Dream Dining

Since we are sadly running out of rooms & budget to keep redecorating around here, I've decided to try something new on the ol' blog.  Lately I've been thinking about how I would decorate if Jeff & I lived in my dad's house... So here are my thoughts on virtually redecorating his pad!

For anyone who doesn't know, I adore the house I grew up in.  My dad is a retired architect and general contractor, so he designed and built the entire house (literally, built it with only a handful of other people to help).  The house has amazing character, with lots of stonework... giving it kind of a cottage feel. 

Go ahead and humor me, as I go through my fake makeover (with an even more fake large budget) for his formal dining room.

{dining room current state}

I have to admit that I've never been a fan of dark rooms... And this formal dining room is filled with dark wood furniture and a dark wall color.  I would love to add white wainscoting all around the room, and paint above the wainscoting a nice, light gray - like Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray (seen below).

Then I would go with a wooden farm-style table, like this one found on Craig's List or this one from Ballard Designs.

Adding two wing back chairs in this ikat pattern for each end of the table...

And six of these tufted chairs in a 'dijon' color for the rest of the table...

I would without a doubt keep the sideboard that belonged to my grandparents (see the original dining room picture above - it is below the current mirror), but replace the current mirror with this mirror set from Horchow...



Finally, I'd remove the old light fixture and replace with this amazing chandelier for a kick of glam!

Perhaps throwing in some dark blue silk dupioni floor-length drapes for a little color...

And lastly a sisal herringbone rug for under the table.  All together now...

Maybe one day... Until then, thanks again for humoring my inner-decorator!