Going from Drab to Fab

Look at this juicy color palette I'm working with for a dining room project.  It's so fresh and colorful! We're doing a jute rug, the ikat on the chair seats, the large suzani print on the curtain panels, and some luscious wall color.  The homeowner loves color and wants a younger, fresher, vibe in her often used dining room.  She's lived overseas and has collected colorful pottery from everywhere.  I thought her dining room should reflect her love for the color and pattern that attracts her eye. Here's some of her collection.



This was the project where a dinner party started it all!

The "Before"

Remember?

During a dinner at this house one night not too long ago.......one particular friend, well I guess it was several friends, decided the border had been there long enough. 

One piece was saved as a memory!

 

  Everything is on order and will be ready for Christmas!



Same Color Walls and Mouldings

Suzanne Kasler, Kim Winkler - House Beautiful

Using the same color on walls and mouldings in interiors can be effective in doing many things.  Most importantly, it makes the lines or bands of contrast go away and a stronger, bolder, somewhat more contemporary look emerges.  Where contrasting moulding might have visually divided up the space above, it is now unified with one color statement.  Those beautiful, rich wood doors really stand out in this single color space.

Gwen Driscoll - Elle Decor

The graceful lines of the furniture and rich color in the artwork stand out in this interior.  The same color treament updates and modernizes the traditional furnishings.

Kay Douglass - House Beautiful

Painting the wall mouldings and door the same color as the walls simplifies the look in this dining room. The texture of the ceiling is allowed to be the star.

Barry Dixon - Traditional Home

The colorful artwork really stands out on the wall with mouldings subdued by a same color treatment.  

Barry Dixon - Traditional Home

The intricate carving in the mouldings above is actually more pronounced.  If they had been painted a contrasting color you would have noticed the banding or lines of the moulding, not the detail of the carving.

Barbara Westbrook - House Beautiful

Here the same color on the mouldings gives a bigger impact to the overall design.  That smokiness and romantic quality would have been destroyed with the crispness of white mouldings.

Elaine Griffin - Elle Decor

This color makes a bolder statement painted on walls, baseboards, and window trim and shutters.

Robert Goodwin - House Beautiful

The gilded antiques above are set against a simple backdrop that is not fussed with a contrasting moulding.

Kay Douglass - Veranda

Just gorgeous.  A simplified, modernized version of a traditional dining room.  It doesn't forget it's past, but is such a creative and dramatic reinvention.

While not appropriate in every situation, the same color used on walls, mouldings, and doors can add an updated, bolder look to a room.  The lines running around the room or "outlining" disappears and color envelopes the space.  The objects in the room become more visually pronounced and emphasized. What a great tool for instantly changing the look or feel in a room!

What Happens When You Invite An Interior Designer To Dinner

......and you start talking about what you'd like to do in your dining room??

Everyone starts to help!

The outdated wallpaper border in your dining room gets ripped down by the 6 crazy dinner guests! :)

Of course there was wine involved.....but it would've happened anyway.



Now, on to the beautiful paint color and new window treatments we'll be doing!

No manicures were ruined in the making of this blog post. 

What To Do With Oak Cabinets

I have one project that was published a few years ago and again recently reprinted.

Photo from my website

After several years I still get calls and e-mails from all over the country with people asking me specifics about the finishes and telling me that they have these exact oak cabinets.  Most recently about a month ago, someone from Anchorage, Alaska was interested in the slate floor. I forwarded her the info on my supplier and they both tried to work out various ways to ship it as cheaply as possible from Houston to Alaska.  It was terribly expensive to ship that far and luckily she found something similar in her area.  I thought it just goes to show you how much people sometimes want to make the best of what they have and well, really aren't interested in a white kitchen. I know, as much we all love a white kitchen here on the blogs...

not everyone wants one.

This project had miles of oak cabinetry.  The homeowner didn't want to paint them or change them all out for various reasons.  They liked a refined rustic/craftsman style look and love natural materials.  The challenge became how to make those builder standard oak cabinets look good.  

Before

Items that had to go:  oak floors (too much oak, they wanted something more durable, and it didn't match the other oak flooring in the adjacent dining room), off-white counters, busy, dated wallpaper, dated light box, backsplash, white refrigerator, oddly shaped island.

Before

After

By pairing the oak with a dark color, the green in this instance, it became a two tone kitchen. We created contrast and the green was a rich accent to the oak. Notice all the elements we added, countertops, backsplash, and new cabinetry were that dark green color. The light color in the space became the oak or oak color. The dark color is the green. When you tie several different elements in a space together with color and value, you make a stronger statement. The slate floor mixed those two colors together beautifully.  That slate is call Imperial Sunset from

Thorntree

here in Houston.

After

I'm not a fan of making do with outdated materials and old features unless it can be done well and there are valid reasons for keeping them when you remodel. I do think however that this project has a timelessness about it, that the new and old blend really well, and I have to say....those oak cabinets never looked so good!

All before and after photos from my website

Thank you Better Homes and Gardens, for publishing this project again.  It definitely hit home with a lot of people.

I've moved! I would love it if you would follow my new blog,

Designed w/Carla Aston

!

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different Act Normal

If you have a design related question or need some advice on any aspect of interior design, e-mail me

HERE

.  I might feature your question in a special Q and A blog post! 

Facelift For a Chair

What do you do with an old world style brown frame dining chair upholstered in a gold, tapestry style fabric when you want a modern, fresh, vibrant look in your dining room and you don't want to get new chairs?

New dark chocolate wood stain

Edelman, "Dream Cow, Fudge" leather seat

Schumacher, "High Voltage, Espresso" fabric on the back

New larger nailheads for a bolder statement

Fun!!! 

One of my clients will be dining in style next week when these are delivered!

Have a vibrant weekend!