New Hallway Table and Fabric Hearts

There are no photos to see of pretty landscapes or wildlife in this post! Fair warning: this post is about decorating. So if your eyes glaze over at the very mention of the “decorating” word, then feel free to close this this one out and come back in a couple of days.

We finally did something this week that we have talked about for a quite a while. We went furniture shopping! It’s not an activity that we really enjoy, but it needed to be done. After downsizing and selling a lot of furniture a few short years ago, we don’t need more furniture. However, a few replacements have been on our wish list for some time.

The first order of business was finding a new hallway table. Our current cottage has a very small entry hallway, so the designated spot for a table is limited in size. When we moved, we discovered that the only piece of furniture in our inventory that would fit was a diminutive colonial chest. We got the chest 20 years ago and used it as an end table at our former cottage. It is a lovely piece, but I’ve grown tired of it and it doesn’t quite go with the modern craftsman style of our new home.

I took a few before/after hand-held snapshots for you, and I managed to drive myself bonkers in Photoshop editing by trying to correct weird wide-angle perspectives. Interior photography is clearly not my thing, LOL.

Here’s a front view of the little colonial chest with a glance down the hallway toward the garage, laundry room, and master bedroom area. (Note the fabric hearts resting in the glass bowl. More about those later.)

So now that you’ve been introduced to the “before” setting, here’s the “after” look with our new Mission-style table/bookcase. It fits perfectly and it’s what we’ve had in mind for the space. I went on a scavenger hunt throughout the cottage, selecting accessories from other bookcases. (You can also catch a glimpse in this photo of our dining room.)

And here’s the front view of the table/bookcase, showing the hallway again, along with another peek into the dining room. I disguised the existence of the light cord with the strategic placement of books.

On our shopping trip, we also found a replacement dining room table and chairs. A different set has been on our wish list for quite a while, long before our move two years ago.  The new set will also feature a Mission style and be made by an Amish furniture factory in Ohio. It’s on order and should be delivered sometime in March!

And I didn’t forget about sharing more information about my little fabric hearts! Here is a close-up of the decorated bowl. I sketched out my own heart templates. The base fabric is plain muslin and the top fabrics are two different colors of wool felt, stitched on with size 12 perle cotton thread.

You’re welcome to borrow this idea and stitch some up for yourself!