The Breakfast Nook (A Before and After Story)

Hi there and happy Friday!  I don't know about you but I'm ready for another weekend already.  Things have been busy around here and summer is in full swing.  Thanks for all of the postive feedback from my Living Room  Before and After.  I thought since you got to see the picture of the area that we now call the Breakfast Nook in the Before Picture, it's only fair to show it to you after.  When we first looked at this house 6 years ago, it was empty so I don't know what this space was used for originally.  A neighbor of mine said that at one time they used it as an office.  To me, it was screaming for a built in booth and table.  This is just off the Living Room and Kitchen so it's the perfect place for the kids to do homework and for all of us to talk when I'm in the kitchen.  This is a rather large space so it was going to be something we had to build.  We decided that if we were going to build seating all around, we should include storage underneath.  We don't store anything in there really but we did decide that we could put all of our TV equipment in there and wire it up to the TV.   The end result is a large space for casual eating and a storage solution for the entertainment center.  Ready to see it?  Let me show you the before first...

Deja Vu right?   I am happy to report that the dog bed has been relocated to a more appropriate place.  Now, let's see the after ......

 

Here it is. This seating area accomodates up to 12 people (if you pull up some chairs ) and we think it's the best seat in the house. The windows overlook the backyard. This shot was taken in the morning and some below were taken in the late afternoon. There is always pretty light in this space. Here's some more pictures.

The brick is actually the fireplace.  It's just to the left.  I like the rustic element of the brick so I elected to not put anything on the wall.  The table base we bought at Sears of all places. We were able to purchase it without the top (the people at Sears thought we were crazy). The table top and all of the benches were built by my HH (Handy Husband).  The chandelier is vintage from Buenos Aires. I bought it at the Urban Market in Houston.

 

 

 I don't know if you can see it clearly but there are vintage metal heater grates on the front of the benches. These are framed in to make little doors that pull open. The cable box, DVD player and receiver are all hooked up in there.   

 

 

The centerpiece on this table is an old grocery scale with some of my favorite candle holders on it.  The scale is perfectly distressed and really heavy and I like it displayed this way. 

 

This is a different angle if you're sitting at the table looking into the kitchen ( I'll show more on that later....).  This has been one of the best things that we've added to this house and it's our "central hub".  What do you think?  Where do you and your family gather the most in your house?