DINING AREAS SWITCH UP... SHOP THE HOUSE!

I've been wanting to use a pair of mirrors in the dining room for a long time, and finally got around to putting some up in there this week.  Once I started working on the wall, the ball started rolling for other changes, too!

Nesting Place is probably the first home blog I started reading 8 years or so ago, and I think that's the first time I ever heard the term "shop the house."  Love it, because that's what I do all the time!  The idea is to look at things in various rooms and use them in a different way or place than how or where you originally intended.

So, I shopped the house and without purchasing one little thing, have a new look in both of our dining areas!  First, the dining room.

I started by removing the bird prints and small mirrors that surrounded the china cabinet previously, and hung a pair of mirrors from my bedroom flanking the cabinet.

Since I'm thinking about Fall decorating, the blue and white pieces that have been in the Entry had to move, but I really liked them all grouped together.  With the bird prints down from above the china cabinet, I needed to add some height there, so I tried arranging the pieces there.  Normally I don't like to load up the tops of cabinets with "stuff," but I think in this case it continues the look that's inside the cabinet, and keeps everything looking cohesive while adding some height.

Lastly, I brought the chairs from the kitchen table to this table, and removed the spotted shades from the chandelier since these chair backs have spotted fabric.  Also, with the grouping on top of the cabinet, the shades on the chandy were too much.  That chandelier has been getting the stink eye too... I love the chunky crystals on it but have my eyes open for something brass and sparkly and vintage... 

Side note: I tweaked the orchid arrangement that I showed you last month.  After living with it for a while, I realized it needed a few more orchid stems to be a little more full.  And, I didn't like the brown spanish moss, so I switched it out with some bright green reindeer moss.  I like the contrast in color and it looks much cleaner.  I've actually been meaning to add in a few curly willow branches too like I saw in some beautiful arrangements at Boxwoods when we were in Atlanta, but I forgot until just now!  Need to get on that...

Here's a before and after from my summer tour.  Completely different look just by moving some things around!  It's a cleaner look now, which I think is good as the holidays are approaching.

Now, since I robbed the kitchen table of it's chairs, I had to move some things around in there, too.

The tufted chairs are a nice change in here, I think!  This is the table we sit at the most, and they're actually more comfortable than the spotted back chairs, so I think the family is happy with this little switch, too.

I have 6 of the tufted chairs, but like the contrast of different chairs so I mixed in the Chippendale chairs at the ends of the table.

There are no other changes in here except for the chairs, but I think that one thing changes out the look!

As you're preparing for Fall, how can you look at the items in your home in a new way?  Move some things around.  Shop the house!  You don't need to spend any money to get an entirely different look!