Steal This Look: The Ultimate Thrifted Dining Room - Remodelista
Artist and blogger Abbey Hendrickson of Aesthetic Outburst has two young kids, a full-time job (as executive director of the Tioga Arts Council in Upstate New York), and countless home improvement projects in motion. Room photographs by Abbey Hendrickson. The dining room is the Hendrickson family’s daily gathering spot for meals and for art projects. Instead of tableware the sideboard shelves are packed with art books, and its cupboards hold paper, paints, and craft supplies. The window seat is topped with a cushion that Abbey stitched herself and then stuffed with three pillow inserts. The occasional table was dragged out of the family’s barn and resuscitated with Rustoleum spray-paint in Charleston Green. A circle of pressed pennies from arcade machines decorate the wall. Above L and R: The pennies are applied with a glue gun (and can be easily removed). The Tom Dixon Bronze Copper Shade Pendant light is $735 from Lumens. The adjustable-height child’s chair at the head of the table is a Geuther Family High Chair. The same model is hard to come by these days in the US, but it’s available on Amazon UK for £123.78 (US$200). Two-toned Heywoodite school chairs made by Heywood Wakefield in the 1960 are used as indestructible (and stackable) dining chairs. An heirloom piece to consider: the Penn Table by Sawkille Co. of Rhinebeck, NY. Made of black walnut, it has a brass seam running between the two boards that form the top, and is also available in bleached maple; inquire about pricing. For DIYers, 29-inch-long Mixed Maple Classic Wood Table Legs are $14.48 each at Lowe’s. Serena & Lily’s Zig Cotton Dhurrie from India is $895 for the 8-by-10-foot size. A Linen Pillow with Piping, in River Blue (shown), Collard Green, and Vermillon Red, is on sale for $19.50, marked down from $38, at Canvas Home. For making your own pillows: Gingham Cotton Print fabric is $4.99 per yard at Jo-Ann Fabric. For bench padding, LA’s Hedge House offers Sur La Mer Mini Throwbeds in linen with down and fiber inserts; $175 each. Abbey corrals kids’ books in an old wood crate found at a local antiques store. For the pampered canine: German company Cloud 7’s Sleepy Bed Stone Grey of organic cotton with leather handles is $220 from Petswag. Pressed pennies, also known as elongates, are sold by the lot on eBay and Etsy. Painting and staining in progress–Abbey and Phil do all of their own remodeling. The dining room as it was. Read Michelle’s theory in Domestic Dispatches: The Death of the Dining Room.