A Classic Dining Room

I think we all fell in love with the Something’s Gotta Give dining room, with the dark table, beautifully slipcovered chairs, and that wall of white china against the creamy beadboard. Swoonworthy, if anything could be described as that. Now, I wasn’t trying to copy this room completely, but I did have this in mind for the feel and look I wanted in my dining room if I was going to the trouble to repaint and add all that picture molding. And I’m happy to say, I got just the feel I wanted.

I’ll show you a couple of pics of the finished picture molding before I moved the furniture back in place so you can get an idea of the expanse of it and I’ll do another post later, showing the steps I took to do it. Right now I just want to show off the dining room!

Now, I’ll just tell you up front, that the job I did is absolutely NOT perfect by any means. If I showed you all the corners up close and the paint job details, I can guarantee it would not pass inspection by a master carpenter. But, for my needs and wants, it is just FINE. The hardest part is keeping them all the same size and if you put a tape measure to mine, you’d find many discrepancies. But, you know what…when the furniture is all moved back into place, that picture frame molding is merely a backdrop…..

To a lighter and airier paint color and feel in the dining room. I’m in love with it! I don’t think I’ll miss the red at all now. I took these pics at different times of the day and you’ll even see the table set in a couple of them. We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and got to actually enjoy the newly done space. The color looks lighter in many pics because of the sun coming in. It’s a neutral creamy vanilla color, with a hint of yellow/gold. If anyone really wants the paint color, since I used leftover paint from Grandma’s house & the color had been tweaked, I’ll tell you that it’s dead-on with Sherwin Williams Antique White, which is the lightest color on the strip I used in most of our house, the Whole Wheat color strip.

I really love how the mahogany furniture shows up so much better now.

Everything just pops out more.

Of course, the white dishes are more subdued against this color than they were against the red, but I really love the calm feeling they have now. I’m thinking about switching out the mirror for my large botanical print that is now in the living room. I’ll play around with that later.

The accessories are subject to changing and moving around.

And I’m trying out a botanical print up here on top of the china cabinet.

Love these plates that I’ve had for a few years now and they really show up well now on this lighter color.

The toile panels, made 8 years ago by my mom are still a favorite and I don’t plan to retire them anytime soon. It’s true that toile is really a classic. I really, really wanted to paint the ceiling a soft robin’s egg blue, but the man I live with nixed that idea, so I have to come up with another one. He detests light blue paint and since I got my way with the beachy guestroom and bath downstairs, that is going to have to do it for me with the lighter blues. I won’t tell you what he said about light blue paint, since it will offend someone, but just for the record, I’ll not be using light blue paint on the ceilings or anywhere else for that matter. He’s been great about letting me do what I want, so I can’t even argue that one. So, I’m thinking I’ll go with a darker shade of my golden colors, maybe Believeable Buff on the ceiling. What do you think about that??

Other side with the my white dish collection. I need to add a few to this side and I’ve got room for a few more on the wall.

So calming.

These thriftstore birds are a perfect mix with my white dishes.

Table set for company

Corner with an extra chair and my vintage columns. I’d love to find a large architectural fragment for the top of the columns.

This is an accurate shot of the color. You can see how it mixes with Whole Wheat in the adjoining living room and foyer.

See the botanical peeking through on the left there in the living room? That’s what I may put above the sideboard. What do you think about that? I could move the mirror to another spot. See how I turned the corner with the molding?! I was so proud of myself for that one. Like I said though, you can’t look too close. I’m SO glad I did the picture molding. It’s such a nice detail to this room now. Look out…I’ll be adding more of the stuff around here now.

Looking in from the living room.

And peeking across the foyer to the dining room. It’s really amazing how paint changes everything! If you’re contemplating making a paint change, just do it. That’s the easiest way to get an update and you’ll be glad you did. As much as I loved the red, I know I’m going to enjoy this one a lot longer.

As promised, I’ll do a detailed post about how I installed the picture molding. It really wasn’t hard, just a little tedious with the measuring and putting it into place. Totally worth it!

Related Links: Dining Room in Red and the Creamware Collection.

I plan to also do some posts about buying furniture and building the bones of your home, so be on the lookout for future discussions. My motto is to buy the best you can afford when it comes to casegood pieces (wood), whether it be antique or new. Of course, if you’ve been reading my blog very long, you know how I feel about older wood pieces. You can find so many great deals out there on vintage pieces of furniture. So, let’s discuss some of that and I’ll give you some tips on how I shopped for my furniture that I’ve accumulated over the last 20 years. I think I’ve learned a few things I can pass on!

Thanks for stopping by! I've got a special guest who will be guest posting for me on Tuesday, so you will not want to miss that either.