Casual Dining

I've had this dining room image (from online Rue Magazine?) saved on my desktop for awhile. I like the casual coziness of it, and I think it's a good example of how you can pull a room together without having it "perfect", yet perfectly appealing. To me, it seems more indicative of how a room is actually lived in, rather than a formally elegant staged dining room that you're apt to see in most magazines.

Our handyman was over the other day in a first attempt to hang the new pendant light that we bought for our dining room. The old chandelier was really not centered in the room in anyway, and once we started trying to figure out where it really should go, we started realizing how the whole room is actually a little "off". If we centered it "correctly" in the room, it would create a very tight space around the dining room table, and the room is also a passageway into the living room. It also has doors that lead to a patio out back. After much deliberation, we decided it was best to just put the light and table somewhat uncentered, and keep the room so that if Jake and various friends decide to run around the room, they'll have space to do that. That's the way we live, and it's silly to try to pretend otherwise.

I also had our handyman install these wall sconces from Shades of Light. They look great, and are a much improved version to what was originally there. I LOVE them. I get so excited when my home design projects work out. As a graphic designer, it's very easy to delete things you don't like with the stroke of a key...I wish it was that easy for home design mistakes! It would definitely take the pressure off, wouldn't it?