Dining nook

This is where we eat our meals. I absolutely love our craigslist find of a Room and Board raw steel parson's table with a solid granite top - it has held up to all the kids and their parents have thrown at it. I also love the lighting, knock-off Eiffel chairs, the shades, the bulletin board full of photos of friends and family (but the trim does need to be painted throughout), and the view of the yard and pasture out the window.

What I still think it needs - some other furniture or cabinetry where the birch piece below the great M+E tandem print is. We are short on pantry space so I've thought of a big pantry cabinet there... hmmmm... I love the idea of keeping flowers on the table - I would have some there if the perennial border hadn't been swallowed up by 3 consecutive hailstorms.

A nice, colorful rug under the table might make the space a bit more homey but we're not dainty people - all kinds of crumbs and spills end up there. I'd make some claim about how we could do that after the kids get older but K and I are all grown up and we still have a tendency to spill... OK, I have a tendency to spill - I've detailed K's type-A-ness before.

Any ideas for small touches to make the room more homey? It looks a little like an IKEA catalog right now (though there isn't a speck of IKEA in there... darn you, corporate office decisions to deprive Coloradoans!).

Happy Saturday - I hope it's sunny where you are (sigh).