The [MIDGE] Dining Room
If there is anything that my Instagram Story from last weekend has taught me it is this: my house looks and feels 100 times better when it’s clean! (and, I doubt that I’m the ONLY one who feels this way) If you were someone that followed that particular story, then you will already know the result of this post because my current ‘design studio’ used to be the Dining Room at the Midge.
Remember that post, oh about 14 months ago? The one shot of a beautiful walnut built-in circa 1960? Let’s re-fresh your memory:
The caption accompanying this image posed the question out to the world on what should happen to it: keep it, remove all of it, or disassemble a portion & modernize it? I wasn’t too descriptive of my final decision, BUT some key pictures that followed up in the coming months were all hints of what happened to the unit.
Logical reasons to keep it:
It was a custom, built in SOLID piece of Black Walnut – LOVE!
EXTRA storage – (who doesn’t love that?!) – of course we want to maximize our options!
Unique aesthetic adds character to our ‘mod’ space
However, I did have to agree with Karl that the overall look was dated (similar to the frosted glass panels in the front entrance); but I personally couldn’t bear to smash it all out. My first (and truly only) attempt to salvage it was to re-sand the entire unit. Look – LOOK at the details! After spending 4+ hours hand sanding the tiny cracks of the trim, I gave up. It looked terrible. So, my logical next step, as it would be for any woman who is frustrated, was to sit across from the millwork and cry. Legit. I sat and I cried (because tears solve ALL the problems). Karl came over, laughed and handed me a sledge hammer.
THAT my friends, is how we came to half a built in.
– side note – they might be hard to see but, check out the sketches doodled on the back wall! They are construction sketches of how to build the unit! We found them after removing the top piece..
I have to admit, removing the top portion was an excellent decision. The counter top was a continuous piece of solid wood!
Cue a couple more tan [I mean sand] sessions:
And the result is a beautiful buffet cabinet. I spray painted the existing copper hardware a matte black and re-installed all the cabinet fronts (after conquering the task of re-sealing the wood).
The existing ceiling had a lovely detail that matched the living room; we opted to keep it and applied a new coat of paint to freshen it up. Adding a large round mirror maximizes the natural light the house gets with south exposure and reflects our beautiful living room.
The furniture and light fixture are our ‘in between’ accents, comprising of an oval walnut table and an eclectic mix of chairs; which has been a staple in my designs since I first moved out! Instead of recovering the mid-century mod chairs, I threw on a fur pillow cases to add texture and then introduced two transparent chairs to modernize the arrangement. Throwing a lace tablecloth on the table and placing a large fern in the corner are soft and feminine odes to my inner bohemian.
After all the sweat and tears that went into the restoration of the millwork, I’m very happy with the end result – what do you think?
