Show us your life: the dining room

As part of the "Show Us Your Life" series at Kelly's Korner, today I'll give you a glimpse into my dining room.

I'm so grateful to have a dining room. Many people don't like the idea of a dining room that doesn't get used very often, and I agree that it can seem like a waste of space. But it does my soul good to have a room that stays peaceful and serene. Since we don't use the dining table for eating very often, it doesn't get dirty. It's always clean, always ready if you need to sit down and look at important papers, or enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend, or just be in a place of quiet. Our kitchen table is often cluttered with all the stuff of everyday life, but the dining room escapes most of the mess. And here's a look, going all the way around the room:

The dining room opens onto the foyer at one end, the living room at the side, and the kitchen at the other end. The fourth wall of the room is composed mostly of windows that look out onto the front porch. So even though we don't use the room that much, we're in and out of it a lot, and I've tried to decorate it in a way that flows well with the rooms adjacent to it. I've had a red dining room for years, simply changing the shade of red over the years. The red in this room is a very brownish hue by Sherwin-Williams. It's called "Roycroft Copper Red." I know that red dining rooms are no longer the "in" thing, but I still like the drama of the dark walls.

A few details:

I love the lighted cabinets built in to one end of the room . . .

. . . especially at night:

One of my souvenirs from our anniversary trip this summer was this bell pull from Versailles. I love the way it fills the little sliver of wall between the windows:

The Queen Anne furniture in the room was my mother's, including this tea table:

I found the tea chests underneath the table at TJMaxx. That's a silver tea tray on the table, but I use it to display crystal decanters.

Queen Anne furniture is not what I would have chosen for myself, but I love that this furniture belonged to my mother. And my favorite thing in the room is this deacon's bench that came from my grandmother's church:

If you look closely, you can see our beagle snuggled under the bench. For some reason, the space under the dining room table is one of our dogs' favorite hangouts. Maybe they feel safe and secure in the clean dining room. Or maybe they just like the rug. I chose this rug specifically because it doesn't show dog hair!

Thanks for taking this little tour with me. Check out all the beautiful dining rooms at Kelly's Korner!