DINING ROOM INSPIRATION
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image // style by emily henderson
James and I have been in our place since we got married in August 2012. I absolutely love our place. It did take a little while to find though, as all good gems seem to do. Before we got married, I lived in a basement suite with my sister for two years. It was a super cute place and affordable but I hated how we had hardly any natural lighting. After that, I vowed not to only live in a basement suite with ideal lighting (those places do not exist!)
In the final stages of wedding planning, James and I started looking for places. I searched and searched and searched. We went to a few places, nothing really stood out. Everything seemed overpriced and lacked character. I was getting a wee-bit (ok, majorly) stressed out but had to trust that God would provide. And He did. I found an ad that said "Cook St. Village, 1 bdrm, South facing, d/w, balcony." There were no pictures, just a name and phone number. I called, got through and the next day, we saw our future suite.
We live in the top floor of a character apartment building in Cook St. Village. Starbucks is literally a 1 minute walk away and we can see Beacon Hill Park from the balcony off our bedroom! I'm able to run along Dallas Road as much as I want. The suite is quite large for a 1 bedroom and includes a large dining room/ studio space for James....dream. And the natural light...ahhhh, it's south facing, so as long as there's light outside, at least one room is lit in our house. I'm in love and am not planning to move until we buy a house...one day...
Like all renters, we're faced with the dilemma to either paint the space and make it look amazing or do as minimally as possible and save up for a down payment. I'd like to think that we've met in the middle. Obviously I'm not going to live in a house where we don't make any effort. I like to have people over, so I want them to feel comfortable. But we've only painted one wall (our chalkboard dream wall behind our bed) and don't plan on painting anymore.
I've tackled quite a few rooms but I'm at a standstill for our dining room. It used to house a small round table and my desk but we sold the table (because hello, i'd like to have the option of having more than 3 people over for dinner!) and moved my office space into the living room. The room now remains bare with a table (James found it for $30 at a garage sale) and two chairs.
As you can see, the lighting is great! But when it's not light outside, our only light fixture that's in the centre of the room (on the other side of the room is James' studio so the light fixture is between the studio and dining room, not ideally above the table) doesn't add much light at all. Because we don't want to install a new fixture, I'm on the hunt for lights or a lamp that will add a warm glow. I want to make the space cozy but not too cluttered. I'd also love to add some plants, a rug under the table, mismatched chairs (maybe tie in a matching colour), a dining bench, and some wall art!
image // apartment 34
So I'm on the hunt to jazz up my dining space. We're hitting ikea up at the end of the month, so hopefully I'll find some treasures there! If you have any suggestions to make my space look pretty, please let me know!
xo,
s.s.♥.
