue and a complete wall of cupboards only made sense.

And so, when we moved the dining set into this room, I had this unit built at one end. Since this was already a long, narrow room, I had no hesitation in losing a foot or so at one end. The unit is deep enough to hold dinner plates easily. The 4 long areas on the right and left hold most of my dinner ware and the 2 in the middle hold odds and ends-serving pieces, special wine glasses, tea pots, etc.

I was VERY country when I designed this and wanted it kept VERY rustic. The poor guy who was building it kept asking if that was really what I wanted. It is basically a wall of shelving with rough sawn wood on the front. I had him just cut the doors from the wood panels. Then, I used black hinges and just those old fashioned, twisty wood closures (that's the "technical name". I don't know what they're really called) and I loved it. Then the other day, I saw it with "new eyes" and once again said, "what was I thinking?". And so, this becomes another item added to the to-do list. I really don't think it will be hard. Seems like you could just rip off the old facade, add a new one and then add slightly more refined doors. We shall see.

Used the old wooden box that I made down the middle of the table. Since I was keeping it simple, I went out and cut most of the rest of my hydrangeas. Some of them were a bit past their prime, but I liked the color they brought. Seems like the colors perfectly match the new PB runner that the box sits on. If you look closely, you will notice that the runner is folded over. Since this runner was at such a good price, I never looked at its size. Got home and realized it is 108". That size will work when my table is opened but is way too long for the way it usually is. Thought it would be a simple matter to cut off one end but then realized that the border would be ruined, so, for now, it sits like this. I won't tell if you don't.

I love those jars. The red and gold are from Southern Living and the white is PB. I think this simple vignette is the essence of my late summer decorating.





Off to do a few things in the yard. Now that our summer rain pattern seems to be over, it is nice to spend time outdoors and when I am just over it, I hop in the pool to cool off for awhile. The rains gave way to a whole new crop of weeds in the gardens, so I will get on that and need to do a bit more pruning and fountain maintenance before I can really "chill out"-or at least chill as much as one can in 90 degree temperatures.

I have a pretty busy week ahead. Going to have the girls here again. We are going to invade Jen's new house and help with little things. Then I'm off to Gainesville for a few days to help my daughter get her classroom ready for another school year. I will be back as soon as I can. Stay tuned.