The dining room is a beautifully proportioned room. It is a generous size with a large bay window. Coming in through the front door, one looks through the entry hall directly into the dining room and the bay window.
The most recent owners had painted the walls battleship grey and hung cheap curtains. The light fixture they had bought at Home Depot (I later found the purchase information along with a instructions for hanging the fixture). The combination, in my eyes, was hideous. For reference, I donated the chandelier to ReStore, part of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh – someone undoubtedly enjoys it and it supported a great cause.
I wanted a change, so it needed to be completely different than the old, depressing color. I like color and pink in a dining room is a color I find particularly inviting. It is cheerful and sets off food well.
The nice proportions of the room called for a proper chandelier. I found one in an online auction, through Invaluable. The chandelier is by Waterford. I never expected to be able to buy one so nice. The auction catalog stated it was damaged/missing parts. I looked at the photos and could not see the damage. Taking a chance, I bid on it. It was a surprise to win the auction at a low price – about 20% of what I had seen the same chandelier on other sites. When I picked it up at the New Jersey auction house (transporting in my car hanging from a pole suspended from the front passenger seat to the back seat), I thought it looked in great condition. When I got it home, I found the only thing wrong was 3 missing prisms. These were easily replaced and I had a lovely chandelier at a bargain price.
Curtains are such a nice accent. British decorators have wonderful curtain ideas. When I lived outside of London one year I acquired several books about curtain making. I made swags and jabots out of an embroidered fabric I bought on eBay.
After hanging the curtains, I reupholstered the chairs with a sage green velvet, to match the leaves in the curtain pattern, and installed matching velvet fabric in the built in corner cupboards (a separate blog post).
My dining room is now cheerful and elegant.
Isn’t the power of color amazing? Great job, painting the ceiling really does make all the difference.
Don
Thank you Don. I’m glad you like it. I’ll show the office soon. It too has a great color. Thanks for reading.