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Woodstock Table |  Herrington Chairs

Stains: Natural Maple for the chair with Blume – Alabaster upholstery

Nutmeg stain on Hard Maple for the table

This customer had relocated and moved into a new home.  Instead of moving with their old dining set, they chose to order a new set from us.  While they awaited the new furniture, they used a folding table.  Needless to say, once the new furniture arrived it brought the room to life.  Don’t you think it is a beautiful transformation?

Photo Credit: Scott Phillips {Fine Cooking}

Cooler temperatures, Sunday football games, Chili and Pie.  All of these things have been on our mind as the warm summer sun has been replaced by the cool, crisp air that signals fall’s impending arrival.  Today’s post is inspired by two of our favorite fall foods: Chili and Pie.  We put together some decor pieces that we think pair well with the food!  Kind of a backwards look at entertaining!  Wouldn’t it be great if you could change your furniture scheme based on what you were serving?  The two recipes pictured above are also featured below so you can give them a try this season!

Style Guide

Camden Table -  Eddison Bar Stool -  Vintage Chili Bowls -  Monogrammed Pilsner Glasses -  Cloth Napkins

Recipes

Beef & Black Bean Chili -  Sweet Potato Pie

What did you think of the pairings? Did you try the recipes?  Let us know!  We would love to hear from you!

We thought to ourselves, why not an expandable buffet?  In a space that could support an 18 foot table, an 8 foot buffet seems like it could make hosting Thanksgiving or any celebration a breeze.   After a lot of discussion and planning, our dream is complete!

We would like to introduce you to our: Expandable Buffet!  This concept can be applied to many of our buffets, at each size (48”, 60” and 72”)!  Allowing many styles to become expandable and fit your home and style!  The expansion is possible by using geared slides on the top to allow for it to open and accept leaves just as a dining table would.  It comes with (2) 18” leaves, giving you an additional 3 extra feet of serving room.

It is available in each of our standard wood types: Red Oak, Brown Maple, Cherry, Quarter Sawn White Oak, and Hard Maple and even some specialty woods.

Entertaining has never been easier with the Expandable Buffet.

The Nest.com

Living Room

You can dramatically change the look of your living room no matter how small your budget may be. A great place to start is by painting an accent wall a shade or two darker than your existing color. Another budget friendly option is to add new throw pillows in a variety of prints, colors, and textures. A new area rug or slipcovers on your existing furniture can make a big difference as well.

Bedroom

Does the look of your bedroom need waking up? Why not give it a fresh coat of paint? While you are at it, add some molding to give it a nice finished look. If you are not interested in painting the whole room, consider painting just the furniture. You could also try dressing up your bed by making a fabric slip cover for your headboard or by adding new pillows and linens.

Bathroom

Photo Credit: Real Simple

Who doesn’t like to go to the spa? You can give your drab bathroom a spa-like feel by painting the walls a soft, relaxing color. Instead of buying expensive artwork, try buying scrapbooking paper and framing it. Plants and aromatic candles are also affordable accessories that can change the appearance of any bathroom. For a real spa-like feel indulge in new towels. Setting a basket full of rolled towels near the bathtub can not only be stylish but also a storage solution.

Kitchen

Kitchen redesigns always improve the overall look of a home and don’t have to cost a fortune. Almost everything in your kitchen can be repainted, refinished, or renewed; you can repaint your walls, cabinets, or even your appliances. If painting sounds like too much work, updating your cabinetry hardware can be a refreshing change. Another economical choice would be to replace old rugs, dish rags, and towels with new ones. New curtains, updated plumbing fixtures, shiny counter top appliances, and a fresh bowl of fruit can also have impact when trying to give a kitchen a fresh look.

Photo Credit: Real Simple

Dining Room

Dining rooms tend to be forgotten about when doing home makeovers but there are many ways to refresh this room too. Everything in your dining room can be painted. If you don’t want to paint your table and chairs but want to give them a new look, try reupholstering your chairs. This is much easier than it sounds, all you need is about a 1/2 yard of fabric, a heavy duty stapler, and the ability to wrap a present. Other low-cost decorating options include a new mirror, wall hangings, window coverings, and a fresh and pretty centerpiece.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for Area Rugs, a retail site that sells brand name area rugs.

We felt inspired by the colors {and smells} of the season to bring you our first “fall must haves” style guide. We wanted to focus on ways you could incorporate the colors of the season into your home.  By accessorizing with pop color items you can bring these yummy colors into your home and then change it up next season!

What will you incorporate into your home this season to bring in the beauty of the outdoors?

Style Guide – Fall Must Haves:

Chargers: Pottery Barn

Dinnerware: Pottery Barn

Wallpaper: Anthropologie

Throw: Crate and Barrel

Bedding: Anthropologie

Wreath: Better Homes & Gardens

While homeschool families utilize the whole world from home to yard to neighborhood and beyond, as their classroom, at some point even the freest thinking parent-teacher must dedicate a room or sections of a room to the home school. Logically, home schooling families quite often use the dining room table as command central. Even “out of home” schooling families use their dining room table for homework assignments, craft projects or as the family gathering place.

