How I fell in love with our dining room table set…

When we moved into our current house we were fortunate enough to receive a hand-me down dining room table and china cabinet.  If it wasn’t for that dining furniture, the room would probably still be empty, since that furniture wasn’t in our budget!    The set we got though was a very light maple-colored wood and our whole house is pretty much dark wood so I was worried how it would look.  The seat cushions were also a terrible fabric which was old and stained, but the set was my husband’s grandmothers who had just passed away so it was in a sense a family heirloom.

(this would be nice if it matched!)

So after browsing dining sets that we couldn’t afford, I figured I would make the best of what we have and appreciate the generosity.  I went to the local fabric store and bought black suede fabric and armed with a staple gun I discovered it is super easy to re-upholster dining room chairs!  Just by putting on some new fabric on the chairs, the set was already looking modern!  Then I added a black and silver flower table runner, which really popped on the table.  Finally, I placed all our Waterford china on plate stands in the china cabinet and didn’t clutter it up.  The dining room was totally transformed and even my husband’s family members who had eaten at grandma’s house in the past didn’t recognize it was the same table!

Right now I am looking for a matching buffet table to store some little appliances and such but no luck so far since the set is an unusual color.  Until then I am so grateful for what we have and glad I gave the table a chance and it cost me less than $50 to update it!