Fine dining

I know some people may not care all that much, but I'm super excited about our new dining room table! Our old table was a wonderful blessing when it was gifted to us at the start of our marriage, and it has served us very well for over six years. However, it could only fit four, and that was not very conducive to hosting dinners, which is one of our favorite things to do. Especially every thanksgiving, when we've had to shove our card table up to one end to make room for the entire family to sit together.

As our homes have increased in size over the years, so has our available space for a dining area. A bigger table has been on our wish list for a pretty long time, but it hasn't quite ranked high enough on our priority list to also consequently find its way into our budget. Thankfully, my dad graciously volunteered to swap tables with us, since he had a large one just hanging out in his underused dining room. Holla! Now look at this baby! And this is the size of it while only including one of the two additional 1.5 foot leaves!

Isn't it just wonderful? (I know I'm a big dork for being so pumped about furniture, but I'm not even embarrassed about it. It is what it is.) I wish I could take a lot of credit for the way it turned out, but in all honesty, a lot of it was Brad's doing. I definitely wanted to stick with our red and black theme that I love, but it was all Brad's idea to make the "captain" chairs red and the others black, and it was also his idea to have the duel tablecloths (red by black chairs and black by red chairs), and he even stumbled upon the damask cloth all on his own while I was elsewhere in the store! Seriously, I have to give him all the credit. He's my own little interior decorator.

But I will totally take some credit for the floral centerpiece. While it was a mutual effort to piece the flower arrangement together, it was all my idea to use free party favor beaded necklaces as the vase filler. That's decorating on a budget right there.

PS. Just for comparison's sake, here's a picture of our old table being dwarfed in our larger dining room. It was great while it lasted, but I'm so glad to have more proportionate furniture in there that will comfortably seat more people.

Isn't it just so inviting? With the extra leaf added, we can totally fit the whole family at one table for Thanksgiving. (At least until we have to make room for a high chair or two!)

Well, what are ya waiting for? Come on over! There's plenty of room for you to join us for dinner! Hope you like spaghetti! :)