Dining Room

I was pleased that our newly purchased house did not have a formal dining room. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally against them. Going by my past experience, the home I had in Ohio, the formal dining was beautiful with high-quality, but seldom used furniture. The former dining room provided our family a place for intimate gatherings and celebrations. Unfortunately, we only used ours a handful of times (if that) per year. I always felt this hardly ever used room was a huge waste of space.

In this home, we have a casual dining space neatly tucked away, just steps from both the kitchen and great room. The room basically has only two walls: one is 110-inches wide, the other 107-inches. I wanted to keep the dining area simply furnished, like the rest of the house. Knowing that the dining table would be the largest and most important element in this room, I wanted either a square shaped or round one. This way there would be enough room left between the table and the walls in order for people to easily move around. The Palm Court Collection had a dining room set that matched the entertainment unit my husband and I bought for the great room. The counter-height square table has hand carved tropical details in the corners with reeded pilaster table legs. The same reeded pilasters are on the entertainment unit, which has can be seen when you’re sitting at the table. The cushy chairs have provided us with plenty of comfort. Over and over again our guests have wanted to stay at our table well past dessert. That is EXACTLY the feel we wanted in our casual dining space!

Behr Vast Desert UL170-17 coats the two dining room walls, the same color palette carried in from the open great room. An existing simple chair rail adds a touch of simplicity and coziness in the room. I chose to paint the chair rail, the same as the crown mouldings and baseboards, with a brilliant shade of white paint in a semi-gloss finish to add some luminescence to the area.

The paint color was pleasing, however I felt like something was missing or “off” in the space. There was no wow factor. In my opinion there’s nothing more boring than a plain expanse of wall. Even though neither one of the walls are wide, they’re very tall. I wanted to dress up the small dining room with an interesting wall treatment. I knew I needed to create a couple of focal points in the small room. Therefore, the first thing I did was purchase two wrought iron wall hangings that matched the same metal as the existing chandelier. However, I knew simply hanging the two metal tropical wall decor pieces wouldn’t cut it. I decided to paint a contrasting background for the metal artwork with a faux picture frame around the over-sized wall hangings. From a distance you wouldn’t know the white picture frames are flat. I used Behr Crepe UL150-5 for the background. I’m very pleased with how the two focal points turned out. A little bit of paint made a big impact and it was an inexpensive solution with luxurious results.

There’s nowhere my husband and I would rather be than gathered around the table eating, drinking, and sharing our lives with people we care about. It’s the heart of our home. My fondest memories have been made gathered around this table. I’m happy to say this dining space has surpassed my expectations. It is a simple but beautiful room.