Our Dining Area Design Plan #OHIDESIGNHOME

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but we plan to design our living/dining/kitchen space fully in our new home before any other space. This is the first room you see when you walk into our home and the light is so great – it makes me SO happy to spend time here. Did you read our recent post about the progress we’ve made thus far?

As long as this room is clean and picked up, I don’t really mind what the rest of the house looks like (for now – haha). So for this post, we teamed up with Vermont Farm Table, who is kindly building us a new table + bench for our dining area, and I wanted to share the process of selecting a new table and chairs. I don’t know about you, but selecting big pieces of furniture for our home can be daunting. I can do it all day long for my clients, but when it comes to my space it takes me forever to make decisions…I guess I’m my own worst client. 😉

Below are some before photos of our space.

What is changing:

we will be swapping out the small round white dining table + chairs (relocating these to the basement for now) for a new table and chairs/bench, we have been sourcing new window treatments with Tyler & Sash (the existing ones are paper shades from Home Depot that are like $10.) and we are doing a waterfall roman in a similar color to what you see here, and I think the bar cart will go eventually. I think I’ve outgrown this piece.

We just added the CB2 white shelving unit you see above, and I love how it was totally meant for that wall. I think with a rectangle table, it will help make that space feel a bit more like a finished dining space vs. now it feels disconnected from the rest of the space.
When we were in Burlington a couple of weekends ago, we had the pleasure of visiting the Vermont Farm Table showroom which is steps from Church St. where we spent most of our time. I haven’t written my recap from that trip yet, but if you haven’t been to Burlington, Vermont, you must go! The entire town had me questioning if I should go back to college just to experience college life here.

Anyway, I am so excited to share more about Vermont Farm Table, a company that specializes in handmade furniture and products for your home or office. One thing I love about VFT is their team – you can tell right away how passionate they are about the brand and products. The shop experience is phenomenal – you can easily see all the tables + finishes together. But their website is also a great experience – it’s easy to navigate and there are clear images of each piece, plus you can order samples as well. This is huge for a designer because sometimes I won’t source from a company because I can’t see anything on their website clearly. But if you are in New England, I highly recommend going to their store in Burlington as it’s so great to see all of the table styles and finishes in person.  After much back and forth (Cody really enjoyed my weeks of indecisiveness – haha!) we decided to go with the Tapered Shaker in White Washed Ash. We felt the tapered style blends nicely with our more modern/clean aesthetic and the whitewashed ash was enough contrast from our floors, we think it will look nice since we will not be placing a rug underneath.

Tips for choosing a dining table:

• Make sure it’s the right scale for your space, don’t go too small. Decide on the table shape, typically a square room will want a round or square table and a longer room will want a rectangle or oval table. It all depends on the space.
• Determine how you will use the table the majority of the time. If you are only going to use the table 1-2 times a year for hosting, you can go with a nicer table as it won’t be exposed to everyday wear and tear so it also doesn’t need to be as durable.

When choosing a finish, if you won’t be placing a rug underneath, make sure the table goes with or contrasts enough with the flooring. You don’t want the table to try to match the flooring as it won’t ever be a perfect match. If you are using a rug, then keep in mind the rug and chair colors and textures when choosing a table finish.

Here’s our scheme so far! Help me pick a dining chair!! 🙂one – Vermont Farm Table – Tapered Leg Table in Whitewashed Ash

two – Vermont Farm Table – Tapered Leg Bench in Whitewashed Ash

three – CB2 Wall-mounted Shelving Unit

four – Karman Dining Chair in White

five – Kemala Rattan Dining Chair

six – Audrey Armless Chair in White

I am thrilled to be collaborating with Vermont Farm Table on this post. The table and bench were gifted to us, but my thoughts and opinions are always 100% my own.  I only work with companies that I truly love!