Update: I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this brand so all names and links have been removed. I was contracted to write this post and over a year later, have not been paid for the products nor the work involved. I feel this is wrong and while I once loved the brand, I will no longer shop there or mention them to my readers. 

Forget the hustle and bustle, my favorite holiday tradition is being home with the people I love.
Homemade hot chocolate, weeknight fires in the fireplace, rolling out cookie dough, kids setting the table to earn brownie points with Santa, singing (loudly) to Christmas carols while doing dishes, last minute invite-yourself-over dinners with family. And it pretty much all revolves around the kitchen and dining room.

When we were house hunting, I was sold the moment I saw the kitchen and dining room of this home.  I loved the space and loved the fireplace. When we moved our stuff in, we realized how much it wasn’t working. The room was dark, we lacked seating, and the kitchen and dining room were larger but had less cabinets and storage.

Since holiday entertaining and family time (for us) revolves around the dining room, this needed to be tackled! And soon!

 What We Did:

We added the leaf to our current table and swapped our 6 tired, old chairs with 8 new ones. 

Our stools were looking tired too, so we also brought in 4 matching bar stools. We can bring them over to the table when entertaining, or have the kids sit at the counter (while the grown-ups sit at the table).

These cabinets added in a huge wall of storage that almost looks built-in. The top will be great for pretty things, the bottom is perfect for the things I don't want to be seen. Like maybe a basket for stuff that needs hidden right before people come over? Pretend you didn't hear that.

It was also a bit dark in here. We replaced a weird spotlight with two pendant lights that lend an industrial farmhouse look to the room. The switch is on a dimmer so we can go from dinner to cozy in a slide of the switch.

The accent wall, where the hutches are, was painted to match the rest of the room and made the space bigger! We painted the trim and sliding glass door white, then added white curtains to brighten and soften the room.

My personal style lately is simple yet kid-friendly and I’m carrying that into this room’s Christmas decor.

I love big bursts of color but we bring color into this room with kid art, cereal on the floor, and colorfully dressed kids dancing on the chairs. Like the simple furniture, I wanted the holiday decor in here to be as neutral as possible to create a beautiful backdrop for the everyday color we add into the picture.

I only added simple touches to the space. Kraft paper, white trees, natural greenery, and gold votives. 

Easy to set up for entertaining, easy to take down when we bring out all the food.

And easy to swap out with a long piece of paper when you feel an itch to draw a holiday scene complete with angels, snow, and a Christmas pig.

In the week this room has been done, I’ve already noticed an impact in our family time.

We spend more time in here than in front of the TV.

There’s a place for stuff and I’m not stressing as much.

We linger a bit longer at the table.

And after dinner’s done, we all pitch in to get it looking clean again because, WHOA. Look at that room now.

So, what do you think of the space now?