goodness

the may/june 2011 issue of lonny came out yesterday. i love it. i apparently have breakfast nooks on the brain, because these were my favorite images from the issue, both breakfast nooks.

these drapes had me at hello. gorgeous.
and this banquette. phenomenal.
now go enjoy the rest of the issue. it doesn't disappoint.

the winner

image from here

this will be our new dining room chandelier. we just clicked 'submit order'.

it will be going above this table.
which we bought from here. when i called my local restoration hardware about 6 weeks ago to inquire about this table, the nice sales associate told me about an event that was happening at the shopping village in a few weeks. donate $25 to a cancer research foundation and receive 20% off of your purchases at participating stores. restoration hardware was participating. i waited. i participated. i donated and marched into rh to purchase this. (and i stopped in jcrew too, while i was there, cause, you know, i had that 20% off that, you know, i didn't want to waste.... and anthropologie.) anyway, we love the table.

back to the chandelier. it was a tough competition. i originally wanted this.
i thought the frilliness would be a nice juxtaposition to the rustic wood. steve hated it. i couldn't convince him otherwise.

steve countered with this.
and although i love the crystal shades (again, nice contrast to the rustic table) i thought the base bars were just too modern.

i moved onto these.
i love this. let me say again, i love this. i thought 2 of these over the table would be perfect. steve didn't. (but don't worry.... i'll work one into the house somewhere, someway.)

then i tried to sell him on this.
i loved the idea of 2 of these over the table. i thought these really suited the mood we were striving for, which is extremely informal. steve wasn't on board with these.

then we settled on this.until we went to order it and realized it was backordered until october. ugh.

this chandelier hunt was exhausting. seriously. we searched countless sites for countless hours until we were dizzy. we'd settle on one light only to find that it wasn't bright enough or too expensive or not large enough.

i involved my sister. i sent her the links to each choice, not telling her whose choice it was. her front runner was the capiz shell. second was the ultimate winner. i'm happy with our choice. i think it'll look great over the table.

oh, and the ultimate winner in the amazing chandelier race was originally .... steve's choice.

farmhouse table

steve and i are in the market for a new dining room table. we're reconverting the dining room back to a dining room. it was my office for the last 2 years. i envision an enormous farmhouse table and mismatched chairs. grey walls. very informal. french doors that lead to the patio. we're (and by "we", i mean steve) installing french doors as phase 3 of our first floor facelift). the kitchen facelift was phase 1 (which i still must post photos... just having trouble getting good photos), phase 2 is moving my office to the formal living room (which opens up the dining room to become a dining room again).

we've been searching online for the table. here are our top runners. in 2nd place, this from crate and barrel. simple lines. european white oak.

this is my first choice, from restoration hardware. similar lines. more rustic, which i like. and extendable.
notice the tolix chairs in the first photo. i'd love to scatter a few of those around the table. they don't look too comfortable, so i was thinking about skinny pads for them. a la this photo, from photographer helen norman.
and, now that this has arrived, i could sew them myself! that is, after i dredge up all that i learned in 7th grade home ec.