The Elephant in the Dining Room

Elephant in the room meaning: there is nothing in the room. And this needs to be fixed. 

 

Here's the background. We have a formal dining room but no formal dining room furniture. The time has, frankly, come and gone for us to remedy this situation. We're hosting my family for Thanksgiving (which isn't a big deal because you helped me solve the dining room table dilemma and have that awesome PB dining table in the kitchen) and my family plus Mr. B's family for Christmas. That means the little kitchen table will not cut it for 8 people. Time is ticking before Baby B arrives so I want to get this situation in order as soon as possible.

 

Here's the dining room as of three seconds ago when I just took these pictures. (My favorite time of day is the afternoon when light streams in those windows. So pretty. But I digress.)

 

 

It's a fairly large room and can certainly fit a table for 8 (with leaf when needed) and a china cabinet and/or buffet sideboard.

I've gone absolutely bonkers around the block on what to do in here. Do I bite the bullet and buy a formal dining room set? On the one hand, I like the idea of the wood all matching and being a set, but anything too formal wouldn't really fit "us". And, those bad boys can get pretty pricey pretty quick. Especially when you figure you use it, um, at most, a handful of times a year.

Or, do I go mixey-matchy and find each piece separately? This means it would probably be more "us" and I could certainly find some bargains here and there. However, I don't really have the time and / or patience these days to be chasing a potentially non-existent dining room vision and Christmas is just around the corner.

I'm never one to rush in to a purchase so this timeline makes me feel a little uneasy. Do I just throw a cardtable in there and say "at least we're not eating on the floor!" and wait until I've found something I absolutely love? Or do I find something I can live with, which will seriously relieve my stresses about the holidays, but risk potentially regretting a hasty purchase in years to come?

I think this is why people hire interior designers. To solve these problems. And I'm sure this is why people don't try to decorate their house overnight - especially when pregnant.

And to quote my friend Kaysie, this is absolutely a First World Decor Conundrum. Sorry, I'm not sorry.