Please Help Me With My Dining Room!

This is my dining room. Sad but true. It's not bad. Great bones, great pieces. I love every single thing in it. It's just not "over the top" and I kinda like "over the top".   

I did this room awhile back and only WISH it was mine. I fell so in love with the chairs, I had to have them. The walls are upholstered in woven leather. The clients live in here. They entertain, eat breakfast, have fabulous dinner parties... I could have fabulous dinner parties. I could start by having someone - anyone over for dinner (over the age of 8). I don't because my dining room is plain and non-descript and makes you want to retire to one of the more exciting rooms.

 Here are my chairs... and Oscar de la Renta in my dining room. OK, just kidding. Oscar was not over for dinner, but these are my oh-so-fabulous "trellis" dining chairs. Mine are a natural pine finish, not white, but they are still great. The only problem, is they don't look this great in my mediocre dining room. I just want to be clear. I'm not complaining. I am REALLY thankful for my chairs they just aren't reaching their full potential in my MDR (mediocre dining room).

I have this Oushak rug. Still so thankful and love, love, love it with a capital "L", but might as well be old remnant as not looking like much in MDR.

I bought this chest at an auction. I adore it. I found out later that I was up against a silent bidder/friend with much deeper pockets and she felt sorry for me, so I won the auction. According to my husband, it's not actually "winning" because you still have to pay for it, but he's kind of a stickler for details.

This is my chandelier.  It casts the perfect light on the (non) dinner party. Ok, it just looks cool and is totally made out of shells. It is also enormous and a cool scale for the small room.

My dining room table was a wedding gift to my grandparents almost 60 years ago. As the oldest of 12 grandchildren, I was the recipient of the dining table and feel so lucky to have it in my home. Sadly, it just doesn't get used as often as it should. 


From an economical standpoint, I have all of the big pieces essential to a dining room. Perhaps I can deck out the windows with these drapes I covet from a client's new study? COVET, it's a sin, I know...

Or trick out the walls too?  I suggested to Ann that she paint something on my walls and just yesterday, she brought me two wallpaper books. Hmmm. Subtle.

I could (and by "I", I mean Fernando), could paint the walls a solid bold color? or wallpaper? So, how can I turn DRAB TO FAB?

This is not a hypothetical question (unless you are my husband and then, yes, this is totally all pretend). I really want you to tell me. Send me pictures, thoughts, ideas. I'm serious, tell me what to do because I will do it (and I'll blog about it). Plus, I'm fresh out of ideas when it comes to my own abode. I need fresh eyes, a new perspective. BRING IT ON!

Bye bye birdie...

~H

credit to: Oscar de la Renta 

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Write by: AN - Thursday, July 7, 2011