Concrete Pedestal for the Dining Room

One thing I've learned in living in this new house, that's smaller and "Open Concept", is that keeping a sense of "flow" is very important. Having a Kitchen, Living Room, Entry Hall and Dining Room that are all one big space can present some challenges in decorating.

I have a lot of furniture, and some of it is big, but then I have some smaller "accessory" type pieces too. I'm also using a different "color palette" here...grays and taupes. At the old house, there was a lot of cream and lighter and darker variations of "cream". I also had white woodwork and moldings at the other house, which I loved. Here the woodwork is some shade of off white. not my favorite. 

I learned early on that some of my distressed "white" pieces were not going to work here. Case in point was my coffee table and end tables. They are big heavy curvy frenchie solid pieces and they just looked dirty and too big. Paint came to the rescue in using a mix of French Linen and Coco ASCP. Once they were painted they blended in and receded to the background instead of poking you in the eye.

The same goes for some of my smaller pieces and accessories. I'd been waiting for this little vintage concrete/chalk pedestal to be located at storage. I was excited to bring it home, since I knew right where it needed to be. But once here, the stark white up against the wall color was way too noticeable. Out came my paint.

A very subtle change, but one that is a much less jarring.

I'm using the same Italian vase that I used at the other house. It had been in the Dining Room, but I can't find any pics of it. This pedestal is not really pretty, as it's kind of rough. But it's just the size I needed here.

This is a little walkway toward the Kitchen, so whatever is here needs to be small and not block traffic. Visually, something needed to ground the large frame and print, but not be noticeable.

This is a small space, and my furniture is big and dark. It's not the sort of layout I would particularly choose, (not a fan of the wood stain, and don't like the black iron "spindles")  but I've learned that in house shopping, sometimes you have to make some concessions, and since we don't have an unlimited budget, right now this is it.

Since the woods are so different,

 I've needed to not put a lot of extras in here that distract the eye.

I'm working on the potting bench this weekend.

yay...

Joining in on these parties:

Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

The Scoop at Stone Gable

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

From My Front Porch to Yours

Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

Have a fun one!