Farmhouse Kitchen and Dining Room

We’ve been in our house over a year and I finally feel like our kitchen/dining area are complete! When house hunting last year, one of the main things I wanted in a home was a separate dining room. Our old house did not have this and it was something I really wanted. In the end, this was something I ended up sacrificing in the house we bought. We love just about everything else about this house, including that it was a new construction that didn’t need any work. It had the finishes we wanted, the big separate play area for the girls, tons of cabinet space, and a really good size yard for our area (it’s rare to find a good size backyard in Madison, which is what ultimately sold us on this property.)

I do wish that we had a separate dining room that I could keep looking nice and pretty all the time, but I love how the space that we have turned out. One of the things that I really wanted in a dining space was room for a china cabinet to display David’s grandmother’s china and some of my tea pots. This dining area has room for that, which I felt was a good compromise (keep reading for the funny story about how I found my china cabinet).

One thing that was keeping our dining area from feeling finished was our dining chairs. My dad and I made our dining room table and a long bench last year when we moved in. I ended up finding a set of five chairs (exactly what I needed) at a local shop, but they needed to be painted and reupholstered. I thought “I can paint these, no problem!” I was wrong! Chairs are really difficult to paint! I attempted painting one chair first with chalk paint and it ended up looking pretty bad. So for a year we had one white chair and 4 brown chairs. Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided to take them to a local shop to get them painted, and they look soooo much better!

I took them to Rustic Faith in Athens to have them painted and I reupholstered the cushions (reupholstering took less than an hour and cost about $25. Super easy!).

I was first introduced to Rustic Faith last year when searching for a china cabinet at the grand opening of Vintage 72. Funny story – Rustic Faith’s booth at Vintage 72 is the very first one you see when you walk in and I immediately found a china cabinet that I loved. It was the style I was looking for and so pretty. But I decided to walk around the rest of the shop and see what was there (Vintage 72 has two stories full of vendors, so I wanted to see what else there was before jumping to a decision.) By the time I’d walked through the store (about 15 minutes) and decided I was going to get the first china cabinet I saw, it had been sold! I was so bummed.

But luckily, Rustic Faith had another china cabinet that caught my eye, and in the end, worked out better than the original that I thought I wanted. In hindsight, I think that the original cabinet would have been too wide for the space. Also, the cabinet I ended up getting is a grey-ish color and matches our kitchen cabinets perfectly.

They also had this small table, which was the perfect size for a coffee bar, and the color matched the china cabinet. It’s funny the way God works in our lives, even in small details like these.

Now Rustic Faith is all over our dining room in our china cabinet, coffee bar, and chairs! I also bought the girls’ dresser that’s in their shared bedroom from them, and they painted the changing table for the baby’s room. If you’re local and need any furniture redone, I highly recommend contacting Rustic Faith! They’re wonderful to work with.

I don’t have much in the way of decor in our kitchen. Unfortunately, the island ends up being a hot spot for setting things down and I’m constantly having to clear it off. Why does having a clear kitchen counter make your home feel so much cleaner?

I found the bar stools on sale at Marshall’s. It took a while for me to decide what kind of bar stools I wanted to go with. A friend has some similar to these and they’re super comfortable to sit in, which is why I decided to go with this style. The legs ended up being wider at the bottom than I  thought, so I ended up only being able to fit two stools, rather than three like I’d hoped.

As for the kitchen table set up…I had an idea of what I wanted for a while, but never could find what I wanted for a decent price. What I reeeaaaallly wanted was some braided jute chargers, but they’re quite pricey! Who knew? I just couldn’t justify spending the money if they weren’t something that would be used or displayed all the time. I ended up finding these wood grain plate chargers at Hobby Lobby in the fall dining section. and I think they work nicely.

is from Walmart are from Amazon. Galvanized metal centerpiece and greenery from Hobby Lobby.

As mentioned earlier, I wanted a china cabinet to display David’s grandmother’s china and some teapots that I had collected. I love how this turned out. I added some little sprigs of greenery in with the china, and I think it helps it coincide with the farmhouse aesthetic. This is also a great spot to store seasonal table cloths, chargers, and other table decor. Back in the spring it shifted into also storing the girls’ workbooks and school supplies since school was virtual.  This put their school supplies in a convenient location and kept the clutter off the table.

The “gather” sign on top and the with greenery and are all from Hobby Lobby.

I’ve loved the idea of a coffee bar for a while now. I see them all over Pinterest and I love how they look. I also like that having a separate space means your counter is less cluttered with a coffee maker. I store my coffee grounds in the coffee container and my K-cups in the drawer.

Side note – I love the ! You get the best of both worlds. (Anyone else got Hannah Montana stuck in your head now?)

I found the Coffee Shop sign at Michael’s. The is from Hobby Lobby, along with most of the other things you see here! [, Wooden rod with hooks. I can’t find links to the other things, but you may can find them in store.]

I needed a place to hold our mail and the girls’ papers from school. I got these galvanized metal envelope wall hangings, which work out perfect for this purpose. My sister drew this cute little cow!

It feels good to finally have a complete space. Does it take anyone else a year to get settled after they move?

Have a great rest of the week!

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My Favorite Farmhouse Decor Must-Haves
Mint and Pink Girls’ Playroom
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