Inspiration: Dining Rooms

Sometimes I hear that dining rooms must be red.  That is definitely not the case!  Here are a few that I found that are far from a traditional red dining room!  Do you have a favorite color for a dining room?

DIY: Halloween and Thanksgiving Table Runner

Ready for a great holiday project?  How about this reversible table runner and place mat set?  You can get it out for Halloween, and continue using it all the way through Thanksgiving!

Center of Thanksgiving side.

Thanksgiving Runner and place mats.

Thanksgiving Runner

Reverse side of place mats.

Halloween side of table runner.

It includes a pieced table runner, place mats, and a full-sized hand embroidery pattern!  Even better, it's free!  Head over to Burda Style to download the instructions, material requirements, and pattern!

Make It: Serving Dishes

I started out with a variety of clear glass plates, bowls, and votives from IKEA.  If you don't have an IKEA around, try a Dollar Store or another discount store for cheap glass dishes.  I think I spent about $6 for everything seen here:

{pic of loot}

Play around with stacking them to see what configurations are available.  Try different heights of votives and different sizes of plates and bowls for the most options.  I decided on these stacked configurations:

{pic of stacking before painting}

Next decide what paint colors you'd like to use.  I wanted to use some neutral colors so I chose white and champagene colored paint.

{pic of paint cans}

In a well ventilated area on a not so humid day, paint the backs of the bowls and plates and the inside of the votive.  By painting the back/inside you have back painted glass which looks great!

Use E6000 glue to glue your stacks together.

Set your table for a party and enjoy the compliments you get from your great looking serving dishes!  Because it's so inexpensive to make, try different colors like fuschia and violet or aqua and lime green depending on the occasion!  You don't have to tell them you just spent $6 and a little bit of time!  That can be our little secret!

Monday Redesign: Sitting Room

Today I wanted a redesign based off the simple graphic lines of the accent pillow below.  I wanted to keep things light since the walls will be saturated with a nice peacock blue!



1. Cream Oval Back Settee from Overstock.com.  Clean and elegant.  I love how it's a good size, but looks lightweight!

2. Pillow cover from KainKain.  Love the graphic design of this pillow!

3. Peacock Print from Philly22.  Love the large graphic.  Print it large enough to look like a piece of custom wallpaper.

4. Modern Silk Stripe window panels from West Elm.  These are a pretty basic design.  You could probably make your own pretty easily.

5. Glass lamp from Lamps Plus.  Keeping things light, I chose a transparent glass lamp.

6. Chambre end table from Macy's.

7. Wirebirds by MFAS.  These would make great little conversation pieces for an accent table!

The Cafe Collection: Sewing Project

I LOVE to sew and I LOVE to design.  Here's a project I recently completed exclusively for BurdaStyle.



The best part?  It's one of their free downloads so if you'd like to stitch up a table runner, placemats, napkin rings, and the flowers to embellish all of them, head on over and download the full pattern and instructions (with photos) for each piece of the Cafe Collection!

Room Redesign:Mary's Dining Room Before

Remember in October when we paired up with JCaroline Home and FLOR to offer some Glamour readers the opportunity for a room makeover?  Meet Mary, the first of the winners!  We'll be revealing her redesign board Monday.  Here's her space that she's asked us to assist her with.

Here are the answers to the design questionnaire.  We use these to make sure we do the best individual design for the family.

1. What space are we redesigning for you and what are the dimensions of that space (including the ceiling height)?

I need help with my dining room/entry way.  The dining/entry way space is approximately 15' x 18'.  Our ceiling is sloped, so the lowest wall is the west wall, which is 7'10"  and it slopes up to 12' 2" on the east wall.  It's a bit of an open floor plan throughout the center of our home (we have a typical 90s suburban home in Florida), where the family room, kitchen and dining room are all essentially the same room, so I painted it all the same color (Behr's Rich Cream).

2.What are your favorite design store/home decor stores?  They can be brick and mortar stores or online stores.  This will tell us a little bit about your style.

I tend to like modern and mid-century modern design, but also traditional when it comes to larger furniture items. I like stores like Ikea, Anthropologie (although it's a bit pricey for me!), UncommonGoods, West Elm. I tend to like bolder colors in moderation, and clean lines.

