Any Comments, Preferences, or Ideas?

A while back I did a post on our dining room, the floors, etc. I mentioned that we had gotten this dining set as a trade for a design job I did for one of my clients and best friends, Barbara. I did not want to charge her for the work I did and the table was going to be sold. I have always wanted a round table for the dining room so we struck a deal. Win/win. Here are some of the photos and excerpts from that post.

"Living in an old house has definite advantages. The character and charm cannot be duplicated in a new home very easily. You cannot pay for the mature landscaping and the memories of raising our family here are priceless. There are also disadvantages; smaller, less functional rooms and closets, the repairing, replacing, remodeling can be costly and a big hassle too. But I guess you have that in most houses to some degree.

One of the things we have done is tired to keep the house as true to the era as we could without sacrificing comfort and conveniences. What that translates to is getting what you can for cheap, fixing it up and taking care of it in case it needs to last a life time!

Even though my tastes have changed a lot over the years and if I could just go out and buy all new furniture it would be totally different~ for this time and place in our lives the furniture is just fine. What I do try to do is keep it updated with fun accessories, art, etc. What that translates to is sometimes what you have determines your style more that what you love best. I am OK with that, are you?

Happiness is wanting what you have,
not having what you want.

It is pretty amazing how the barter table matches

our china cabinet, hutch and small, lighted curio cabinet.
With a leaf it can seat 10.
I love that you can see everyone at the table
even when you have a big group.
That was not the case with our rectangular table.

We are quite happy with the table and it looks like it belongs with all our other outdated, but beloved oak furniture. Although the mighty oak has lost face in the market place, our saving grace has always been that our house is a cottage. Something very contemporary and modern would not fit in our setting.

Looking into the library and office

Then we have the beautiful original random
plank oak floors with the wooden pegs.
I love the detailed mitering around the bricks!

As you can see this room is very "Oaky" which is one of the reasons we decided to custom paint it with three shades of green and lots of glossy white trim. With all the wood a traditional neutral would not work here. But even with the color on the walls it is still just too much wood. It needs softening and texture and fabric.

What I want to buy next is a really nice area rug for this dining room. Unless of course you want to make a trade. I am always open to that if you have one that is just right for this room? I am looking for one that will add color, pattern and softness to all the hard surfaces in this room. Fabric usually does the trick. I love that the table is round as that really helps to soften it out quite a bit already. Next big job I get..hopefully you'll be seeing the new area rug! That is unless something else needs to be repaired, replaced or remodeled first in this old house we call home. Fingers crossed~ it is all good.... for the moment." So that post was 18 months ago. A big remodel came up and still no rug.

So that brings me to today and no one came forward offering to trade some work for a fabulous area rug. But we did make a little money on the warehouse sales so I am ready to order our new rug. I have narrowed it down to these two choices...

This

Or This?

The table and chairs will sit right in the middle of the rug. Any comments, preferences, ideas? How about you all help me make a design decision? I like these both for different reasons which I will explain after I hear from you! They are both 8 foot rounds and both the same price.