Dining Room Plans

We're still in the thick of painting and nowhere near actually getting furniture in here, buuuuuut I wanted to put together a little round up of what I'm hoping to do in the dining room! (Patience never was my strength.)

As a refresher, here is the "Before" shot of our dining room. (This is the photo from the real estate listing.)

And below is a roundup of my plans for this lovely room. The chandelier is definitely staying (link to a similar chandelier), and I've purchased the following:

Wall paint color (Tornado Season by Behr) | Mid-century expandable dining table (West Elm) | Copley upholstered dining chairs (Target) | Classic cafe walnut dining chairs (West Elm) | Aragon indoor/outdoor area rug (Target) 

A few notes on my design choices:

• Paint: I wanted the dining room to be my "statement" room on the main level. Most of the house will be painted a light grey, but "Tornado season" will pack a punch in our dining room. We get a lot of great natural light in this room from those lovely windows, so hopefully it won't feel too dark. We've painted the trims white using this Behr enamel. 
• Dining table: I wanted a dining table that was simple but attractive. And something not so trendy that it'll be outdated by next winter. AND I wanted to have a table that was expandable and could seat 10-12 when fully expanded. I'm thinking ahead here for holidays, family dinners, etc. (A few more thoughts on the table below.) I ordered the table over Labor Day weekend, but we won't get it until mid-October.
• Dining chairs: To be honest, my ideal chairs would've been upholstered, but we plan to have kids someday and want to make sure our home design choices are family-friendly from the get-go. So we went with eight of these cafe walnut chairs along the sides and the two grey upholstered chairs for the ends of the table. Since we won't have the table for a few more weeks, it'll be a little while before I know if this will all work together, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
• Rug: I chose an indoor/outdoor rug for the same reason I chose non-upholstered chairs: practicality for use with future babies. Outdoor rugs are (theoretically) much easier to clean. I also like the color and pattern the rug brings in to the room without being TOO busy.

*A note about the table:

After I ordered the table, I felt like I was seeing it everywhere, and I worried I had chosen a table that was already TOO trendy! Exhibits A and B:

From actors Bitsie Tulloch and David Giuntoli's home tour on Apartment Therapy

From LaTonya Yvette's home tour on Cup of Jo

But then I decided that perhaps this was evidence in support of my table choice! I love how both families have made the table their own and have created completely different looks/feels, just by having different dining chairs. So in ten years, when I'm craving a dining room refresh, I can switch out the chairs, and it'll be a whole new dining room!

Just for fun, here is how Emily Henderson used the same rug I chose for our dining room in a living room makeover:

Image is from this living room makeover

Now, we just need to:

• Paint (ha.)
• Find window treatments (I'm leaning towards sheer white curtains to preserve the natural light, but I'm open to other suggestions!)
• Figure out a china hutch situation (I'd love to have a built-in buffet/hutch someday (something like this or this), but in the meantime, I might make over a hutch we already own.)
• Decide what else will go on the walls.
• Count down the days until West Elm calls to tell me my dining table has arrived.
• The chandelier is attached to the ceiling within its own little recessed space (I don't have a good photo to show this right now.). If we're feeling ambitious, we've considered using this tutorial to do a little ceiling stenciling in that space. Maybe something art deco-inspired, like this?

If you happen to have any brilliant suggestions or tips, I definitely welcome them in the comments!