details of the giant hanging window in our entry/dining room

It’s one of the most unique {and coolest, if you ask me} things in our house: this oversize salvaged window hanging from a barn door track that separates the entry from the dining room.

I’ve never really blogged about it. What?! Sorry for the oversight.

Adding the window to the opening between the rooms accomplished exactly what we wanted … it created a definition of spaces, but also keeps things bright and open. Plus it adds personality to our ordinary home. That’s our favorite part.

From the front door, you can still see through into the dining room and beyond.

We found the perfect window at our favorite local salvage yard {Second Use – for you local Seattle-ites} for about $80.

I’m actually making that up. I have no idea how much it was. It was four years ago, for heaven’s sake! But I’m sure it wasn’t more than $100.

Then Ryan had the brilliant idea to hang the window from a barn door track.

It is functional – we can move it if we want the area open – but we’ve actually never done that.

Mostly it’s on a barn door track because they look cool.

Ryan bought the track at a local feed/farming store. That’s one of the benefits of living in the country – we have local feed/farming stores. No Whole Foods or Anthropologies or a decent place to grab a bite to eat, but hey, it’s the country. The track and it’s components were about $60 total. Again, total guesstimate.

If you try this in your home, please be advised that it is probably really dangerous to have a gigantic single-paned antique window hanging in the middle of two rooms. I’m not sure why, but our kids have never taken much interest in it. So just be cautious if you have rambunctious or curious little ones.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from decorating this house, it is that sometimes being unconventional with materials/ideas/execution is the best way to really make your home yours. It may not be the look for everyone, but let your home be a creative experiment for you.

We get so nervous about putting holes in our walls {there are a lot in that L wall!} or making decisions based on resale value {tearing out upper cabinets in our perfectly fine kitchen? Not very resale-friendly} and that just stifles creativity. I’m not advocating ruining your living space and obviously renters have some restrictions.  But maybe we could do a better job of truly living where we live, taking our homes a little less seriously, tackling one project that we’ve always wanted to do. And, most of all, letting our homes reflect our personalities rather than the perfectly staged model home.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this … do you consider your home your canvas or is that too risky?

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