Searching For Inspiration

I've suddenly become obsessed with giving my dining room a makeover.  For inspiration I've been pouring over my books of tear sheets and the internet for color and style ideas beyond what's been floating around in my little head.

The one thing I'm completely (I think) sure I want is wide horizontal stripes.  I've seen them in bathrooms, offices and even bedrooms, but not dining rooms.  Not that that would stop me :).  Now it's simply a matter of narrowing down the colors for my stripes.  I know I want them to contrast subtly - no big dramatic color differentials.  I'm pretty sure I've got my colors selected and I'll share them with you soon.

I definitely want to maintain the trim colors I have (old Martha Stewart colors, Georgia Beach and Westport Tan) because I still really love them.  But, because my dining room opens into my living room, I want the new color palette to work well with my living room colors.  So, I'm still working through the details before I take the dive.

Here are some dining rooms I found charming and in palettes I could live with.

This one is just so soothing.... Another thing I love about this room is what looks like a makeover of a really old piece of furniture.  The console against the wall looks like 70's or 80's french provincial bedroom furniture that's been made over with paint.  Of course, it could also be brand new in which case my sincere apologies to the home owners.

I love the contrast of the black against the creamy walls, though I hate the table.  The chairs look really comfy though.

I love it, but quickly dismissed it because though I love all white in theory, I love color more.

 This one is just gorgeous, but a little too formal for me I think.  Still, those chairs, that candelier, the custom table covering...sigh......

I just threw this one in because it reminds me so much of my current dining room color palette.

This just looks so clean and crisp.  This is exactly the kind of dining table I want...dark wood, simple, elegant and I want to stay with a round table (like I have now).

This is beautiful, but again it's too formal.  This is exactly how my dining room opens into my living room and you can see why it's important to maintain color connections between the rooms.

Currently, my dining room and living room pick up colors from each other, making it all blend nicely.  Recently though, I removed all of the burnt orange accents from the living room and am looking to remove it from the dining rooms walls also and just soften everything up a bit.

My dining room is nothing like this, but this is such a soft pretty palette and I'm so envious of all the storage.

This is clearly a super narrow dining room that looks so much bigger thanks to huge windows, french doors and high ceilings.  Also, a fireplace (especially exposed old brick like this one) just adds such panache to a room, particularly when it's a little unexpected...as in a dining room.

I also love that they resisted the urge to go with a rectangular table that would have actually called more attention to the narrowness of the room.

If you have ideas or want to share your dining room, let me know!

Bye for now,

cc