Our New Hillbilly Home Tour...Dining room

As you leave the porch, and step into the main part of the house, you walk into my dining room. It was the living room, before I got a hold of it. Since this house didn't have a dining room, we had to turn the living room, into the dining room since I had a big set of dining room furniture I wasn't willing to get rid of.

Even had we not had the nice set of furniture I'd still have wanted it to be the dining room, because the kitchen just wasn't big enough to have it be a eat in kitchen like it was before we got the house. (In MY opinion anyway.  LOL)


To the left, as you come through the door from the porch, you can see most of the dining room and a lot of the kitchen.


My Great-Grandmothers stove had to be put in the dining room, because the kitchen was just to small for it. My dream has always been to have it in the kitchen...but guess sometimes dreams have to adjust for real life. It's not to bad, having it there in the dining room...least I'm getting used to it there.

The stove isn't put back together yet, since the move...DH has to make some feet for it, because a couple of the ones it had were falling apart, so that's why it's sitting on books right now.  Eventually he will find the time for that...and find time to figure out where all the pieces go, inside the firebox...till then, it will wait.  Least it's in place...even if it's not all together yet.


With the kitchen being to small for my taste, we added a bar area...and a few cabinets at the end of the dining room to hold some of my kitchen appliances and "stuff". LOL (Still have the backing to put on the island and cupboards...but hopefully that's a winter project, when DH doesn't want to be outside a lot.)  It's not exactly what I'd like in my almost formal dining room...but is working out pretty good, so it's growing on me.  Eventually I hope to have a different spot for my Berkey Water Filter, because that's the only place I can think of, to bolt my manual wheat grinder to...but till then, my wheat grinder is still packed away, and I'm using the electric one my Mom gave me that was my Grandmothers.


As you turn and look back towards the door to the porch, you can see my buffet and the hall that leads to the guestroom (the closed door you see), living room and bathroom.

There is a set of double windows that we leave wide open all the time, that open out onto the porch, behind the table.  We leave them open, so heat can get out there in the winter, and the cool air in the summer...since there isn't actually any heat vents or water pipes heating the floor out there.  So far it's stayed warm enough...but we will see how it does when it turns colder.

After I took photos of the upstairs part of the house, I was working on more organizing and all and finally got curtains hung...so we finally have curtains hung in every room upstairs, except the porch.  Not sure I'll ever put any out there, there are way to many windows for that I think.  LOL  If I do, it will be a while, because I'll have to find money to buy matching ones...and that's not high on my list of things to do right now.

The dining room was one of two rooms we painted when we moved.  I may have been able to live with the blue they had in the dining room...but would never have been totally happy with it.  Even though I really don't like painting...least base coats I don't...I'm really glad we re-did this room because I'd have missed my yellow walls, and wallpaper boarder (which I was thrilled to find online, since it had been 8 years since I found it in the store when we moved to Tecumseh...I really didn't think I'd be able to find it).

It's really helped me to feel a little more at home in this new house, getting it painted I think.  Thankfully our niece and her fiance was here to help with painting the base coat...cause I sucked at that part, DH sprayed all the base coats in Tecumseh...but he was busy with the move, so couldn't help.   Between painting, and putting wood floor in, the dining room got the most work done to it...but it's also always been my favorite room in any house we've lived in that had a formal dining room, because it holds my best furniture!  :-))

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my dining room...even if it is a little odd that it's the room you basically walk into first (not counting the porch).  It's not quite the "formal" dining room I dreamed of...that was a room off the kitchen...but I think I like this better, because it's almost a part of the kitchen...yet it isn't.  It's right there so family can be gathered around the table having fun and talking, and whoever is still working in the kitchen can join in on the fun, not be stuffed off in a room by themselves wondering what is going on when laughter breaks out.  It's a room made to be the "center" of the home, that is perfect for game nights,  get together with friends and family or working in when you need a large table to work on.  I can see it being the heart of our home, when family and friends visit...so I'm glad it's my favorite room...and I'm glad I got my cheery yellow walls to brighten the darkest days.  :-))

We will move on to the kitchen, in my next Hillbilly Home tour post!