I Hate My Dining Room
collinel75
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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Dining Room Light - I used to hate it, now not sure!
Comments (9)You are all right! The light has to go. pbrisjar - "one straight bar thing" That's it! That is what is wrong with this light, keeps it from being "okay". We are frugal people, we don't "change things out". So I live with what I've got until I can replace it with something I love that I will have forever. I don't buy much new, I prefer things with a history. Well, I found 2 great old lights for my kitchen on ebay, and will start my search there. We spent a fortune (to us) on the kitchen. But you know when you spruce an area up, the adjoining rooms look shabby?? Maybe I'm lucky that our house is rather small! Thanks...See MoreI hate my dining room! Would this curtain fabric work?
Comments (32)I love the drapes you have! I think the problem is the wall color. The soft gold in your great room would work well with both your drapes and the fireplace tile. Or maybe a warm, soft terra rosa, glazed or color-washed? But personally I like the gold. Ivory or a paler version of the gold would also work. Do some big sample boards - just some old cardboard will do - but at least 2'x4' or 3'x3'. Your windows read very high-set - that stands out as not being the usual placement - you can experiment with the height the drapes are mounted and see if a different proportion pleases you better - maybe a little higher, even almost to the ceiling. The drapes are puddling, and maybe they have a hem that could be let out - they could go higher. Or sew on a contrasting band of terracotta on the bottom. (or whatever color the inner curtains are - hard to tell in pictures sometimes.) The bit of wall between the window and the crown molding is so narrow that it might be better not to treat it as the wall but as panelling, like over the mantel. All you would have to do is frame it with short vertical pieces of flat molding over the window casing verticals, just glue it on. Paint the molding to match your trim and either do the recesses the same or to match your over-mantel recesses. A bigger rug out to six inches of the walls. Something easy to clean and with a pattern - you have children eating there. My youngest is nine, we still have spills. Low pile, no loops, not fuzzy. Something to occupy the walls will make the room feel cozier - a long window seat with a bench cushion and pillows, and cabinets underneath. Do you ever have many people to a sit-down dinner - an L-shaped banquette would give you lots of seating. Kids could play there, do their homework, look out the window, keep you company as you worked in the kitchen - put away homework and toys in the cabinets - presto clean. Also your linens and servingware not used every day. Accessories with more weight and color, more dimensionality than the plates on the wall and the pictures and things over the hearth. It really is a good dining room, good bones, good molding, good view, good fireplace, good flooring, spacious. It won't be hard to love. The fireplace is your starting point because you can't change the tiles. Then either wall color, rug, or rug, wall color, working with the tiles. THEN drapes and upholstery. Then accessories. Paint is your cheapest element. Even if you hire someone to paint, you can buy the cans and do big sample boards yourself or directly on the wall. You don't like the color? Worst that happens is you're out the cost of the sample can. So it's worth experimenting, because it will set the mood of the room....See MoreMy Dining Room Needs Help!
Comments (55)Very nice and I like the large vase on the table as well. In looking closer at this photo, I think you do need to put the drapery rod above the palladium to keep the look of the high ceiling. Are you thinking of painting the walls? If you are not sure of the darker color, you can do an off white as well which would look very nice. It might work better with the other colors in your home too since they all "see into" each other. We can give you some paint colors. In fact, one that immediately comes to mind is SW Westhighland White. Of course, with your trim color, you will need to do some paint sample boards (do not paint samples on the wall itself because it will bleed through because the "sample" paints have a eggshell finish so avoid that.) You might have to go to more color because of the trim. Otherwise it might look like you "missed" matching....See MoreI hate my living/dining room. Help!!!
Comments (13)You might be onto something wirh moving the dining up a bit. If you do then you have the rear wall to use. Even if bedrooms are small, kids are small too! Playtime can be in their rooms, school time on the dining table. Use the space under beds to store toys in tubs. Kids can get things out to play with, it doesn't need to be available all the time. Not knowing how much is needed for homeschooling, I can only suggest a set of drawers which have some depth, one for each child, where items can be stored when school is done. If this is the only item on the rear wall then a play space could be a rug along this wall. Europeans do compact spaces very well, by having spaces multitask and not having designated places for one activity. So your desk would be the top of the drawers, not a separate table. I have noted that it works best when items are returned to the designated spot. So at the end of a schoolday... away it goes. Same with toys, done playing ... return to the bedroom. You might have to give yourself time to adjust to the TV being a little further away from the couch, so the floor space remains available....See Morecollinel75
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