3. What 3 words would you use to describe yourself and the feeling of the space you'd like?

Well, for the room, I would like it to be warm, inviting, and fun. I suppose I would use those three words for myself too.

4. What are two of your favorite and least favorite colors?  What other colors are used throughout your home?

Anything in the bright orange and fuchsia would be something I don't like. I love reds, blues, greys, though I think I have enough red in the house! The kitchen and family room are directly and openly connected to the dining room. I have bright red kitchen cabinets with stainless steel appliances. In the family room, I have a celery green couch and chaise and a honey wood floor, so those are the colors that are easily seen from the living room. Elsewhere in the house we have a soft green in the bedroom, a pale orange craft room and a shipwreck grey office that is my husband's den. Black and white tend to be the repeated colors to tie everything together.

5. Who will be using/living in this space?

This is a space my husband and I don't use everyday, but instead is where we entertain. We have friends over for card games, family for dinners, and neighbors step inside to chat. I would love to have a little seating area by the front window. The room just seems too sterile as it is now.

6. Is there anything else you'd like us to include or consider in designing your space?  Include here if there are any pieces you'd really like to keep, or anything you'd really love to see!

Well, I'm attached to the decal dandelion and the chandelier, and the table.  Since the color ties the dining room, kitchen and family room together, I would like to keep it, although I am open to accent colors in the built in shelving area, including the ledge in front of the mirror.  This room echos like crazy, and I would love to get some textiles in to help with that. I can sew a bit and my husband and I are up for DIY stuff too.

Can't wait to show you Mary's redesign Monday!

Dining Room Redesign

Today's redesign was based off of this lovely new set of dishes from, believe it or not, Walmart!  It's their new Citrus Blossom Collection.  I love the colors!  Bright and Cheerful!

1. Citrus Blossom Dish Set from Walmart

2. Chelsea rug from Plushrugs.com

3. Cecelia Napkins from Crate and Barrel

4. Spire Vases from Home Decorators Collection

5.  Nottingham Pedestal Dining Table from Target.

6. Jasper Dining Chairs from Target.

Monday Redesign: Dining Room

Today I wanted something that was calming yet playful and fun!  This is what I came up with!  I want to move right in!

1. Riverside Metro Dining Table -This table has a hidden leaf that folds out for company!

2. Tufted Button Chair from Walmart (Yep...Walmart is stepping up the furniture offerings online and there's some good finds to be had there!)

3. Glass Ball Chandelier from Anthropologie.  (Or try to make one yourself...it's not too hard!)

4. Amy Butler's Coventry Rug from Modern Rugs. Swoon!  That rug makes my heart sing!

5. Paint Color from Benjamin Moore:  416 Tasty Apple Such a happy bright color to dine with!

6. Walter Starburst Wall art from Design Public.

Monday Redesign-Dining Room

Today I wanted a clean dining room design.  I also wanted it to feel casual, yet elegant at the same time.

1. I chose the Contessa Chandelier-Amber from Kravet because it has a clean but elegant feel to it, and brings in the accent amber color that I'm working with in the space.

2. The Montego Pedestal Table from Pottery Barn was chosen because of it's clean lines.  The dark wood tone really makes the amber color pop too!

3. Nail Head Chair from Pottery Barn.  I love the nail head detailing!  Once again, chosen for it's clean lines.

4. Safavieh Rug from Rugs-Direct. The pattern in the rug mimics the gentle curves of the chandelier and brings out the lovely amber color as well.


5. Top off your table with a table top terrarium and you've got a simple, elegant, clean dining room design!

Wendy's Living/Dining Room Redesign

Wendy's main goal with her space was to make sure everything was in the best place possible.  She wanted to ensure that all their space was being utilized properly.  I've made some minor changes and updated a few things while adding more flexible seating to update her space without spending lots of money.  Many times, in homes of this size there are a limited number of ways that furniture can be laid out.  There's lots of space needed for circulation and maybe only one wall that has cable limiting where the TV is placed.  The key in these spaces is to make sure that furniture, if possible, serves a dual purpose.

