A chair by a different color

The Sheffield Side Chair from Home Decorators Collection are a very affordable chair option for the kitchen or dining room or any where you need a little extra seating. They come in a variety of antique colors from blue to red and they are the fun your dining area needs!

One day when I'm all grown-up...

...I will have a really large dining room and have the space to have this very beautiful, simple, angular table coexist with this gorgeous string lighting (both from Luminaire) and my life will be complete. Sometimes opposites attract, and it can be like fireworks!

Our Faves ~ Put a ring on it

Enjoy a little color splash with Diane von Furstenberg's striped napkin rings from Bloomingdales. A perfect accessory for bringing a little spring to the table. And speaking of spring, is it here yet?

Our Faves ~ Find Your Place

These Andrea by Sadek Peacock Place Card Holders would be great for dinner parties to label seating, a fun girls night, or can be used to label food for a potluck. They would look fabulous with your finest china, or the dinner plates you use on a daily basis. Mix, match and have fun!

DIY Tips & Tricks ~ Recycled Wood Dining Table

We all know handymen (or women!) in our lives, be it dad, mom, husband, wife or friend! Grab them and get to making your own Recycled Wood Dining Table (shown above). This is such a fun, rustic idea ~ instructions are here at our fav DIY site Readymade.

Design Tip of the Week: (4.26.10) Sit at the Head of the Table

Adorn your dining room table with new head chairs! Its a great way to update your current dining set, change up your look or just add some elegance. Head chairs DO NOT have to match the rest of your set, so do some create mixing and matching. Get a rich upholstered chair with nail head trimming or a fun tall chair with a printed chair cover. Coordinate your fabrics with simple wood side chairs or benches. Get a chandy to top it off and you have yourself a new elegant dining area without having to get a whole new set.

Splurge on these Curved Upholstered Chairs from West Elm in Cocoa.


Pair these sleek modern chairs with a rustic bench like this one from Pottery Barn.


Or save your shekels with these black and white Curvature Dining Chairs from Target. TWO for $279 (yes that is correct)


Which would pair beautiful with black or white Windsor chairs, like these from Walmart (only $60 a pair if your in the market for a whole new set of chairs!)


Ikea also has a very inexpensive and versatile dining chair with a slip cover (great for keeping clean!). The Henriksdal chair has arms and is only $99.


Pair them with the Heritage Side Chairs from Overstock and put put a little chic into your country look.

Design Tip of the Week (3.8.10): Reclaim Your Dining Table

Selecting furniture that is built from reclaimed wood is a great way to save a tree, reduce waste, and have a unique piece in your house that showcases the beauty of aged wood.

Here are some tables made from reclaimed wood that you are going to want to claim for your dining room!

After the Barn ~ Natural Chestnut Table from reclaimed barn wood.


Wood Land Creek Furniture ~ Barn Wood Table Tree Design


Lorimer Workshop ~ Bradley 66x38 Organic Table


Restoration Hardware ~ The Provence Beam Table

Our Faves! ~ The Host with the Most

These Food Snob Place Cards from Greenwich Letterpress are a fun way to decorate your dinner table and arrange your guests. Each card has a fun cooking fact that will enlighten your friends and spark discussion!

Friday Finds ~ Rehabilitated Dinnerware

The best way to contribute to the environment is use what we have. And Sarah Cihat does just that. She rumages through secondhand stores and thrift shops to find the dishes that nobody wants. She then puts her own mark of creativity on them(reglazes and refires them)and literally recreates ugly old dishes to fun, chic and innovative dishware. Visit Sarah Cihat's site and check out her patterns and her contribution to the sustainability movement.

Friday Finds ~ If You Like It Then You Should Put A Ring On It!

Here are two undeniably cute napkin rings to make your social gatherings memorable.

The preppy look - Social Couture's ribbon belt napkin rings come in blue and white and pink and white. You can get a set of 8 for only $12-16$!


Give a hoot with these owl napkin rings from Pieces. A little pricier at $18 a ring, but for the small gathering, a perfect conversation piece. These would look great in a black and white tablescape!

