Decorate A Dining Room Buffet, step by step

Yes, that is an SNL reference. But before I go any further I have to say thanks and I enjoy you to you folks. Your kind words from this morning have literally lifted me up on a day that has been soggy and sad. You folks rock. Hard.

Now onto a quite essential post that many of you have requested. Photos of what I put on our new craigslist buffet. I tried to pick a variety of items that are functional and special to us (hence the title of this post). So this is what the entryway looks like now:

And simply for lively, this is what it looked like when we laid eyes on our house for the first time back in late 2010:

Is not it funny to see the same corner of a room decorated by two distinct people? I enjoy it. I wish I could poke my head into every house in the neighborhood, simply to see what they have going on (which is why whenever anyone asks me what superhero power I wish I had, invisibility is consistently my answer – for no other reason than all the house snooping I’d get to do).

On the subject of what I put on that buffet, figuring out what to put on top of any new (to us) furniture is one of my go-to pastimes. So I relished the thirty minutes during Clara’s nap time that I spent playing with distinct items that we already had around. Which included:

• glass lamps that used to live in our first house’s living room and then our bedroom until we upgraded to some artichoke-y ones (these were from Target from our wedding registry, so they’ve been with us for five strong years)
• a big yellow urn that used to live in the corner of the kitchen (from HomeGoods a few months back)
• a stack of decorating books from my stash under the built-ins in the dining room (and my hallway ottomans)
• a scalloped bowl from the kitchen that I ended up using for something sentimental (more on that in a sec)
• a white resin pineapple (from HomeGoods about a year ago)
• a faux red coral (from Kohls about six months ago)
• a thrift store leaf dish (for spare change) that I got for 50 cents

My “buffet decorating” process was simply trial and error. Stepping back. Looking at it all. Shimmying something over. It was sort of like picking the right outfit… for my furniture. Totally normal, right? I simply hoped to mix equal parts meaning, function, and beauty. Because I truly think that is the trifecta. People say form and function are two essential things, but I will up the ante and toss “meaning” in there too. Because something that is useful, fairly, and meaningful is especially excellent, right? Anyway, here is where I ended up for now (you know I like to swap things around all the time – plus I’d enjoy to decorate the top of this buffet for holidays).

Here is a breakdown of all of the items in those three categories:

Functional:

• two lamps to provide light in a room with zero point zero zero (another SNL reference for ya) overhead lights – so they are quite necessary!
• a dish for loose change, buttons, and other small items that tend to collect on various surfaces (when you know small clutter is bound to happen, a little tray, dish, or basket to deal with it when it pops up makes things easier)
• the yellow urn, which offers concealed storage that is straightforward to access (we have an extra dog leash and some other Burger-phenalia hiding in there)

Meaningful:

• a pineapple near the door, which is said to be a symbol that says “welcome to our home”
• a change dish that I put 43 cents (our lucky number) into (it will not consistently stay that way, but it made me smile to “hide” that number up there)
• vacation postcards that we have sent to ourselves, full of memories from the last seven years spent together (more on that tradition here)

Simply Plain Fairly:

• a stack of cute hardcover books to add color and height (and inspiration whenever I crack them open)
• a bright red piece of faux coral for some fresh color (adding modern pops/pieces to an older item of furniture is one of my go-to ways to integrate it into a room so it does not feel theme-y or stodgy)

My go-to thing is certainly the scalloped serving bowl (purloined from a cabinet in the kitchen) that I shoved all of our vacation postcards into. I simply enjoy that they are out to remind me of all of our adventures and I can read through them and switch up the one in the front whenever the mood strikes. Right now one from Hawaii gets top billing, simply because I am not sure I have ever seen anything prettier…

Oh and you might wonder why that pop of yellow in the urn is up there being all sunny and glad, but I thought these pictures would best explain it.

Does not it look sweet with our yellow front door?

And for anyone wondering where Clara is when we are shooting things for the ol’ journal, she’s typically right in the middle of everything. Doing something hilarious. Like kneeling at the front door and waving at the school bus as it drives by. Told you. Hilarious, right? No idea why she thought waving and kneeling should go hand in hand.

So there it is. Our new (in fact quite old) buffet with some meaningful, functional, and simply plain fairly stuff on it. Nothing is being stored in it yet, but you know I cannot wait to fill it with stuff (I am thinking it is a good spot for more formal dining stuff like cloth napkins, some runners, a few large vases, and some other serving stuff). Oh and that big blank wall above it? Certainly needs a little somethin’ somethin’. You know we will keep you posted…

Psst- We announced this week’s big giveaway winner. Click here to see if it is you.