The (Never-Ending) Evolution of Our Dining Room
Executive summary: I’ve spent years trying to discern my dining room decor style, and I’ve finally found something I’m content with (for now, at least).
I have a problem. A home decor problem. You know it, I know it, my husband knows it. But I also enjoy having this problem, so I’m not deterred from experimenting until “it clicks.” In my dining room tour (see here), I mentioned that I had a difficult time pinning down my style for this area of our home, for whatever reason. So I kept swapping out tables, chairs, and decor until I finally felt that I got it right. Or as right as it’s ever been, because I wouldn’t claim that I’ve attained perfection (if such a thing even exists).
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m on my fifth set of dining chairs in six years. We always donate our (lightly used, in great condition) furniture, so maybe I’m not single-handedly killing the environment with my experimentation, but yeah … it’s been a journey. I’m not even going to post pictures of what we had before we moved into our current apartment – you don’t need the photo evidence to condemn me. But smart and simple solutions take trial-and-error to discover. Below are the chairs we’ve tried, along with the reason they were replaced (RIP):
IKEA Bergmund – These went by a different name when my dining room design struggles began, but it visually looks like the same thing. I found them to be too heavy. I didn’t like dragging them on the floor to pull them in and out, and I had an unfounded fear of dropping them on my toes. Mea culpa.
IKEA Lidas/ Sigtrygg – Again, they’ve discontinued the exact chair we had, but it was this general plastic shell design. I thought they were too … plasticky? They weren’t uncomfortable, but not the best either. At least they were lightweight, so I did learn my lesson from the first set of chairs.
Red Tolix-style chairs – These are the ubiquitous metal “cafe chairs” that you see at so many restaurants, especially for outdoor seating. They were surprisingly comfortable, but I should’ve gone with a more neutral color. I thought the red would be an accent color in our open living and dining space, but apparently I’m not as bold as I thought. Another lesson learned about myself.
Black Tolix A56-style chair – A variation of the classic metal cafe chair above, this chair has a low back that curves around as armrests. It (unsurprisingly) isn’t comfortable for leaning back in, as the back of the chair only comes midway up your spine. I kept these for a while, because they mostly were fine, but the dealbreaker was when I started using one of these chairs for my desk (as we needed to retire one from the dining table anyway to make space for a highchair), and the high arms prevented me from pushing this chair under the desk. In a normal house, this might not matter, but in a 1-bedroom apartment, losing a foot of space is a big deal. Sorry chairs, this isn’t going to work out, we better break up.
So there you have it. I’ve confessed and detailed my dining room problem. You can judge me now. In the last couple of years, I’ve finally settled on a chair that I hope will stand the test of time: the Thonet bentwood-style chair. I got our set from Target (for only $80 each!) and they’ve been working out great. These ones are metal but relatively lightweight and comfortable. I have one at my desk, and I am delighted every time I can slide it all the way underneath when not in use. It makes our space feel that much bigger, truly.
The latest iteration of our dining area.
The decor on the wall has also changed, but those are smaller tweaks than a new table and chairs. (I haven’t even talked about the tables I’ve gone through – let’s just say we had a couple of cheapish ones from IKEA that I was never satisfied with. Perhaps that’s a case-in-point about choosing quality over quantity). The mini gallery wall I’ve kept, because I love those photos from our life. I considered replacing them with one large picture, but this is a case of: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The other wall has gone through a few changes. Most recently, I removed the faux pampas stems that were in the empty wine bottle serving as a vase. It’s a cleaner but less bold look. Before that, this whole shelf was our “liquor ledge,” but I grew tired of having to order the bottles by height every time we acquired or replaced a drink (I know, I know, that’s kinda obsessive).
The dining area with the faux pampas stems (that my preschooler called “the big orange bird”) and the liquor ledge that was great in theory but drove me slightly nuts in reality.
Even before this, in the first version of the dining area when we moved in, I leaned a tall mirror against the wall (and secured it with screws, don’t worry), but eventually decided it stuck out too far at the bottom. Again, every inch in our home counts! Also, I got tired of sweeping around and behind the mirror to collect the kiddo’s crumbs 4x/day (and that was when we only had one messy eater). I decided that the more things I could get off the floor, the better.
The leaning mirror that I decided ate up too much floor space and that I got tired of wiping, TBH. This picture also shows when we had the Tolix A56-style chairs with the high arms.
I might never be done with this space, but for now, I’ve lost the itch (or the will) to change anything. Sometimes I still wonder if it looks too bare without the pampas stems that added a lot of height, but my hope is that the DIY tassel chandelier (which has stayed a constant) visually makes up for any blank space higher up. We’ll see if I want to revisit this room again anytime soon. Never say never!