Farmhouse chic

I finally finished my DIY curtains for the breakfast nook last night, which means its finally time for the "breakfast nook details" post.

We'll start (fittingly) with the table.

We bought this table from IKEA last year. Sometimes when I buy things from IKEA, I don't feel like they are "real" furniture. It feels sort of like low-quality placeholders. (The major area where I feel like this is true is in our bedroom. We have had an IKEA bed/dresser/night table set for nearly 3 years now. And while I love the aesthetics of it, I am itching to get some quality, "real" pieces. But that is a whole 'nother post!)

I digress. My point was that sometimes I feel like IKEA is a low-quality placeholder, but that is so not the case with this table. It is extremely durable and I feel like it will hold up throughout the years. This table is so my style. It has a "cottage" vibe, but is still modern. And its white. Why am I such a sucker for white furniture? I really am trying to veer away from the white furniture, but I keep getting drawn back.

One great thing about this table is you can change up the chairs to give it a completely different vibe. In our rental house, I paired it with some leather parsons chairs, which had a much more formal look.

But lately I have really been liking the "cottage" vibe, so when we moved I decided to redecorate using more relaxed accessories.

So as I already mentioned in a previous post, we bought some light wicker chairs from (where else?) IKEA, and I spray painted them brown. They weren't terribly comfortable, and I also felt there needed to be a little contrast against the brown, so I repurposed some seat cushions I already had from (where else?) IKEA.

The cushions had velcro tabs that would attach to the legs of a chair. Since these wicker chairs don't have "legs," I had to get creative when thinking of a way to attach the cushions. So I ended up cutting the velcro off and sewing a strip of white canvas directly over the are where the velcro tabs were, then tied the canvas around the back of the chair.

They don't look perfect, but I kind of like the "homespun" vibe.

So for people wondering how I come up with my decorating ideas, let me let you in on a little secret. Quite often, its just a copy of something I've seen in a catalog. I've started keeping a collection of "inspiration" sheets that I tear out of catalogs. One night, I needed an idea for our table centerpiece. So I looked through that inspiration pile, and found a West Elm table with an almost identical arrangement: white hydrangeas in a rustic "barnyard wood" type box. I remembered seeing a similar box at Marshall's, so I went and got it, then bought some faux flowers from Michael's. Nick did have to alter the box some. It originally had a lid, was much wider and took up too much space on the table. So he took the box apart, sawed it down some, then nailed it back together. Now its the perfect size!

I ordered these salt and pepper shakers and a matching soap dispenser from Etsy. All three are made of repurposed mason jars, which gives a great "cottage" vibe.

I love this new runner. It really warms the space up. The color and material compliment the "cottage" style, but the graphic pattern keeps the whole space feeling fresh and modern.

And I must say, I am getting much better about mixing and matching patterns! Case in point, my new DIY roman shades:

I was going to buy the same cream roman shades we have used in the living room and bedroom for this nook too. Actually, I did buy the cream roman shades for this spot. But they were an inch too wide for the windows, and it looked like I would have to custom order some to fit. Which I was going to do. Then, once I saw Nick's wonderful woodwork around the windows, I just felt cream curtains would be so "blah" against the white trim. All of a sudden, I was thinking teal. Patterned teal.

I didn't feel like searching retail for this. I just knew it would be next to impossible to find exactly what I wanted. So then I got to thinking.

I'll let you in on a little fact about me: I am totally a "natural light" type of girl. Its actually a pet peeve of mine when people close their blinds up to keep out the sunshine. Let it shine, baby. I don't want to have to turn on a light until it is pitch black outside.

So I knew that these shades would never actually be used as shades (especially since these windows face out into our fenced in backyard). The shades are just there basically to finish up the space and make it look good.

So that got my wheels a turnin'. How hard could it be to make shades, if they don't actually have to function? I mean, isn't it just a little fabric hanging from a stick?

I guess God was on my side on this project, because I found a modern teal patterned fabric very easily at our local fabric store. And it was half off! We got all of it for about $30, which is a steal compared to the price we were going to pay for the cream roman shades.

I just cut the fabric to size, "hemmed" up the raw edges with iron-on fabric tape, then folded and sewed horizontal sections to hang like roman shades. I have debated whether I should add blackout liner to the back, because, as you can see in the pictures, the sun definitely shines through. Which isn't a problem for me light-wise (I've actually been complaining since we put the shades up that it is blocking too much sun!), but I worry that it looks cheap to have the sun shining through. The jury is still out on that decision, so for now this is how they will stay.

I think the pattern adds a level of interest, and I am proud of myself for taking a risk and adding some pattern! Man, I have all sorts of patterns going on in our kitchen/nook/living room now! But they are all tied together by color, so its working. Am I finally tackling my "matchy-matchy" demons??