Last week I was hip deep in client projects. The goal? to take some of my clients accessories, give them an update and create a fresh dining table while using what she has.
This dining room has been in the making for years. Well in my head it has been! After the living room, the sunroom, the powder room, it was now time to focus on this dining room. Finding a contractor to take on a smaller project has been a challenge. All my go to guys are retiring. We grew up together and we are now all getting older!
This home is a tri-level. A very popular builder style for homes in the midwest in the 80’s. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to do work in this type of home and have always been less than satisfied with the result because of the restrictions this house provides. But, these homeowners were so smart. Before I came into the picture they had a very good kitchen designer come into the space and tear down the wall between the box of a kitchen and the too small dining room. Creating an open concept with a large kitchen complete with island and the living room.
In a tri-level you walk in the front door down a short hall, powder/laundry room on the left and straight ahead is your family room. Go up 3 steps to the kitchen or 3 steps to the living room. Then 10 steps to the bedrooms. The family room which I have done no less than 10 times in my career has always been a beast. Long and narrow, the sliding door in the wrong position to the kitchen end of the room, with the fireplace on the opposite short end. No windows creating a cave like experience and difficult to furnish. Let’s not even talk about putting a TV in this room!
After the kitchen remodel they needed a place for dining so they took over the family room. Whereas this room makes a lousy family room, it creates a wonderful spacious dining room. The addition of a 4 season porch off the back facilitated a family room.
When I first walked into this home my job was to reorganize and furnish the living room to work with the new kitchen. I was happy to take this project on and this homeowner has proved to be a delight to work with. Open to all possibilities. I can’t say how much that is appreciated. For a homeowner to have an open mind helps to give the designer the freedom to do their best work. The only restrictions, I had to work with the tile floor and the tile around the fireplace, and all the furniture had to stay. Oh and all the art had to stay in the room. Ok I can do this!
We started with an oriental rug with reds, navy, and grey, purchased by her husband. Perfect size for the room and in wonderful condition. These people are world travelers. Serious world travelers and the result of that is some very interesting objects to work with. They have always done what I preach. Buy what you love, and you will find a way to make it work in your home.
The ceilings are low in this room adding to their cave like feel. The wall color was a rich terracotta, with kind of a peachy looking ceiling. Colors were selected by another designer not my clients choice, creating a super cave like experience. This is also the room where the dog cage lives. Casey a human size Golden also lives in this space and his dog kennel has to stay. He of course has the run of the home but this is his safe place. More on that later.
My goal was to lighten up this room and give it some architectural interest. We decided on picture frame molding, and after several hours of plotting out the panels we were ready to move forward. I ordered a custom sliding glass door to replace the old one. I would have loved to do French doors here except we have tile in this room and slate in the sunroom. I wanted the French doors to open into the sunroom but that was going to create some other issues. So we ended up with this lovely Marvin Slider and we colored it according to the rug!
With the door in, it was time to move forward with all the trim. This is a labor intensive process. Having done this work in my own bathroom I know how time consuming it can be. It’s not hard, you just have to be meticulous. But, it is so worth it. We created a door surround for the slider and we put the same surround in the opening on the dining room side to the foyer. With that completed we were all amazed.
Framing that hall opening actually made the hall of doors look wider and created more of a “Foyer” presence. We opted to paint the door surround, and the fireplace surround the same color as the frame around the slider, Sherwin Williams SW7046. Everything else we did in a Satin SW7044 Amazing Grey. I chose to do satin even on the drywall because I wanted the trim panels and walls to look consistent, not applied.
On the ceiling we did a flat finish in 1/2 strength of SW7044. This is a trick I have used for 30 years. Particularly when you have a low ceiling. I never paint a ceiling white. If I am using any type of neutral I will always use the same color or that color in half strength for the ceiling. In this case because the ceiling is low I opted to go the 1/2 strength. If you are dealing with an unimpressive ceiling you want it to go away. You don’t want to call attention to it. Even painting the ceiling white creates that line of demarcation and draws attention, and often times will distract from what is going on in the room. In my opinion the previous designer was calling way too much attention to the ceiling by painting it peach. The ceiling crashed on my head every time I entered the room.
Once the room was painted it was my turn to get in there and make some magic. My client had a great wool paisley shawl on the table with a large hand painted box. Loved all of the elements on the table but, it was essentially all brown. Brown table, brown shawl, brown candlesticks. I needed to create contrast. I took the two chunky candlesticks, and a Chinese character that had regrettably lost his head home with me. I was able to fix the China mans head, and I gilded the candlesticks. I then found a great piece of upholstery fabric in my stash and made a runner. Walking thru our ALO thrift shop I came across a nice metal sculpture of cat tales that I knew would be perfect on the table. Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some faux succulents. She had an oval crystal bowl that was her grandmothers. She loved it but didn’t know what to do with it.
With all my parcels in hand I set out to have some fun.
After reordering the curio cabinet there were still a few things that were unused. These lovely trinket boxes didn’t have a home. They were lost in the curio so I used them on the table, so they could be exposed and enjoyed.
I still have some work to do in this room (Caseys dog crate for one) and we need a few more accessories. I want to put a floral arrangement in the cache pot, on the antique English Brass stand in front of the fireplace, which they never use. The husband isn’t sure about the idea, so that is still simmering. We need a new chandelier and I’m looking for some previously owned dining chairs. But we will get there. Design is not instant gratification, it is a process.
What do you think?
Thanks for stopping
Shelley
