Oct 8, 2017

Dining at our Tiny Cabin

Have you noticed that our tiny cabin in the woods has no dining room or breakfast nook or any rooms at all expressly designed for eating meals? Have you ever wondered where on earth we eat our meals here? When I planned the furniture layout for our cabin, I wondered the exact same thing!

Wall one
Our cabin has a kitchen (with no room for eating) and one bedroom and one bathroom (sure not eating there) and an eleven foot square living room.
  
Wall two

Wall three

Wall four
Hard to believe we fit all this furniture into an 11' x 11' room, isn't it?



Let's go back here to wall one. Aha! An unfolded drop leaf table, a wicker chair and a pulled-up ottoman comes to our dining room dilemma rescue! Perfect for cozy romantic dinners for my husband and me.


This is the same table in our Boise cottage.
My regular readers may remember how I refinished and painted this table for our Boise dining room back in 2014. You can read about that here. We fit six diners around this fifty-four inch wide table comfortably for years, so I knew it would work for us at our cabin, too. Usually, we leave it against the wall here at the cabin and unfold just one side for my husband and me. For family occasions we can also pull it into the center of the living room, open both sides, and fit our six chairs from the patio around it. Presto change-o, from tiny cabin living room to tiny cabin dining room! 



My mother and father bought this maple drop leaf table and six heavy matching maple captain's armchairs for their kitchen shortly after they were married in the forties. I inherited the set in 1984, and had it shipped to us in Austin, Texas where we were living at that time. It made the trip back to California with us and then made the trip out to Idaho when we came here in 1988. When I switched to a rectangular table that fit better in our North End Boise cottage, my daughter found a place for it in her farmhouse entryway. And finally, when we bought our McCall cabin and I was wondering where on earth we'd eat our meals here, I remembered my mother's drop leaf table. 



We've furnished our little cabin mostly from what we already had, along with some thrift store finds. I found a set of these nice heavy blue and white plates at The Idaho Youth Ranch, my favorite thrift store in Boise. (No judging us for all the yummy carbs on this plate, please - it's cabin food!)



We use drinking glasses my daughter designed and my brother in-law had made for gifts for everyone for our family reunion eight years ago in Red Lodge, Montana.



One of my new splurges for the cabin was this cute cabin themed flatware. It was very affordable and I just couldn't resist it. (Note: unfortunately, the store doesn't carry this pattern any longer and the manufacturer's name isn't stamped on the back.) 

So now, just in case you wondered, you know everything there is to know about how we dine at our tiny cabin in the woods. If you need a solution to your tiny space dining dilemma, give a thought to trying your own drop leaf table!

Thanks so much for stopping by today - I hope you have a wonderful week!


10 comments:

  1. I love the table and the history behind it.

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  2. What a brilliant idea, Laurel! This cabin is just perfect. I love everything about it!

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  3. Looks like a great solution! Love your little corner dining space and love that silverware too.

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  4. I love how you thought about maximizing every nook and cranny of your cottage Laurel! Perfect Dining spot!

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  5. I love the story and your table. It looks so wonderful in your cozy cabin and the food looks pretty good.

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  6. Ahhh, very smart! My grandparents had a small drop leaf table in their kitchen where it normally was folded down except for the one side. I always loved it. So sweet you get to use your mom's table again! And hey! I didn't know you lived in Austin. That's where I'm from!

    :)
    Cecilia

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  7. The whole cabin feels so homey! You have done a wonderful job on decorating it!!

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  8. Laurel, I am just blown away at how far you've come in making your cabin cozy and inviting. What a change from when you first purchased it. Your vision for this sweet place is remarkable. Great color scheme and use of space. Your furnishings are perfect. I love it all! Hugs.

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  9. Laurel, where there's a will, there's a way! :) The table works perfectly. Love that fun silverware and I love your entire cabin!
    hugs,
    Jann

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  10. Love your cabin. So cozy. Cool flatware!

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