The best part about helping others with their decorating dilemmas is getting excited emails and progress shots form clients who are happy to see our design plans come to life. A sweet client from upstate New York with whom I worked on a color consultation recently sent me progress pictures of her dining room, and they are so good I want to share them with you! My client and her husband purchased their new home not so long ago and they’ve been working steadily to update the rooms to better suit their active lifestyle. My client is a working mom with three little boys, has beautiful taste and a great collection of lighting & furniture already in place; she did a wonderful job decorating the other rooms of her house but the dining room was a bit of a dilemma and she reached out for my help. Here is a picture of her beautiful dining room, she sent me when we started working together:
The house is traditional in style, with beautiful proportions and intricate architectural details and the dining room reflects that same quality and workmanship. When I asked her in one of our Zoom calls what was the thing she loved most about the room, the first thing she mentioned was the picture frame molding, the second was the floors. Aren’t they wonderful? On her want list was a dining room that felt traditional yet fresh, timeless and elegant without too much going on. Her style is timeless and edited, with minimal pattern and plenty of breathing room. She loves blues and greens and so we worked on a lovely scheme that incorporates her favorite cornflower blue and beautifully complements the rich wood tones already in the space.
We started our plan by looking at the architecture of the room and my first suggestion, based on her love of the picture frame molding, was to extend that same molding above the chair rail and paint the entire expanse of wall a soft, warm white, from floor to ceiling for a subtle yet dramatic effect. She loved the idea and her handy woman made it all happen within a short few weeks! Here it is now, with molding added above the chair rail, aligned with the squares below, and a fresh coat of a luminous white paint:
Upholstery, a large natural fiber rug that leaves enough reveal on the sides to expose the banding on the floor, and window treatments in a wonderful pattern come next… We also added in some missing furniture pieces and looked for accessories that would lend the room a touch of elegance and glamour but also nod to the house’s location near the sea.
We hope to be done by Christmas and I can’t wait to see the rest of the space come together!
I hope you enjoyed this peek inside our color consultation! Many thanks to my wonderful and trusting client who generously agreed to share these images of her home with you!
Happy weekend!
If you need help with a decorating dilemma in your home, we are now scheduling clients for 2022! If you’d like to work together, send me an email at cafedesignhome@gmail.com to find out more about our decorating services.
What a beautiful room–with those bones and your talent for decor, it’s going to be stunning!
Author
Thank you, Diana! My client’s wonderful taste & trust in the process plays a great part too!
Wishing you a lovely weekend!
xo, Eva
Thank you, Eva. Beautiful room! I’m curious to know what direction you will go with the natural area rug. I’m looking for one currently for my dining room and while I love the natural look, often they can be too chunky for a dining room. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
Author
Hi Bronwen, thanks so much for stopping by and for leaving a comment!
Regarding the natural area rug, we are going with a fine, tightly-woven & custom-cut seagrass that’s beautiful, and very thin.
We have seagrass throughout our home, including our dining room (although not as beautiful as the one I sourced for my client but the same style), and it is not chunky at all. I think there are different types of natural rugs out there, and different weaving methods so it is worth doing a bit of research because once you find the right rug, it will last you forever! I can’t tell you how many messes I’ve cleaned up from ours, including coffee spills, paint spills, puppy throw-up (sorry for grossing you out), and it still looks pristine!
xo,
Eva
Eva,
Thank you! Incredibly helpful information. Seagrass does look beautiful! I will do a little research and I think it might work perfectly.
Best, Bronwen
Oh, this will be wonderful. I was imagining it in my head as I was reading the description, then scrolled down to see your illustration — it will be amazing. Can’t wait to see.
Author
Thank you so much, Linda!
Her handy woman did an excellent job!! That looks beautiful. Also I would love to have a handy woman available for my projects. Like your library project, Eva, I have run into some less than dependable tradesman at times. A trusty one who is a good communicator is worth his or HER weight in gold!
I enjoy reading your post. This room and color is so fresh and stunning! I am currently in the process of picking a soft warm white paint color for our interior. It’s very hard to pick a white color I have discovered. My house faces NE and the light is grey and has shadows. I’m leaning towards BM-Simply White or BM-Cotton Balls. I prefer not to have any grey undertones in the paint. The color that’s been chosen for the Dining Room looks so pretty, soft, and elegant. I would greatly appreciate it if the color could be shared? I can’t wait to see the finished project!
Author
Hi Judy, thank you so much for your kind comment! I would love to share the sources and paint colors but out of respect for paying clients I cannot do that. However, I am more than happy to share my sources when it comes to my own home – if I’ll ever finish it and be able to show images of it here :)))
xo, Eva
Author
Hi Lauren! I am sorry to hear that you’ve experienced similar issues with contractors… You are absolutely right, once we find the right people to work with – they are worth their weight in gold and we should do everything in our power to hold on to them!
Wow, it’s coming together beautifully! I would not have thought to continue with the molding on top, and then painting it out. I guess that’s why she hired you and not me : )
Author
Thanks so much, Mel! 🙂
xo, Eva