NAUTICAL DINING NOOK

This room was a blank slate with a ton of potential. After we renovated our kitchen, it just sat there...staring at us....empty. Due to its location, directly adjoining the kitchen, it clearly needed to serve some sort of dining space function. However, I just couldn't envision a simple dining table and chairs. Instead, I pictured a nautical nook with custom built--in benches and a teak and holly table. Fortunately, my husband, Dave, has years of experience maintaining boats and doing small renovations in our previous two homes. Building our own dining table and bench seating had become a tradition for us; this would be our third one. But this project was definitely bigger and more challenging than the rest. It would be the piece de resistance. There were definitely a few "oh crap" moments along the way, but in the end...it turned out even better than the picture in my head.

Some project details. We used shiplap made from high-end plywood, ripped to our specific width, in order to avoid having to remove the window trim. There was a lot of time spent on filling nail holes and seams. We completely underestimated the amount of line needed to wrap the cable spool and had to buy more...twice. The bench cushions were a splurge. We knew that we wanted performance fabric, we have two kids, but we couldn't find exactly what we wanted in Sunbrella, so we went with Perennials. It was definitely more expensive, but it's gorgeous and i don't regret our decision for a minute! The custom pendants are made by Barn Light Electric. And then there's the teak and holly table. It's the piece de resistance within the piece de resistance. I'm not sure that's a thing but it makes sense in my head. It was a labor of love but without a doubt, my favorite part of the space. Last but not least, the boat hook came from my mother-in-law's old barn in Bristol which was an absolute gold mine for authentic nautical decor.