A room of surprises...

I love it when a room surprises you, like the dining room in our new house. The room has a slight nautical feel to it, completely unplanned by me, thanks to the old oars over the double window/built-in window seat. To complement the oars and the light fixture, I used an old nautical picture I had, placing it on top of the armoire. It works well with all the wood in the room, too. And since there was blue in the picture and a little blue in the dishes under the window, I tucked a blue lamp in the corner for better lighting. I finished off the look with splashes of yellow, as planned, setting the table with some fabulous embroidered yellow place mats and the cheery napkin rings my friend sent me. I originally planned to use some yellow cafe curtains in this room as well, but the owners put in new wooden plantation blinds and I quite like them, so I nixed the curtains.
I'm not thrilled with having to place my magazines in the bookshelf in this room, but they just wouldn't go anyplace else, so I'm living with it. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the room ~ it seems to suit the feel of the cottage. What do you think?

P.S. Again, you can click on each photo to enlarge.