In about three days, I’m going to be the proud owner of a formal dining room. (Technically, this house has a space which ought to be a formal dining room. However, as Susannah tells it: “Remember how we used to have a school room? And now it’s a BOX room!”)
The previous owners painted the room pale yellow. The floors are a dark hardwood with grayish undertones, there are lovely french doors (facing east) and white trim, and a white-ish slightly shabby-chic chandelier. I love the white, the fixture is alright, and I love the bright natural light.
We probably won’t do anything with the room immediately. (I want to spend my pennies letting the girls repaint their new bedrooms (currently blue and bluer!) and furnishing the rec room & homework nook with storage solutions for all the toys and crafts.) But eventually, I need to create a dining room.
I’d like a pedestal (or double pedestal) table. Seating for at least eight. A china hutch with space to store both heirloom sets we own, and maybe? a sideboard/server piece as well.
I recieved my mother’s china and Chris’ grandmother’s china shortly after we moved to Owensboro. I’m a big believer in using our “nice things” to celebrate special occasions and everyday victories, so we do put these pretty pieces to use. I’m really looking forward to having a cabinet for display, though!
So here’s where I confess my decorating ineptitude. Chris suggested last night that he’d like a white dining table and chairs – “to match the chandelier.” I started looking around online, and found a couple of tables, but then this morning I realized that our white & platinum china would absolutely disappear against a white table and in a white china cabinet.
I’m leaning toward gray for the walls — it will need to be carefully chosen, though, because (as you can see in the top photo) the dining room is right off the front door, which is a rich deep brown and the entry walls are a khaki-tan color. I don’t want the dining room to look too yellow-gray compared to those. And the wall color needs to play well with the floor color as well.
A quick look on Pinterest brought me to this:
Maybe something like this would work. The table (as well as chair legs) are darker wood than those floors; the wood trim, light fixture, and upholstered chairs pop with white; and the two shades of gray feel cozy and welcoming.
What do you think? If you have a knack for decor, or if you spot something that just screams “Michelle!” you can send it to me on Pinterest or comment here. I pinky-promise, I’ll post photos when we finally get around to decorating our new dining room.
2 thoughts on “In Which I Do Not Know What I’m Doing”
I LOVE the entry to your new house – I cannot wait to see the whole thing!
I’m a big fan of grey lately, and I think the Pinterest image is absolutely stunning and would work well in that space/with the tan tones of the entry. I love the dark wood table and the pop of the white chairs. Just imagine how beautiful the china will look against that dark wood {swoon}
Oh, I can’t wait to have you over! 🙂 I promise good coffee and conversation even if the dining room is empty!
(Side note: This move is going to give me lots of chances to practice what I preach {on contentment}. I’m challenging myself upon moving in, to not “apologize in advance” for all the things we don’t have and the spaces that will lie empty. I realized after we had lived here a while, that I tended to do that when a person first visited my home. I’d give them the tour with lots of apologetic explanations for what I eventually wanted to put into a space. My goal {hey: goal! measurable! :wink:} is to rectify that this time around. It is what it is. We’re going to have more square footage and it’s just gonna be empty for a while. I can plan and OH, it is FUN to plan and dream, but since I am content I’m not going to put myself in that awkward position of being embarrased about what I don’t have yet.)
Chris is still not sold on the idea of dark furniture + gray walls but I think he’ll come around. Funny though, we went out to browse at a furniture store this afternoon and he fell in love with a GRAY leather loveseat for his den. 🙂 Before he saw it, I don’t think he quite believed me that gray was a neutral and could play nicely with browns, black, colors…. Now I think he gets it. {yay!}