Chalkboard napkin rings!

How cool is this! Chalkboard napkin rings .....placesetting name tag and napkin ring in one! I found these online at MoMa Store (click on the name) They are pricey at $65.00 for a set of four! But why not make some yourself. Paint the chalkboard paint on some wooden napkin rings that you already own and Voila! You are good to go.

Summertime Dining outdoors

These are some photos I got from Sur La Table and Pottery Barn. I love the dining table at the bottom with all the glass candle holders hanging overhead. I think I will do this next month and have it be like fireflies are dancing above our heads while eating outside.

Modern Country Dining Rooms

OOOH I LOVE THIS DINING ROOM SO MUCH. I TORE OUT THIS PICTURE FROM A MAGAZINE YEARS AGO! IT IS TIMELESS...CHIC, MODERN AND YET COUNTRY ALL AT THE SAME TIME. OF COURSE THE GORGEOUS PURPLE HYDRANGEA JUST POP OFF THE TABLE AGAINST THE BLACK CHAIRS AND BLACK CHANDELIER.
DINING ROOMS! I love them. They are the place where the family gathers for those special meals when the "nice" dishes come out of the closet. It is also the place where we bring our guests to make them feel special. I love putting fresh flowers on the table,I like to use chargers with a nice dinner plate and sometimes a salad plate or soup bowl. A freshly laundered pressed napkin (if I have the time to iron them) with a some sort of special touch...a ribbon, a flower or just a fun napkin ring.

In this room the big bold green buffalo check on the chairs makes me think of dining in the garden especially when you look up and see that amazing chandelier. How fun to put a bench against the wall to use it like a sideboard with plants and baskets on it. How about the artwork? I kind of like it. It is bold and yet fun at the same time.

How about this green door and chairs with a simple farm table. The chandelier is what really makes this room pop..dont' you think? Don't we ALL appreciate attention to detail when we dine out at a nice restaurant? Well who are the most important people in our life?.....our own family. So why not make time to make them feel special during the week....for no reason at all. I hope some of these photos that I have collected through the years from magazines will inspire you to do something out of the ordinary for your family this week.

I think this room (to the right)looks so French...the soft green colors of the peeled paint table and cupboard. They used my favorite kind of slip cover a little skirt (it looks so feminine and flirty).

I love the white sideboard table with the urns and large glass bowls holding silver balls. Look how they changed up the ratan chairs by adding a white cloth over each chair back. And Hello...look at the chandelier made to look like a nest using grapevines and then adding pearls! How funky is that!

Please let us know if any of these photos inspires anyone of you to do something out of the ordinary in your dining room by leaving us a comment or two.