new curtains and chairs the dining room

In January, I got new curtains and chairs for the dining room.

I swapped out the Ikea Janette curtains for the Ikea Stockholm Blad curtains.  I wanted the Blad curtains originally, but then was seduced by the much cheaper Janettes....and after three days I wished I had just gotten what I really wanted instead of saving money.  Womp womp, sad trombone.

Although the Janettes were a very Palm Beach-ish, vibrant curtain--they didn't play very well with the living room curtains. The Blads flow much better with the adjacent spaces.

While I love the Blad curtains, you might have noticed in the above pictures that they are floodwaters.  I sent them out to the dry cleaner to be hemmed instead of doing it myself.  

I am less than thrilled with the (expensive but totally time-saving, haha!) results.

I also got rid of the bamboo chairs.  As pretty are they were, they were a dangerous menace and were in need of repair.  I sold them on craigslist and replaced them with Industry West's Marais A side chair in gunmetal.

The metal chairs are easy to clean, wipeable, stackable, and very light.  Unfortunately, they also chip and scratch easily. Unlike the Palm Beach chairs, however, the seat is firmly attached to the frame, not dumping anyone on the floor, and thus we will keep them.  (It was also prohibitively expensive to return ship them back to Industry West, so...keeping them.)

To be honest, I am so-so on these chairs.  I love them from a functional standpont--they are so easy to move and light and not stained, unlike the heavy upholstered bamboo chairs.  I do kind of wish I had gotten them in white, or a lighter color.  I went with the gunmetal over the galvanized steel, because I thought the galvanized steel would look too country-ish, and I was afraid the white would chip.  I don't dislike them, but I do wish they were a lighter color that would contrast more with the dining table.  I also wish they didn't chip so easily.  (Anytime someone with jeans with rivet pockets sits on them, scratches result.)

Et voila.