Nutcracker In The Dining Room

I have a confession, two years ago at Christmas was the first time in my life I had seen the Nutcracker.  Well, that I recall.  My mother says we say it together when I was little but I do not remember and most certainly probably was distracted as a small child.  I do love the theater, both my mother and grandmother are huge fans, so it made perfect sense for us for my mother and I to see it together.  We absolutely loved it (if you are local see it at the Fox) and I have been thinking about it ever since. I found some darling Nutcracker themed poppers this year and the vision for our dining room took off.  I think the darling little details ... and the vintage Avon wood ornaments (found on Etsy) are truly my favorite parts. 

If you remember this year I took some time and changed up our dining room. It was not completely working for me and after finding some amazing vintage curtains and fabric at an estate sale I decided the dining room was the perfect space for them.  I love a small print and the curtains I found were the prettiest clover turned bow I have ever seen.  The fabric is old and very hard to find so my joy was so apparent when I found it for literal pennies on the dollar at a local estate sale.  I asked to verify the price three times before taking two large panels, two very wide drapes, a cornice, a topper piece, a bed skirt, and extra fabric for a total of $150.  Yep, I grabbed it so fast I am sure I looked like a crazy girl.  

Which is probably a great description of me at an estate sale ... 😂

So, I took that fabric and the drapes and began to transform our dining room.  I had scored new chairs on FBMP the summer before ... and a new breakfront, also FBMP, and was ready to make some changes.  Funny enough it is more traditional and I love how it seems timeless and very classic but yet so very us at the same time.  I really wanted a small print for the fabric in this room and had been searching for so long to find one I loved.  This print is truly so perfect for the space, and for my vision. 

So with a brand new, to me, dining room I decided to make it feel extra girly and just plan extra, because ... well, why not? I mixed all my prettiest vintage ornaments with velvet ribbon and then added another estate piece, the table cloth, and dressed it to the nines. The green china is also a great new thrifting addition and I truly love it mixed with the beautiful napkins and stunning tassel napkin rings.  I have had such luck this year while shopping ... and those napkin rings were a Scott Antique Market score for $20, and I got 8.  Another grab and go quickly moment for sure. Since we were going girly and extra, I potted one of my favorite trees in a Rose Medallion fishbowl with the help of my dad at Thanksgiving.  It was so very easy and we made it work with some Styrofoam and Ziploc bags of sand.  I just snagged the Styrofoam, already cut in a circle, from Michael's and then hit Home Depot for a bag of play sand I divided into quart bags to be able to layer them the way we needed to in the pot.  Put the Styrofoam in first, then the bags to hold it steady and then I just stabbed the bar straight into the middle of the pot and kept added sandbags to hold it still.  It worked perfectly. 

More velvet ribbon, a vintage Christmas tree topper, and ornaments from this shop and it's just darling. 

To set the table I mixed Wedgwood, Kings Crown, my Green Gracie dishes, napkins from Shop Lettermade, the darling tassel rings, and some beautiful gold and white French monogrammed coasters.  I really just love it all. 

To cover the chairs I mixed a beautiful green velvet (for the main chairs) and had skirts made for the end chairs.  I am telling you, this fabric just makes me so very happy!

So more shots of the room and the details ... I could stand in here and gaze all day!

Merry Christmas from our dining room ... 🎄

Photos by Angie Webb