genevieve.malarkey In my last “French Inspired Home” post, I described the circumstances of why we had to remodel our home in 2019. I also mentioned how I refer to the “new” version of our home as my maison parisienne, because of the warm wood floors, light walls, and vintage details one often finds inside a typically Parisian apartment. One area where that is especially true is in my kitchen and breakfast nook. Not only did we remodel the kitchen to have a white, bright, and modern feel, in the adjoining dining area I finally achieved a French aesthetic I am very happy with.
We bought this table secondhand when we first moved into our house in 2016. We already had a lovely Amish-made dining set we brought with us, but since our home had both a formal dining space and a casual breakfast nook, I sought out a cheap table I could maybe refinish one day to put in the casual corner. Our toddler would seek to destroy it anyway, so why buy something expensive? So for 3.5 years, I contemplated what to do with the table. Its original version was identical to a table my family had growing up – white farm house style with a very 90’s honey oak finish on the top and seats – a very popular style back then. Modern, it was not.
Well, life then happened in those 3.5 years: another baby, a hurricane, a total home remodel, and now a pandemic. Thankfully the latter provided the time I needed to finally do something with the ugly table; ever since we moved back into our lovely remodeled home, that thing has stuck out to me as a total eyesore. It was virtually the only thing that was not cohesive in the house, and it happened to be the thing we sit around and look at the most, it being in the kitchen and all.
So about a month ago I went in to Home Depot (thankfully still open) and picked a stain color. A quick Google search told me I needed sanding discs for the orbital sander my husband bought me over two years ago for this very project (still in its box), a polyurethane varnish to cover the stain, cloths, and a good brush. $50 and a Youtube video later, I was ready to refinish the thing.
It took about three days of sanding, staining, and varnishing to makeover the wood table top. Since the legs were already white and not offensive to the eye, I decided to leave them be (it would have been several more days of work to redo them, anyway). And after those three days of sneaking to the garage while my children napped, or while their father kept them busy, I realized there was no way I had the time or patience to redo the unsightly chairs as well- too many spindles and rounded legs to carefully paint around- so I decided to buy new ones… Weirdly, my husband readily agreed- they must have been eyesores to him as well.
Another little fact about me is I have a little part-time job at a popular home decor store. I love working there for some time away from my responsibilities at home, for the discount, and also for the decor inspiration it provides. Lately I had noticed some chairs there that caught my eye every time I walked past them: lovely black and white rattan woven bistro chairs, seemingly straight from the café terrasses of Paris. I had to have them. Surprisingly it did not take much convincing of my husband to agree to them- I think he has learned not to mess with my decorative visions anymore.
What I love most about these chairs, aside from the Parisian feel they give me every time I walk into my kitchen, is the way they tie into the black and white theme I created in this area of the house: in the chevron woven runner in front of the kitchen sink, in the grout between the gleaming white subway tiled backsplash, in the wrought iron frame of the fireplace, and the chalkboard mounted to the wall in the dining nook. These chairs tied it all together, and now I have a cohesive cooking and casual dining space I love to look at.
Et voilà. Have you done any projects that inspire you lately? For some other home inspiration/design tips, read my post on how to add French charm with subway tiles. What French features have you added to your home to make you feel inspired? I would love to read about it – leave a comment and merci!
À la prochaine-
geneviève
