New House: Dining Room and Kitchen

It can be a challenge decorating any house, let alone a house that isn't really 'your's. One that you don't get to choose, and one that you especially don't get to choose features, floor plans, and paint colors.

I think we're on a record of moving every two years, and every time we move to a new state, the responsibility of finding a new house falls on my husband. Thankfully, he does a fairly good job of picking them out, and with the help of internet technology, I actually got to help as well this time around.

We found this rent house after looking at several. I loved the dark wood cabinets, the stainless steel appliances, the granite tile countertops, and the hardwood floors. These features made me want to rent the house. The paint colors, however, did not.

After being in the house for a few weeks, i'll admit that they're growing on me, but I'm not this bold with color and especially not these colors. Orange and brown. Yes, those are the colors in the main living areas of our new house.

Thankfully we've decorated with those colors in mind and as Tim Gunn says, 'make it work!'

So, here's my dining room and kitchen areas in the new house: I love our open floor plan. You can walk into the front door and look straight into the dining/kitchen area, and into the living room. The view above is actually from the living room into the kitchen and dining room.

As I mentioned, we have granite tile, and an eat-at bar. We also have a pantry, and I love the windows at the front of the house.

The kitchen is much smaller than our last, but I do love the features in this kitchen. We went ahead and placed a few platters and greenery a top the cabinets, but I tried, yes, I really did try, to leave a lot of my counter tops empty because I don't have a lot of space. I placed my canisters, our mail sorter, and our knife block on the counter tops, and cute glass stands with an artificial apple and bread.

We kept the leaf out of the dining room table, so it only seats four. On one wall, is a cute tin shelf, that holds a grass container, our initial, and pears. The table is set with a container filled with coffee beans (love the smell, not the taste) and a candle, along with two pear platters. My great-grandma's old sewing table, now topped off with butcher block is in the back. On it, I placed two bowls that match the platters on top of the cabinets, filled with pears, and a candlestick. I love my Hobby Lobby clearance finds on the wall- the giant fork and spoon, that I got at a steal of $5.00 a piece!

On the opposite wall, I do have two pictures of pears, placed at different heights for interest.