A visit to many of the home schooling forums shows one consistent wish from many of the home school mom-teachers – a giant dining room table for them to work at. Dining room tables like the ones crafted from solid woods by the Amish provide high quality, high endurance, and wear tolerant spacious work places for large family classrooms. Add an armoire or dresser dedicated to supplies, some sturdy solid wood chairs and quite functionally a dining room is converted into a one room school house. Some great tips gathered from these forums on how to best utilize the dining room as a classroom are:

1. Keep the table covered with a protecting pad and a plastic table cloth. The Amish have available elite custom pads to add many years to the table top. This investment will pay off after years of small hands pressing pencils into wooden surfaces or science experiments gone awry.

2. Cut a piece of white board to fit the table top as a giant dry erase surface. Local home improvement stores carry very low cost sheets of white laminate paneling. They can even cut them to size. Place these panels on top of the elite custom pads and pass out the dry erase markers. Kids become very enthusiastic at the chance to write on furniture! This also saves on paper product costs and consumption.

3. Since most families can’t afford to give up their dining room as an eatery why not redecorate the dining room with the theme of your studies? This is particularly fun for unit study type curriculum. Africa this month? Why not coordinate the napkins? Add some giraffes and elephants as center pieces. There are very inexpensive ways to keep the flow of your home while providing a homemade education to your children. Oceans next month? Why not a giant fishbowl as a living centerpiece? Just remember you may not want to serve fish sticks for awhile!

4. If you have opted to top your dining room table with a glass top why not use pictures under the glass as study points? One section of the dining room table can be algebraic equations, another section geographic pictures and another spelling words.

5. The second most desired item observed in the home school forums was an organizational element such as a bookcase, armoire, china cabinet, hutch, dresser or chest of drawers. With the well built, solid wood, dove tailed construction of Amish furniture it is easy to find sturdy organizing elements that match the woods, stains and designs of the Amish built dining room table. Sturdy shelves or cabinets for books, supplies and items like nature collections is important, no matter how small the space.

6. Be sure you have good windows and or good lighting in the dining room. Poor lighting makes the eyes work harder and the child grows weary faster.

7. Do a daily clean up of the dining room. Keep it a focal point of your home. Never let the table become only a place to collect things that need to be put away. A few minutes a day will pay off in peace and function. Keep the room a place that inspires good family meals when appropriate and good creative thinking always.

8. Remember that while Homeschooling is about “togetherness” it does not mean you have to be tethered to them as they work. By utilizing the dining room you are more able to multi-task why the children are working on school. They will know you are right there, in the near-by kitchen or living area but they will learn the much desired art of independence. Homeschooling children are best known for there self reliance, and if you can be multi-tasking and keeping a watchful eye the house and school run smoother.

 

1. There is something universally awesome about shelves. No matter what you place on them, from precious porcelain figurines to old books, with simple organization and a few proper display tricks, you can make them look like museum pieces. A shelf or shelving unit, when properly arranged, makes everything look well placed and intentional. While shelves can be constructed from glass, plastic, particle board or metal the most durable is solid wood shelves. The Amish design and build the most desirable and strongest shelving options available on the market. Made from Native hardwoods like cherry, maple, oak and hickory and stained to match any décor they are available in a wide range of custom sizes.

2. They resolve organizational and display issues in every room in the house. In the library they catalogue books. In the bathroom they house towels within reach. In the dining room shelves display fine china and serving pieces. In the bedroom they add storage. By the front door they hold keys, mail and shoes. In the kitchen they create a pantry. In the laundry room they hold supplies. In the office they can showcase awards or hold your files.

3. Shelves do not need to be deep in order to be useful. A good standard for shelves is 15 inches in depth. They can fit into the most wasted of spaces and create a useful space. Under windows, under stairs, under eaves or in awkward corners a shelf can be stood or hung. By learning to group by sizes, colors and even textures you can make visually appealing collections from items that would have normally been struggling to find a storage place.

4. They add architectural detail to a room without the added cost of construction. Even a plain shelf can have a piece of trim tacked on by anyone with a few small nails and a hammer to create a decorative piece of furniture. Best of all if you rent or if you redecorate they are not permanent and can be moved to the next space.

5. Shelves can serve dual purposes. Low shelves placed under a window, topped with a thin pad, can serve as seating. A small shelf placed by a bed can hold favorite books, magazines, night creams and more while serving as a nightstand. Small dining rooms can utilize shelves in place of sideboards, making china displays fashionable as well as functional. Remember that a shelf is only as strong as what it is constructed from. That is another reason to consider the construction quality of Amish built shelves an shelf units.