Dining Room Updates

Nick really hates it when I think up ways to decorate. He'd like it if I left everything as is. Too bad. My dining room is boring and lacks any sort of personality. It does have good bones though. It's got a nice cream color on the walls and a mustard color at the base which I love and I can totally work with (not that it wouldn't be easy to change). I also already have a fairly decent dining room set I got from an antique auction for a ridiculously low price a while back. I bought it for less than most people buy for a single piece of furniture and my guess is that it will outlast most of the newer stuff out there.

For my dining room makeover, I'd like to buy everything used with exception of the curtains and candles. Everything else in the room will be found objects, hopefully, even the chairs. Though I got a great deal on the dining room, the chairs are in need of help. They need to be re-glued and re-padded. I'm not sure whether it will be more cost effective to replace them or if we can find something else used that will work. I'm keeping my eyes peeled at the area auctions.


Above, you can see that I made an idea board. Mind you, it's a quick mock-up and it's not very clean. So, forgive me for that. I'm old school (traditional) and I love old things. Like, really old things. I think it reminds me of my great grandmother. She was a sweet, spunky lady with a lot of class and I admired her greatly. She had a lot of amazing, old ornate pieces. They just don't make like things like that anymore.

I like the French aesthetic having passed some time there. The challenge is keeping it relaxed and informal enough to be comfortable, and that is where the 'country' comes in. I think the real beauty of a lot of French design is the elements of classic simplicity juxtaposed with really ornate pieces. I'm not interior designer. What the heck do I know.

To Nick's demise, I will need the following to complete this look:

Brass candelabras
Lace table cloth (the kind your grandmother has)
Curtains and sheers
Candles
8 Chairs
Blue Plates (I have started this one so I have a few)
A classic landscape artwork piece

I hope to complete this look in the next 5 or so years. The best designs, after all, take time to put together. I don't want anything new and it's going to take some digging to find what I envision.