A New Dish: Dining Room Renovation

Here are some photos of the dining room renovation I did back in December.  The back wall of the dining room (which now holds the china cabinet) was originally about 8 feet further back, but the addition of a larger master bath suite took up the space of two closets and part of the dining room. With the new wall came a new and significantly more elegant design scheme, so we kept the existing built-in bookshelves and the dining room furniture, but updated the paint color (from purple and taupe to gold and red) and fabrics.  We recovered the dining room chair cushions, which had been upholstered in forest green, and swapped them out for a sleek gold and black striped fabric that coordinates with the black and gold damask draperies.  The draperies are also custom, of course, and fully lined to protect the fabric from the morning sun that streams in through these eastward-facing windows.

The relocated wall crowded the existing pair of ceiling fans (which didn't really fit with the room's new style, anyway) so we removed those and installed a beautiful chandelier in the new center of the ceiling. The great advantage for the homeowners in this case, was that the chandelier was located in another room across the hall from the dining room, but clashed with the room's informal style. Now the lighting problems for both rooms have been solved, and all it took was a little time and some drywall mud! (Okay, and a new paint job for the dining room ceiling.)

The final touches are the framed art arranged on the walls next to the curtains and on either side of the china cabinet. The beautiful reds and golds of the poppies and lilies, and the metallic and gold-tone frames really tie the room together with the place settings on the table. The crisp white tablecloth really highlights the gold chargers and rich red plates. A long buffet table on the wall opposite the windows allows dinner guests easy access to refills on beverages or second helpings on dessert! Wherever diners look in this room, only one thought springs to mind: Yum!