Planning a Moth-Inspired Dining Room

Our dining room sconces are in, and the additional light is room-changing. It only took me seven years to finally add the fixtures I always felt should be there!

The room is pretty, but she is plain. I’ve liked that because I could add any tablecloth, set the table and decorate for parties in any color, and it would work. But ho hum. A little boring day-to-day.

I was looking at some of my favorite bugs (because that is the kind of thing I like to do) and inspiration struck. Apantesis incorrupta shall be my muse! For something! For… the dining room? Yes! The garden tiger moth (Arctic caja) has similar markings with more vivid coloration and so is also serving as inspiration.

What to do first? Paint the ceiling orangey-red of course.

Want to see where this is going? I have a plan. Sort of.

The red ceiling: yes. Walls: a deeper, cooler pink than the subtle beige/pink we have now. The wood stays unpainted, the furniture all remains unchanged. Some art and a new wallpaper backing in the hutch? A lamp for the gateleg table on the other side of the room? I’m letting the room come together as I go.

The floor is starting to show some wear and could benefit from being covered. That rug above is indoor/outdoor and affordable, both good things for a rug in the dining room, but I am still looking. It’s a little on-the-nose inspired by the wings. The entry, dining room, and double parlor are all fairly open to one another and I’m always thinking about how they work as a whole, so I would love something old that works with my entryway runner. I did have a hand-me-down rug that I loved and had hoped would work, but the scale was all wrong.

The dining room and entry are nearly the same color, with the library coming in a paler shade of pink. When I paint the dining room walls, I may end up wanting to repaint the entry at some point too, being careful to avoid anything that in combination makes the first floor look like Easter eggs. A muddy green or toned yellow could be right — something close to the value of the woodwork to lessen the contrast from room to room.

I came across this paint palette from Atelier Ellis the other day. The colors align perfectly with what I’m going for (just add that red from the rose petals) and my home’s color palette as a whole, but I was also happy to see more moth inspiration! I’m not the only one looking to the moth side of lepidopterans.

---

Apantesis incorrupta photo copyright © 2017 Matthew Priebe; BugGuide