Decorating Takes Time: Dining Room Year Three
Daena
last year
So it turns out that designing a space doesn't happen overnight. I just could not get my dining room the way I wanted it. I posted about my dilemma a few years agohere. We had just moved in and I inherited dark purple gray walls that were doing nothing for the bright space. I tried to embrace the color and "make it work." When the 2020 lockdown happened, I used the time at home to repaint the walls. I've been zhushing it up ever since. Most of my furnishings and accessories are second-hand. I think I'm finally "done," but I'm a chronic rearranger / redecorater, so we'll see.
Here's how it started - bare, dark, sad and impractical (with bulky white slipcovered chairs that were a pain to keep clean)
And here it is now (my drapes still need hemmed):
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How to decorate a dining room when you don't want a dining room
Comments (19)I love having a dedicated INformal dining room! Yes, it's 'The Dining Room,' but it's not formal. Long farm table, comfortable chairs, warm lighting, flooring and surfaces that won't get damaged by kids or spills. A really warm and welcoming place to eat meals as a family or with friends. The 'breakfast nook' has just never been my favorite. Even when the space is nice, the furniture is rarely of a caliber that brings joy to the users... I'd replace that with two comfortable wingback chairs and a tall side table -- the kind of place you could have a cup of coffee and read the paper, or sit with a glass of wine while your spouse makes dinner or cleans the kitchen. The other great use for a 'breakfast nook' IMO is as a kids' homework area or auxiliary baking table. Another great use for an unused dining room is (if you can close it off) as a TV room. Get the TV out of your family room and reclaim that space as a family gathering area without the constant racket of a TV....See Moredining room furniture is IN, help decorate the room, please!
Comments (92)trish-I hope you see this, you posted almost a week ago, I have not been on these boards for a few days! Can you PLEASE take a picture of the furniture and post it? I am dying to see it in another setting. Do you think the DR set was in the house originally? What year was your house built? What color are the seats...and are they the same at your neighbor's house across the street? Where do you live? Ok, so my DH actually had possession of *HIS* dining room set, that was exactly like MINE...up until the mid nineties. His mom had saved it (parents are divorced). He tried to sell it at one point, and refinshed the top and spruced it up nicely. I think he was asking 1k for the whole set...hutch, table, chairs...and he had NO ONE buy it. They would come, look, offer him 200 bucks, he just couldn't (wouldn't, I suppose, LOL) sell it at that price. Then again, this was BEFORE the internet. He didn't reach too many potential buyers with his ad in the paper. I was kind of happy, cuz I said, "Good, let's keep it for the extra chairs and leaf and just store the rest of it!" His office has a warehouse/storage area, so that's why I considered it...I am not a believer in paying good money to store more "things." But since it is available, we do it sometimes. Well, at this time, his dad did not have a DR table so DH just put it there to keep it, and so his dad would have a table. A few months later, one of his sisters moved in, brought her own stuff...and GAVE AWAY the hutch and two end chairs...and PUT THE TABLE OUT BY THE CURB FOR BULK PICKUP! *fanning self* I was LIVID! I still talk about it to this day, but my DH keeps saying, "Let it go, honey!!" I think he is mad too, but also embarrassed. SO...remember...just a few years ago, I saw this table for sale on a grocery store bulletin board, and the whole set with hutch was in the $200 range...maybe $250? It really is heavy duty, solid wood. BUT...apparently very common and mass produced! I would just like to know a little more about it. I cannot find any name on it as to who made it, where it is from originally, etc. BTW...his sister moved out a few months later, and once again, DH''s dad was left with no table. *sigh*...See MoreHow to decorate "the room formerly known as the dining room"
Comments (6)Thank you for your replys, I love this website, so glad I stumbled on to it! otherwise I would probably drive my DH crazy with all these random thoughts. You guys are definitely onto something about deciding first what purpose the room will have, and then to decorate towards that purpose. Cyn, we do have young kids still - 7 & 9. anniedeighnaugh: no sconces but it does have chair rail - and yes that needs to go, along with the junk. Cannot believe how many papers/mail we have lying around (that is a story for another post). olychick: thanks for the link - now I have my reading for tonight! So, for function, the best use would be a playroom. Right now we have most of the toys in the basement, and the kids really would rather be where we are, and unless they have friends over don't really play in the basement. But, my hesitation here is that I would hate to decorate it as a really great looking playroom, and then in a couple more years all the toys are outgrown, and they are playing ping pong in the basement (not wanting to be anywhere near us)! Now, if I think what I would want it to look like, and just purely for looks, it would definitely be a library - bookcases, cozy. But, not sure I need (for function) a library. I guess I worry it will look great but never get used. I do love to read - but I am in the sunroom for that, it's right off the family room, we closed in the screen porch and opened the fireplace up on both sides, and I love being in there. When the tv is on I can still be close to the kids & DH but also be separated a little. I wonder if I'll ever be able to get this project underway......See Moreyour take on this dining room chandelier
Comments (73)Busybee -- sorry. I tried looking up the one you said you had. The website was having some issues, but that's what I came up with. I see that it somes with or without the shade. Looks good both ways too. You DR chandelier doesn't need to match the finish of your entry fixture. Mine don't. If you want crystal in the DR, what looks best may not be a dark finish. The dark finish crystal chandeliers I have been seeing are more like that first one you posted -- old, heavy and fru fru. Don't get so locked in to an idea that you can't see why you would want something different. You have talked about trens and fading styles several times. Unless you are planning on changing all your lighting every 5-10 years, you really need to pick fixtures that you enjoy and that fit your home. If you go with a trend, it will always be close to on it's way out. If you pick the newest thing, it may or may not catch on. Even if you pick a trendsetter before it peaks, you get a year or two beore it is copied and seen everywhere and then another year or two before the mass market has become near saturated and the trend, by definition, fades because it is not being sold at peak volumes -- even if people have those fixtures in their homes, they love them and they look great for the next 10 -20-30-50 years. That's what you really want -- the one you will love for years, Don't fixate on trends...See MoreDaena
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