Welcome to our Linden Library. It is about ninety seven years in the making but I have only been invested in the last fourteen of them.
When we bought our home this room off the front hallway was a dining room.
This is how it looked back then.
circa 1997
Then in 2004 we did a major remodel to the house that included updating our kitchen.
We relocated the dining room to a larger room on the other side of the kitchen.
During this remodel we moved the left wall that you see here in to the right by three feet. This gave us room in the kitchen for an island but narrowed this space up considerably. We also removed the windows on the far end of the room. I sometimes wish we hadn't done that but the kitchen was also being bumped out toward the street which meant we would have lost one of those windows anyway. For the sake of symmetry we said goodbye to all three of them and added a bookcase to this wall.
After all that remodeling I was so over budget there was absolutely nothing left for furniture to update this room.
This is one of those big old money pit houses and it seems like there have always been more pressing needs. Throw in a recession and before you know it eight more years have gone by with nothing very significant being done here.
I made due with things I stole from other parts of the house but those things weren't right either. It only ended up looking old, stodgy and makeshift.
I eventually sold the valences and rug and lost the leopard print chair. I moved in a loveseat that had been in the living room to try and improve things a bit but I knew it was all a band-aid.
These pieces were too big and bulky for this narrow room. So one day when I couldn't take it anymore I started moving things around again and ended up putting them on Craig's List.
Last year I finally bought a pair of these Bradington Young chairs. I ordered them in black with silver nail heads. It was my start.
Next I added a wool rug from Overstock that totally thrilled me because of the price and the low shipping costs but I was even more stoked when it arrived and I saw that the quality was so much better than I expected.
Finally this fall I decided it was time to revisit this room.
When I was out looking for an ottoman for our family room I discovered that Phelan's had the little Thomasville desk I had been admiring for the last eighteen months on sale. Not just on sale but HALF OFF! Color it sold.
They call it a bedside table. I'm using it as a petite writing desk. It works wonderfully with a laptop.
I moved the chairs away from either side of the radiator and decided to place them in front of the bookcase and added a floor leaning mirror
and a table from the attic ( more on this project later).
I kept the shade from a Pier 1 lamp I bought last year but replaced the base with one from TJ Maxx that was a bit shorter and would fit on the desk.
I'm a huge fan of nail heads.
There is more to be done but it is looking so much more presentable.
So come on in a look around a bit.
I still have a punch list of things to do here.
1. I would like to add a bit of silver glaze to the existing sconces. Someday I would like to replace them but for now I will be happy with a touch of paint.
2. I am looking for just the right accessory to put on that silver table. I will know it when I see it.
3. I'd like to add a small bench or ottoman to reflect in the mirror
4. A different chair to pull up to the desk. I am drawn to fretwork and that bamboo look.
So something kind of like this but with a blam of color on the seat. Maybe in a croc pattern. The beauty of this is I could go with a very trendy color and when I get tired of it I could easily reupholster the seat.
Layla Grace
5. Finally maybe a couple of creamy panels to flank the window. Nothing too bold but maybe with a bit of a Greek Key design along the hem or a black border.
Hopefully it won't take me another eight years. I'm getting old.
With the radiator, narrow footprint, archway and bookcase this has been a problematic space for me but I am finally feeling much better about it and no longer feel the need to distract visitors from looking this way when they come through the front door.
Ahhh progress. It is so rewarding.
:D
xoxo,
p