I’m sharing a dining room and entry hall consultation with you today, Design Lovers, where rearranging the furniture might be all it takes to get a new look!
Oh, don’t we wish it could always work that way!
This homeowner has some nice furniture, including some antiques that she was a little tired of. She was considering moving one or two of the pieces out and wanted to know what to put in their place.
She had already replaced the chairs in her dining room set to a contrasting painted finish chair, which was a smart move. It lightened up the look a lot.
What she was really interested in changing was the china cabinet and dishes inside. She was tired of that and was thinking of moving it to the basement. She didn’t know what to put there instead though and was looking for ideas.
Here are the pics.
Dining room - I think tweaking the furniture here might be all this homeowner needs to do.
Dining room - The homeowner here was getting tired of the china cabinet and dishes and wanted some advice for this wall.
She also wondered about this wall at the entry and if she should move this piece of furniture over to the dining room wall to replace the china cabinet.
Entry hall at stair - What is the best piece of furniture for this space?
Here was the rest of the open space. They have a lovely lake view, as you can see. They want a more of a coastal, transitional style for this open space with blues, tans and creams.
Living room - The living room is large and open and looks out to a beautiful view.
Here's what I recommended.
First of all, these are lovely pieces of furniture, I hate to see you discard them or store them away somewhere. I think just a little "rearranging" is all you need to do.
1) I do think the sideboard/buffet piece is too heavy for that stair wall. I would consider putting it where the sofa table is and then moving the sofa table to this wall. I think this wall just needs a more open, lighter piece of furniture and you have it with that sofa table.
2) Add a buffet lamp and move the art down closer to the top of the piece, as in my sketch below, and then put one of the white arm dining chairs beside it. I think it will feel lighter and more up to date overall in a snap. I would also go for some simple baskets maybe on the lower shelves of that piece in this location.
Entry hall wall sketch with the sofa table and one of the dining chairs used here. carlaaston.com
3) My MIL used an antique desk behind a sofa in a situation like this in her living room and I always loved it. It showed off the piece nicely and fit the room, much like moving that buffet piece behind the sofa might do here too. Not sure if it might be too tall, but I would definitely try it there to see how you like it.
4) For the dining room, I love the white chairs you have mixed with the wood pieces. However, I think you just have too many of the same style clustered there with the barstools too. Like I mention above, move one of the arm chairs to the stair wall and then the other can go somewhere in the living room.
Dining room
5) I actually like the china cabinet you have there, the height is good, it is not overwhelming in size for that wall. Since your chairs are light now, you can go with the dark wood piece there against the wall. I do think that the silver platter grouping is top-heavy above that piece. I'd group 3-4 of the ginger jar vases you have at the bottom of the sofa table now, on the top of this piece, and call it a day. They will extend the height of the piece and the light color of those relate to your light chairs.
Dining room sketch - Tweaking a few things in this space might be all that’s necessary to get a new look. carlaaston.com
6) The other option, if you just want to move that piece out and down to your basement, is to do the plate wall decor only, but turn it vertically and lower it to center on that wall. That whole area just feels a little crowded, so I'd pick which one I prefer and pare things down there.
7) Here’s another thought, since you wanted to box up the china in the cabinet too and move it, perhaps just using some plain white dishes or vases in the cabinet might feel more fresh.
I saw something like this at Roundtop recently, I’ve always been a fan of white dishes in glass front cabinets.
Vintage white ironstone in an antique cabinet seen at Roundtop Antiques Fair. carlaaston.com
Here are some white platters, tureens and pitchers in a dark painted china cabinet. It has a fresh and simple look. carlaaston.com
White creamware stacked up in a showhouse butler’s pantry has a soft look. carlaaston.com
I hope she sends pictures when she makes her changes!
Do you need some help with budgeting for furniture for your home?
Or maybe you are curious how a designer works with purchasing furniture for a client?
I’m linking below to one of my downloadable pdf guides that shares this information. It’s been updated recently to reflect 2022 price increases due to the demands in our industry right now.
It costs even more to plan and procure a project these days, but working through a designer can save you time and headaches. I recount some of my own supply chain woes in this guide. :-)