1. Remove the doors from this cabinet.  Make simple fabric panels to cover the bottom.  By doing this you'll be able to utalize more space in this corner because it's not needed for opening the doors to access the bottom of the built-ins.  Use Amy Butler Fabric August Fields Graceful Vines Orange.  Paint the inside of the upper cabinets a coordinating orange, SW 6889 Stirring Orange.  Add a circular rug to help define the space.  This round 6' rug from Rugs Direct would work well.

2. Use the same Amy Butler Fabric Graceful Vines, to make some drapery panels for these windows.  This will bring in some of the accent orange as well.

3. Let's paint this TV stand.  The furniture that you have thus far work well together as they are all a similar style and finish, except for the TV stand.  By darkening this piece (Use Sherwin Williams Color SW 6070 Turkish Coffee) you will tie this in as well.  I think you'll find that you won't feel like your furniture is a modge podge anymore!

4. Replace this coffee table with 3 of these ottomans from Overstock.com and use as a base to make your own covers with the Amy Butler Fabric-Lotus Wall Flower Green.  (Yes the colors don't match at all on the originals, but for $24 a piece you can't go wrong!  If you build these from scratch they would be more expensive.)  Don't forget to use Scotchguard on these and they'll last for quite a while and stand up to your children using them!  These will provide flexible seating for you.  They can be used as a coffee table for now, then when more seating is needed, just pull them out for seating!  Instead of a large area rug here, buy 3 carpet tiles from FLOR and use these to place the ottomans on.  You're essentially making a small runner for the ottomans.  I'd go with All Square-Orange.  (When you're using the ottomans as seating, just slide the carpet under the sofa!)

5. Many designers will tell you to hang all artwork at eye level but there are times (many times in fact!) that this is not always the case.  Right now it seems like they are floating above the rest of the items in the room, if you move them down about 12" they will then be seen as part of the furniture arrangement that includes the ottomans and sofa!  This will provide more continuity in the space, which is needed in a smaller space.

Here is the design board with the items from above:

Color Palette

1. New Wall Color: Sherwin Williams SW 6711 Parakeet

2. New TV Stand Color: Sherwin Williams SW  6070 Turkish Coffee

3. Accessory Color (You already have this covered!)

4. Cabinet Color for inside the built in cabinets in your dining space: Sherwin Williams SW 6889 Stirring Orange

I love your guitar arrangement!  Thanks so much Wendy for letting us help you with your space!!



Do you need help redesigning your space?  Click here to get started!

Monday Redesign-Wendy's Living/Dining Room

Monday we're assisting Wendy with her  Living Room and Dining Room space.  Here is her current design:

Here are Wendy's goals with the space above:

What are your favorite design store/home décor stores?  They can be brick and mortar stores or online stores.  The answers to this question help us determine your budget by seeing which places you like to shop.  These also tell us a little bit about your style. I am a huge fan of Anthropology and Crate and Barrel for ideas.  Then I utilize flea market/garage sale finds to try to replicate some of the items.  I like furniture redos (painting, simple upholstery, change knobs, etc.).  I have inherited many of the pieces in this room.  The sofa is the only furniture piece that I bought new.  Sometimes, this makes my rooms too hodgepodge/college aesthetic.  I am not married to any of the accessories in this room.  My favorite one is the flower painting because I think it is so fun.  I also sew and can make pillows or window treatments. I LOVE Amy Butler’s fabrics and would love to use them somehow.  The interview that you did with her was great.  I am a huge fan!  Her new rugs are so amazing.

What 3 words would you use to describe yourself and the feeling of the space you'd like? Warm, happy and colorful.

What is the most important thing you ’d like done with the space? I think the space layout needs attention.  Also, we like to have people over but there is never enough comfortable seating for all of them.  I have 2 kids who are 3 and 6 so although they are old enough to not pull things down, they still spill plenty of things on the floor/sofa so this is important to know.  Because the space is small everything must be very functional and flexible.


What are two of your favorite and least favorite colors? (Keep this particular space in mind, as we know favorite colors vary from space to space) I love bold colors.  We have lived with the dark green on the walls for 6 years now.  I still really like it but would be up for an update.  Also Red!  I love red and variations of it.  (This is probably why I like the green because anything red looks great with it.)  Not a huge fan of pastels.

