dining room....part 1

i was going to try and fit the entire dining room post, in one...but there are too many fun things to show! so i'll start with some 'before' and 'after' photos of the room itself. its always so satisfying to look back at the house when we first got it...and now to see how far its come! its quite the transformation and i'm loving how everything is turning out. i just have to keep that in mind when i'm getting frustrated with the process...its painstakingly long...frustrating, monotonous and rewarding all at the same time. i'm a very visual person, and i see the 'end' result in my head and its hard sometimes to have the patience to get to that point! but we are SO close on the interior! the lower level is pretty much finished....we're going through the millions of trim pieces left, figuring out where they all go and then my job will start. the repairing, caulking, priming and painting. such a long process that is, in itself.

so i'll start with the dining room. this room has some really gorgeous, elaborate trim. we've got a few pieces of the window and door casing up now and the base will be next.

here's what it looked like when we first got the house...

quite the room, huh! we decided to get rid of the two corner cabinets...they weren't original to the house...most likely from the 40's. they didn't fit the period of the house, and really, there was no need for them. the little niche is something that was original, so we kept that. there was actually one on the other side of the kitchen door, at one point as well. so its clear, the house was altered quite a bit at different points in time. oh how i wish i had photos throughout the years of this house!

like i said, this room is the one with the most elaborate trim. we're putting it all back up...as i absolutely love it...and it makes the room look so grand and 'finished'.  i'm still amazed at the craftsmanship it took to build this house and all the trim and details that went into it.

like the rest of the house...i want to keep the style of the house, and keep my colors and furnishings somewhat neutral, to show the beauty of the house itself. although, once things get settled a little, there will be some wallcovering back on a few of the walls....against the dismay of my husband! im really liking the sort of mish-mash of styles and furnishings...and i think thats what makes a home so interesting.

just finished the floors and got to 'move-in'

not having the corner cabinets really opened up the room