Dining Room

Several people have contacted me with questions about our new dining table and chairs, so I thought I'd do a post for those who are curious.

The table is the dylan dining table from CB2, designed by Jonas Wahlstrom. It is really beautiful in person, and somehow manages to be rustic and modern, warm and industrial, all at the same time.

We love the architectural lines of the iron base, which might look black in these photos, but is actually powder-coated graphite.

The table top is made of sheesham wood (also known as Indian Rosewood) and the wood grain is gorgeous. There are striations of color which vary from a warm reddish brown to caramel to almost blond, and there are dark knots in the grain here and there as well.

We looked for a long time before deciding on this table. We both loved it instantly, but the price was $999. That was too much money for us to spend on one piece, so we kept looking. But every other table paled in comparison, so we waited patiently (and sometimes, not so patiently) and finally, CB2 had a sale. We also had a discount code, and when we realized that if we combined the two, the table would be 30% off plus free delivery, we went for it. Even with the discount, that was a huge chunk of change for us, and we knew it would mean waiting a while before we could purchase more furniture. But it was totally worth it; we couldn't be happier with the table.

We bought the chairs from a local vintage shop. They were designed by Folke Pålsson for FDB Mobler in Denmark in the 1960s. Despite their age, the chairs are in great condition (with a few minor spots here and there from being "well-loved") and they are sturdy as well. Also, they are really comfortable. Initially, I didn't want a solid wood chair because I've never found one to be comfortable to sit in for more than a few minutes. But these are about as comfortable as wooden chairs can be. We will probably buy removable seat pads in a neutral color to use when we have company, but the rest of the time just leave them as is. (And I should note, I am not one of those people who buys vintage just for the sake of buying vintage, if the piece of furniture is useless and uncomfortable.)

Again, we looked for a really long time before finding these chairs, but I'm so happy we did. The tone of the teak wood and the clean lines go well with the table. Danish furniture and design company Hay relaunched this chair (known as the J77) in 2011 with a few small changes. The shape appears to be pretty much the same, only the modern version is made of beech instead of teak, and they come painted in red, grey, white, or black, or natural beech.

Also, if anyone's curious, the footed serving dish I'm using as a centerpiece at the moment is vintage Dansk. You can find similar dishes often on Etsy.

We still have a lot to do in this room. We will be painting the walls a light grey and hanging curtains on that window (we've already bought them, just waiting to install the rod after we've painted). I'm also looking for a small sideboard or cabinet to put on the back wall by the door to hold nicer dishes and things we don't have space for in our small kitchen. And we will buy two more dining chairs at some point. I'm sure we could find two more vintage chairs just like these if we were patient and looked hard enough. However, I like the idea of the chairs at either end of the table being different (though they'd have to work together with the existing furniture, obviously). We also might add a rug for a pop of color, but that would be later on.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of mismatched dining chairs? Also, I'm currently hunting for some colorful placemats, maybe something with a retro pattern. Any suggestions?