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Please Help Revive This Dining Area

10 years ago

I'm in need of desperate help! My bigger half has a very large collection of Colonial Revival maple furniture, to which he is very attached. We have this stuff everywhere. He has reluctantly agreed to let me spruce up the dining area, however.

My biggest concerns with the dining area:

1) Hutch blocking the window
2) Much to much wood
3) The room (our whole house) is dark and cluttered

In all honesty, it's just not my style, but I've done my best to incorporate and work around it in our home.

Functionally, the dining furniture is perfect. Every piece is solid. Nothing is broken, wobbly, or squeaky. The table has four leaves, which we have needed to use on many occasions. Two arm chairs and six side chairs are all in great shape, short of the finish. We even have all of the original table pads.

I keep flip flopping on what to do. I could replace everything, but that's not really in my budget considering I just finished a kitchen facelift, and trying to find a table of similar dimensions has been a daunting task. My other option would be to work with what I've got by updating colors, hardware, lighting, add a rug and changing drapes.

As of this moment, I'm seriously considering painting the chairs and cabinet black. Yeah, I know, still dark but I think it will work better with the floor and black refrigerator and double ovens that are at that end of the kitchen. I've thought about removing the hutch from the cabinet, or maybe even replacing the back paneling with an obscured glass. A large rug underneath the table would be nice, but I have concerns with dirt/snow/dogs/cat/grandkids, so it would need to be durable and cleanup easily.

I'm open to any and all ideas and suggestions. I really feel at a loss here. I'll attach a photo below (please excuse the mess, as we are still wrapping up the kitchen reno).

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