My youngest is out of school and into the real world of work and building her career. With that, she moved into a real apartment (not student housing) and finally had a space that would be perfect for a dining room.

I happened to have an extra table on hand in the garage…something common when buying chairs from people who don’t want to separate the set of chairs from the table. I also had a small settee on hand too, which she gladly wanted along with some chairs.

The chairs were the classic French style with fluted legs. This set of 3 chairs was probably from the 80s. I changed them using Jolie Paint in Antique White with a clear finishing wax added on top.

The settee already had this great fabric and she really loved it. It’s called Lotus Summer by Clarke & Clarke.  It went along with the cottagecore design vibe she wanted to create in her new space.

We looked at various checked fabrics to bring the cottagecore look to the settee, and she considered yellow (I would have picked pink) but finally settled on black check from Schumacher.

What I love about this Lotus Summer fabric are the colorful flowers and especially the ladybug. But there is a fly on this fabric too, and I did everything to avoid using it on the chairs because of personal preference, (Who likes a fly?).

Even the settee looked very cottage-y once the black and white check was applied. It’s a strong fabric, so I chose to apply the check welt cord to complement the seat and put the floral welt on the top.

I used some acrylic paints from Hippie Crafter to embellish the medallion in different colors on each side of the chairs. Then, I distressed it and put a clear coat on top to go along with our cottagecore vibe.

Each chair had a different scene on the front and the back. I plan that on purpose to give each one a unique look, even if it means just moving the fabric around just a little bit. (notice no fly!)

Then, the question was what to paint the table. I pushed for green because green paint is always a good idea on furniture. I used Amy Howard One Step Paint in the color Easy Street and sealed with a clear coat. It was perfect with the fabric.

And finally, it was time to deliver and put it all together in her space.

A round pedestal table works best with a settee so you can squeeze in and out from the seat. While chairs are easy to scoot in and out from a table, a settee is not designed to do that. It should stay in place, and we have ours against the wall.

I prefer a larger settee to give me more room between the arms and the table, but these skinny girls won’t have any issue with that.

They still need to add some art to the wall to complete the space, but it turned out super cute.

Friends have already stopped by and love sitting there! I’m lobbying for hanging a non-working vintage chandelier over the space…we’ll see if I get my way!