Now Close to Balanced

My dining room has been making me crazy since we moved in. There are certain rules I live by - one of which is that the chandelier is centered in the room and the table goes under it. (and, yes, there are exceptions, but not in this house...) Our dining room has been horribly imbalanced since June. The interior wall has the buffet, the middle is the table, and the window wall - nothing. It didn't have draperies, nothing to give it some visual weight. When we got the amazing steal on roman shades - that helped - but not nearly enough.

The before - but the bench didn't stay there very long - it went to the screen porch and is now in our bedroom waiting to be repainted...

I was sewing one day and needed the armchairs out of the way to sew on the table and so I put them on the window wall. I was sewing for several days, so that's where they stayed. And, lo and behold, we loved it. Mostly because it somehow managed to give us some extra room for traffic, not that we were tripping over anything, but an extra 6 inches really does make a huge difference. Then I got home last night after Bunco, and it occurred to me that we needed a table there. Nothing large, not too high or too deep, and we should just keep our eyes open. Um - look in the bedroom silly! We had the perfect table there! Borrowed from my always stylish in-laws who I guess didn't have room for it.

The after - absolute perfection - atleast it will be when the I get the draperies made

The after - full view to compare how much more balanced it is now. Please ignore all my sewing stuff on the buffet...

and that I forgot to turn on the chandelier - we haven't had sun in so long I'm trying to enjoy it

AND that I don't have a dining table centerpiece. I have been looking for 3 years for something I would want to stand front and center...

Perfection!!! I rummaged and rearranged and borrowed from other rooms for the things on top of the table - not 100% happy but very pleased just the same. Now I just need to buy the fabric for the draperies, yep, I bet you already spied the swatch thumbtacked to the trim, it's going to be fun and lovely.

These things make me happy - now if the vases just had flowers in them it would be perfect

So, there you have it, shopping your own house does really work. And to think I thought it couldn't be done because we got rid of so much furniture when we moved from the dream house...silly me. (and we moved our "outside" bench from the screen porch to where the table was in the bedroom. Brilliant. Perfect place for Sam to put on his shoes in the morning!)

Moral of the story - balance is of the utmost importance!! And I bet, more times than not, it's why something just "feels off" and you can't put your finger on it...

Loves.