Making it Lovely

Tag: Dining Room

  • The Dining Room with Painted White Trim

    The Dining Room with Painted White Trim

    I know, I’ve taken far too long to show you the ‘after’ photos. The problem is that I don’t really see the dining room as a completely finished room yet! It does look a million times brighter with its painted white trim though.

    Here’s why I decided to paint the wood trim, and here’s what the room looked like before. Still to do:

    • Paint the wall above the picture rail and the ceiling. Probably the same color as the background of the wallpaper.
    • Paint the doors.
    • Paint the trim in my office and in the living room.
    • Find new window treatments. Maybe simple white shades?
    • Either get new chairs or reupholster the ones we have. The fabric isn’t very practical for our expanding family.
    • Remember to flip the handles on the buffet back the right way before taking pictures next time. Eleanor likes to flip them all up, and I hadn’t noticed until I was editing the photos!

    Before and after shots:
    Wallpapered Dining Room

  • MiY 6c: Cheap, Quirky, & Colorful Dining Room

    MiY 6c: Cheap, Quirky, & Colorful Dining Room

    Well, we’ve swung over to the other side of the pendulum.

    The Napa dining table looked right at home in Anne’s modern country dining room, and it still looked great when her taste went more traditional. Now Anne has passed it on to her little sister Lia, who doesn’t have much money but isn’t short on colorful quirk.

    The dresser is fantastic, no? To be honest though, Lia is on a super tight budget (she’s just out of college), so she found a similarly clean-lined dresser on Craigslist and painted it herself. She also painted the chairs from her sister, and put a bright aqua blue on the walls. Luckily the floors in her apartment are wood and in good shape, because she doesn’t have the money for a big rug right now. A paper lantern above the table has a ton of impact for just a few bucks, and a party banner and stick-on wall flowers fill the wall space inexpensively. Crazy patterned curtains add a whole lot of fun to the room, and colorful glasses and dinnerware play supporting roles.

    We’ll check in on Lia again soon, and see how her dining room is progressing. She’s about to land a decent job, so she’ll have a little bit of money to add some new goodies to her apartment.

  • MiY 6b: A More Traditional Dining Room

    MiY 6b: A More Traditional Dining Room

    We first saw the Napa Dining Table in Anne’s Modern Country Dining Room. Her taste has changed a little since then though, and she’s now leaning toward a traditional look.

    The rug, curtains, and linen table runner have remained, though the wall color is richer. She has also kept the two matching pendants above the table, and classic upholstered chairs elevate the room and make it a little more formal. She likes to set a monochromatic table in shades of cream and ivory with her new dinnerware and monogrammed napkins, and assorted glass candlesticks add some sparkle without being as formal as crystal. And Anne’s taste may have grown more sophisticated, but that doesn’t mean she can’t add a little fun with the oversized fork and spoon art.

    What did you think of her dining room? It’s not my taste (you know me, I like lots of color and pattern), but I still think it’s very pretty. We’ll see the table go next to Anne’s sister Lia, who has always had a quirkier sense of style.

  • MiY 6a: Modern Country Dining Room

    MiY 6a: Modern Country Dining Room

    As I mentioned, in this edition of Making it Yours (MIY), we’re starting out in Anne’s dining room before she hands the Napa dining table down to her sister Lia. Anne loves neutrals, she loves classic design elements, and her she loves modern country style.

    The creamy walls and curtains form a soft backdrop that contrasts with the rustic elements like the stoneware and the Tuscan urns. The table has a lovely but understated linen table runner to add a little texture, and two matching pendants hang above. The patterned rug is a modern take on a classic Persian style, and the chairs are a sort of a cool café style. The giclee print adds another modern note, but doesn’t draw too much attention to itself or seem out of place.

    We’ll see one more look from Anne as her style heads toward a more classically traditional look, and then her sister Lia will take it in a totally different direction.

  • Making it Yours 6: Napa Dining Table

    Making it Yours 6: Napa Dining Table

    The sixth edition of Making it Yours (MIY) will feature the Napa Dining Table from Cost Plus. It’s an affordable solid-wood table that looks much more expensive than it is.

    We’ll first see the table in Anne’s home. Anne like neutrals and her taste leans toward country and traditional; very different from her quirky, bohemian sister Lia who will be inheriting the table next. I’ve enjoyed designing five looks around these two ladies, all centering on the same piece of furniture! I’ll be sharing the first look with you shortly: Anne’s Modern Country Dining Room.

  • Arranging a Collection

    Arranging a Collection

    I’ve shown you how I’ve rearranged my dining room hutch full of white ceramics before, but I hadn’t ever shown my process. So here’s how I do it… I start with the big items first. You can’t shoehorn them in at the end anyway, and if you start with a pleasing arrangement the rest will fall into place.

    Obviously I have such a hodgepodge of items that a symmetrical layout isn’t an option for me (though I do love symmetry). I work around that by making sure that the overall layout is visually balanced. For example, see that open lattice-work square in the bottom left? That gets balanced out by the votive holders on the right middle shelf and the scallops of the vintage cake stand on the top left.

    I add all the little bits and bobbins that I love at the end. Admittedly they can make the arrangement a little cluttered, so I do edit them down some. Not all of my pieces made it back in, but I tend to rearrange things often so they’ll be back next time.

    I love having the built-in hutch to display everything. I wasn’t so sure about it when we moved in, but I’ve since embraced it. I’m still undecided about the beadboard (paint it or leave it natural?), but I’m going to live with it for a while before I choose. It ties in the wood floors and our wood dining set, and the contrast is nice with all of the white. I’ve pinned fabric to the back many times before, so that’s always an option as well. Besides, closing the doors gives the whole thing a bit more polish. Doesn’t everything always look better behind glass?