What are the overall dimensions, including ceiling height (if applicable) of your space? This room is an L- Shaped room with many doorways.  See attached drawing.  The ceilings are 9’.

Is there anything else you’d like us to include or consider in designing your space? We live in 1,000 SF so this is a very important room to all of us.  We eat, watch TV, hobby, play, entertain, relax, and just plain live here a lot.  I think there are some great opportunities for utilizing the space that we haven’t thought of. My husband is an avid guitar player.  Our solution to having guitar stands everywhere was to hang them on the wall.  I like this but would be open to changing the location or splitting them up if you thought we should for the layout to work.

Check back Monday for the redesign!

Before & After: Living & Dining Room

Rachel Winokur from eTTa designs sent in this wonderful redesign done for homeowners in California.  It is a living and dining area.  Isn't it amazing?  I really like the rug in the dining area, and I love the mixtures of reds, greens and yellows. 

What do you think?  Are you working on something that you'd like to share?  Send it our way at admin AT freshnestdesign DOT com.

Monday Redesign: Amy's Living Room

Remember Amy's great blue wall in her Living/Dining Room area?  Here is the before picture:


The wall is about 25 feet long with a 15 foot peak.  Amy just painted the wall and needs help decorating it.  Here is the redesign:
 

General tip:  To decorate a vaulted ceiling, try to mimic the peak as much as possible.  This will make the wall visually appealing. 

A break down of the goodies:

1. I would place a tall bookcase to visually separate the living area from the dining room.  I would use many of the picture frames you had placed on the piano and end table and use them to decorate the shelves.  {This bookcase is from ikea and is only $60!}


2. I found this wonderful pitcher on etsy and love its texture and colors.  I think it's a perfect accent to place on the top shelf of the bookcase.


3. Add a plant to the top of the bookcase.  This will extend the height of the bookshelf even more and also add greenery to the room.  {The plant pictured is a pothos}.


4. Hang some art work above the piano.  I found this art piece at Target.  It's three separate pieces.  I would hang them about 6 inches apart.


5. Hang an art piece above the dining room table.  This will create balance in the room.  I suggest something like this Iron Forest Wall Art.  Again, found at Target.


6. Add a modern lamp to the corner of the room.  I found this lamp at ikea for only $40!


7. Clear off the piano so it looks clean and simple.  Add an orchid to the top of the piano next to your family picture.  It adds a color pop and brings everything together. 

I hope you enjoy your new wall redesign, Amy!  I sure had a great time designing it.  Do you need a space makeover?  Submit your space here.



P.S.  Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for Barclay Butera’s book, Living in Style.  It ends today!

Design Challenge Voting Starts

It's so fun to see what other projects our readers are working on. Who will win the Anna Toddler bed from Five Star Source? It's your turn to decide.

Here are the entrants below:

#1 Jennie- Dining Room

I wanted to add some color to the downstairs of our house, but all of the rooms are open and flow from one to the next. It was a challenge to choose a color that was bold enough to be interesting, but that would also look good with the other rooms. This deep red draws from accent pieces and window treatments in the adjacent living room.

#2 Jennifer- Dresser

I found this in the basement when we moved into our new home last year. It was structurally sound but in need of some sanding, painting and new hardware. This is the end result!

#3 Melissa- Console Table

I found this table at an antiques store in Utah and I fell in love with it's simple lines. The knobs are from Anthropologie and they inspired the blue color choice.

#4 Lynnette- Dining Room Chairs

Our dining room chairs were stained and beginning to fray on the sides. I put new fabric on them and then added plastic on top to protect from the kids spills.

To cast your vote, click on the poll below.   Voting ends Friday May 29th at Midnight! Feel free to leave your remarks in the comments below.

Good luck!

Refurbishing old Dining Room chairs

Look at these beautiful table and chairs that Emily sent in to show us!  She purchased the drop-leaf table and four chairs on Craigslist for $100.  She stripped, sanded, painted and reupholstered the chairs.  It brings a whole new look into her apartment and looks incredible.  For more pictures of the process, click here.

It just goes to show that good design and beautiful things can be done under just about any budget.  Do you have a project that you'd like to share with us?  Send it to contactus AT freshnestdesign DOT com or click here.