Traditional Dining Room Ideas
Most of the dining room in our new-to-us home is finished now, so I thought it was time to give you a tour, share some of the decorating choices I’ve made and show you what’s still on my to-do list.
Standing in our foyer, there’s a straight view through the living room and directly into the dining room, so creating a sense of flow between the rooms was important to me.
I’ve accomplished that mainly by repeating the same color palette and decorating style – choosing rugs, finishes and accessories that coordinate without matching.
This dining room is quite a bit smaller than the one in our former home, but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from layering it with the traditional style, color and collected pieces that I love.
Before, the room was blah and boring with a weird chandelier that was left by the previous owners.
If you know me at all, you know that my beloved pagoda chandelier made the move to the new house! Along with the peel-and-stick faux grasscloth wallpaper, it was one of the first things to be added to the room.
Once the plantation shutter was installed, it was time for the fun part—decorating!
Because of the sightline from the foyer, I needed to give a lot of thought about what I placed against the back wall of the dining room.
I chose the china hutch, which had been in the office at our former home, instead of the sideboard that was in our previous dining room for a couple of reasons.
For one, I felt that the height of the hutch gave that large wall the visual weight and presence that it needed. As an added bonus, the shelves gave me plenty of room to layer in colorful accessories, which brought even more personality and interest to the room.
Flanking the hutch with a pair of chairs gave the wall the width that it needed and allowed me to display a pair of my favorite vintage vases.
I’m on the hunt for a couple of small prints to go between the top of each of the chairs and the bottom the sconces.
Can we please have a moment for this cute octagonal cubby shelf that I recently added? It’s from a designer collection at Michaels and I was fortunate to be able to snag one when they put in on clearance. It’s still available HERE if you’d like one for your home.
There isn’t a lot of other wall space left in the room, but I was able to tuck an accent chest into one corner.
I’ve ordered fabric to make an upholstered cornice for the window and will be making new accent pillows for the side chairs.
I may have mentioned it in another blog post, but I ordered these plates before we ever moved and think that they fit perfectly into the room and add a fun element. I don’t ever want to take my house too seriously!
There are still a few finishing touches to come, but I’m really happy with how this little dining room has come together. It’s proof that a smaller room doesn’t have to be short on personality!
I think the new cornice and pillows will be just what the room needs to finish it off, and of course I’ll share those with you once they’re done.
In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy having another room that feels like us—traditional, colorful, collected and filled with things that I love.
Love this wonderful cheerful room. It’s so you and your aesthetic. The view into the room from the living room repeating the fretwork of the bamboo coffee tables, dining chairs and hutch doors is perfection. I do not remember the colorful plates, they are great with the chair seats.
Bravo! Thank you for sharing.
Tell me about the rug in the new diningroom. I am in need of a no nonsense rug to go in my beach condo. Thank you
Hi Betty. Here’s the link to the rug that I purchased: https://on.ltk.com/+tSaxIEgfADuhfpQ7I1Ofig. Unfortunately, it’s no longer available, but I found it by searching for ‘neutral outdoor rugs’.