JUNE Primed4Design{er} of the Month ~ No Plain Janes Here!

Back in February we showcased Kristine's chic apartment style in our Decorator of the Month Segment. For June, we would like to present Kristine's Nana, Jane! We can see this family shares a flair for decorating and a love of unique antiques. Jane has a colonial house dated back to 1848 in an Ohio suburb East of Cleveland. Everything about her house is thought out, you can see it in all her attention to detail found both inside and outside her home.

Lets start from the outside and work our way in. Our favorites: the fence, the hanging plants, and the cotton spinning wheel on the front porch!







Jane's landscaping doesn't disappoint either! Her inviting outdoor spaces are accented with an antique bicycle and wagon wheels.







The kitchen is filled with so many unique goodies...so much to take in, so little space on this blog. The highlights: the working antique stove, the tin ceiling, and all the fun knick knacks including a cookie jar collection!















Off the kitchen, Jane has a keeping room where they warm up in the winter with their stove fireplace.







Her dining area is adorned with a tiffany lamp and a handmade hutch with pearlized containers made for spices.





In the main floor bathroom, you can be entertained with Jane's message wallpaper (lots of great sayings!) and not to mention more tin ceilings.





Here are some more unique treasures throughout her house.

A high back loveseat



A working victrola (a wind up record player)from the 1930s.



An 1820s organ from Pennsylvania.



Jane's house has many admirers. In fact she has a stack of cards from passerbys that have stopped to inquire about the house. Thanks for giving us a tour, Jane!

Our Faves! ~ Chairs Chairs Everywhere!

Checked my email this week and received an eblast from Brocade Home (Our Favorite. Store. Ever.) and the title was "OUR FAVORITE CHAIR NOW AVAILABLE IN BLACK HI GLOSS!"

Brocade Home, we love you! And today your favorite chair has become our favorite chair. Check out all of their beautiful chairs here, they are made out of bent wood which is SO COOL. They are so romantic yet modern. Lovely Lovely! :)

May Primed4Design{er} of the Month ~ Urban Bohemian Chic

Good morning! We are very excited to share with you today's Decorator's of the Month. We are saying Decorator's (2) because it was really the couple who has their own unique view on decorating/design, Megan (Art Teacher/Amazing Artist) and Steve (Graphic Designer/Amazing Artist), just bought their home a few months ago in Adams Morgan, Washington DC.

Their decor is very bohemian eclectic, fun, and drawing from worldly inspirations-carved figurines, deep reds and browns in their art and furniture, makes for a very cozy and comfortable feel throughout their house.

At the entryway you are greeted by a colorful table and an indian-inspired mirror:





To the right is the living room, with a large Pier One mirror (Megan got a REALLY great deal on it) and red, beige and black furniture & decor throughout:






As you turn around, there are beautiful built-in bookshelves along with a fireplace, and their favorite wedding photo:









Walking back to the entryway towards the dining room, you will find a beautiful handcarved statue underneath the TV (a great way to hide electronics & wires):






As you enter the dining room, artwork Megan made greets you on the left (how beautiful is the large red painting?!), as well as the best chandelier EVER - Monkeys!










The simply decorated, yet beautiful guest bathroom off of the dining room:







To the right is the open kitchen (note the Jonathan Adler pottery). If you don't have much cabinet space, A great way to store as well as display your glasses is to get an iron rack like they have, and put your colorful glasses on top:





Going up the stairs to the loft/office space and master bedroom, we are greeted by Zoe their cat. :) As you enter the loft/office space, note all of the graphic posters of Steve's throughout the room. Also fun little figurines in the room to look at (and a rattlesnake, eek!):











The previous owner took the condo above them, and added the stairway to connect the upstairs and downstairs. Their really wasn't a closet door, so they used nice curtains to hide their clothing in the hallway to the master bedroom:



The master bedroom has hints of blue throughout, as well as colors from downstairs. Megan has her jewelry hanging, so it doesn't get tangled, but it also just looks beautiful. Note the beautiful lamp that has been in Megan's family:











For a full slideshow of Steve & Megan's Urban Bohemian Chic home, please click here.