Time for dining room to grow up
THE NEWS & OBSERVER, Raleigh, NC Saturday, January 31, 2004
PROBLEM: The kids’ toys have taken over the dining room, which needs furniture. Also, the living and dining rooms need a color scheme, including window treatments.
SOLUTION: Consider a color scheme of cream, blue and adobe. The window treatments and the furniture in adjoining living and dining rooms should complement each other. The designer recommends colors from the Sherwin Williams collection: for the dining room, SW6119 Antique White above the chair rail, and SW6515 Leisure Blue below; for the living room, SW6514 Respite for all the walls. The accent color for both rooms would match SW 6326 Henna Shade.
Dear Designer: We have lived in our home for one year, and we are experimenting with different floor plans, trying to use our main floor space more effectively. We have three young children, and are attempting to balance play rooms with family rooms and kept the toys from taking over the house. We really need some help!
Our primary problem is the furniture layout in the living room and dining room, which are adjoining. Right now, the dining room is a playroom. We want to buy a dining room table and chairs, and a china cabinet and glassware and make this a grown-up space. Also, we would like to move a TV into our living room armoire and would like comfortable seating for socializing. I would like to define the living room from the dining room by painting the dining room walls a deep russet color, but I am nervous. Finally I need window treatment, but I am not sure about what style to use because we want to maximize light and keep things simple. -- J.B., Raleigh
Dear Designer asked Sally Williams at Colorful Concepts in Raleigh to offer decorating suggestions and help solve the furniture selection and placement problems.
Dear J.B.: Congratulations on deciding to make the kid’s to relinquish the dining room and transforming and the living room into comfortable spaces for relaxing and entertaining. To create your new grown-up space, all you need is the perfect color scheme, coordinating window treatments and a plan for furniture.
Select a Color Scheme. Your beige carpeting and cream furniture is a great neutral starting ground for choosing a color scheme. You also should consider the warm-golden tones of your armoire and coffee table, and the wall colors of the adjacent kitchen (sage green) and family room (soft yellow) in your color scheme.
The joined living room and dining room feels like one large space. This must be taken in to consideration when selecting wall colors for this area.
I suggest against the deep russet color you were considering for the dining room walls. Such a deep color will draw one’s eye directly to the dining room walls, and I don’t believe you want the dining room to be the focal point upon entering this area. You need to define the two rooms, but consider a more harmonious combination.
The dining room furniture should be in the same golden wood tones as your living room armoire. (We will discuss style and dimensions later.) Consider bringing the cream of the living room sofa and chair to the walls of the dining room above the chair rail only.
For the area below the chair rail, and the living room walls, I use two different shades of the same color. This will help define the two rooms, but in a subtle way that won’t draw immediate attention to the dining room. Finally, to build harmony, select an accent color for both rooms, particularly in the living room.
The accent color should also be found in the fabrics of your window treatments, accent pillows, dining room chair cushions, chandelier shades, floral arrangements, and other decorative items.
Devising a furniture layout: You want to keep your dining room furniture less formal, so that it can be moved to your kitchen someday when you have a home with a larger eating space. In selecting your new furniture remember the size limitations of the dining room, and the style and color of the wood furniture in the living room. Lane Furniture has several great casual dining collections that will coordinate nicely with your armoire and coffee table. You can see these at www.lanefurniture.com.
The dimensions of the dining room (9’10” x 11’5” will make selecting furniture an exercise in precision. The dining table must be centered under the chandelier in the room, and you should allow at least 24” for a chair to slide out from the table. The only spot for a china cabinet is on either the right or left-hand wall, as there is a large window on the far wall, and the fourth wall is completely open to the living room. It will not be possible to place a cabinet in the center of either wall. Even working with very narrow pieces: a cabinet with 18” depth, and a table of no more than 40” width, you are still left with less than 20” for chair movement.
I don’t recommend a traditional cabinet in your dining room. Instead, consider two narrow curio style cabinets in opposite corners of the room. Or, a buffet. If you have your heart set on the cabinet, place it in another location-- family room, kitchen, or entry hall.
In your living room, you can easily accommodate two or three more chairs for additional seating. Remember: the focal point is the wall that faces you upon entering that room. Place your sofa on that wall, between the two windows, and hang some wonderful artwork above it.
Treating the windows. A scalloped valance-style treatment, hanging on a wooden rod is a simple window treatment that will maximize light. Use the same style treatment in both rooms, dressing it up a bit for the dining room by adding a panel on either side. Select a rod that closely matches the wood tones in your furniture. Hang the rods high above the window frame, so that the drapes can hang down without blocking any light.
The dining room valance should be in the henna patterned print, trimmed in a wide border of the neutral off-white fabric. The larger patterned fabric, with the off-white background and henna accents, should be used for the side panels. The living room valance should also be in the henna patterned print, but trimmed in a border of the coordinating blue print fabric.