Our dining room has undergone a few exciting transformations during our latest renovation! The ceiling got a major (and much needed) upgrade, the wall art was switched out for something new, and we installed a new crystal chandelier that reminds us of our summer in Italy. I’ll walk you through the current stage of the dining room, sharing some thoughts that you don’t always get when you see a “reveal”! But first…let’s go back to where we started and the stages in between:
And here’s where we are today:
Wallpaper | Chandelier | Dining Table | Dining Chairs | Fletcher Ivory/Natural Rug | Framed Art Prints (unframed) | Taper Sconce
A Striking Ceiling Transformation
The biggest change, hands down, was adding planking and beams to the ceiling, then painting it the same color as the trim. Our ceiling used to be plain white. If I’m following my normal guidelines on when to paint a ceiling, this room needed it! Funny enough, we cropped the ceiling out of most photos because it always took away from the room—that should have been all the evidence I needed to paint it right there! I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the direction of the beams (why they aren’t braced from the lowest to tallest point of the ceiling), and honestly, it all came down to sightlines. From both directions of looking into this room from either the kitchen or the living room, going across just looked better. Plus, since this is aesthetics and not structural, the direction doesn’t truly matter.
This is the before, from when we first painted the trim and added wallpaper:
And here’s the after:
I opted against wood-grain beams here because I really wanted the living room beams to be a standout feature. The dining room and living room are the only two rooms in our house with vaulted ceilings, and while I’m not opposed to adding beams to other rooms down the road, this was more about enhancing the space without overshadowing the living room. Some of you have asked why I haven’t done this in other rooms yet – for me, a room is never truly “done,” so I’m always open to tweaking things over time! (Full tutorial on how we did the beams and planks in here to come!)
Shrinking the Doorway
We made a seemingly minor, but actually very impactful, change to the doorway: we moved it over and made it even smaller. This is actually the second time we’ve shrunk this doorway (look back at the first time—what a change, right?!)! This time, by removing a small angled corner wall from the living room, we were able to narrow the doorway further and shift its position. The result? The dining room feels significantly larger, almost like it has three full walls. From the kitchen, you now see a nearly complete wall, and there’s less of a visual “tangent” when you see chairs near the doorway. It was a small tweak that made a huge difference in how the room feels.
This is the before:
I’ll add a photo soon, so you can see how we took out the corner left wall above and moved the whole doorway to the left!
A (Short-Lived) Plate Wall Feature
Plate Rack | Blue & White Plates | Picture Light
I’ve been wanting a plate wall for awhile, and with the doorway shrinking, the wall felt larger so I thought I could fill up the space better with this swap. However, it started to look a little too busy with the blue & white plates, and yet, I also wished there was one more row of plates.
I decided to take down our cutting board feature wall in the kitchen and move the plate wall there (though I’m still working on how I want to hang it), so now the canvas art (an original by Courtney J. Garrett) is back in place under the picture light! Gonna DIY a frame around it next!
New Italian-Inspired Lighting
After our trip to Italy, where crystal chandeliers (specifically glass ones!) were everywhere, I decided I wanted that elegant touch in our dining room. It adds incredible light to our dinners under it every night. If you want to romanticize your life, a crystal chandelier is IT! I’m not going to lie, I do miss our last chandelier. It was such a moody, modern element in the room, but I’m sure it’ll find a new spot in our home. I’m a big believer in holding onto good lighting pieces – they usually find a new home in our house, because I love to swap things around!
Deciding Not to Add Contrast Trim
Speaking of colors, a few of you asked about my earlier idea of doing a contrast trim in the dining room. Instead, I brought that idea of more contrast into the living room. In the dining room we have Gibraltar Cliffs as our trim color, and the living room next door was painted in Pigeon (which was quite similar). Now that we’ve painted the living room London Stone—a warm, mid-brown paint color. It creates a lovely complementary palette between the living room and dining room. I still adore the dining room’s paint color!
Patching the Wallpaper
This isn’t an aesthetic change we made, but because we were changing the doorway width, we had to patch up some of the wallpaper. Our fantastic installer simply wallpapered over one whole wall and patched other areas. The organic pattern of our wallpaper makes it surprisingly easy to hide patches. Not everyone would do it that way, but he felt confident adding another layer overtop, and it looks great!
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, I already ordered a slim sideboard for under the painting for extra storage in here. And! I can envision us doing something different with the dining room doors. There’s one main door and two large windows that resemble doors, and I can see those getting an update at some point. We haven’t replaced them yet, but it’s an option! Also, I mentioned that the plate rack might find a new location around the corner. A room is never really “done,” around here, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to enjoy every moment in it now!
Shop the Dining Room
Trying to design a living room for a client who recently divorced and has a minor 9 year old child. She liked the Pottery Barn Stacked Ball Extendable Dining table and side chairs, in the Kindle Brown, but Pottery Barn has a very limited supply and cannot guarantee shipment. Any ideas?
I love the way you combine things, high class elegant with touches of casual cottage. I would never have thought to do that or thought about it and decided it would never work….but you make it look fabulous. I learn so much from you. Have you ever written a book with your design techniques to teach others? I would certainly buy it!
Everything is beautiful. It’s obvious that you have put a lot of time into your renovations because they always look exquisite and tasteful. Looking forward to seeing the reveal.
Hi,
personally, i am not a fan of the chandelier BUT the room is stunning!!
That chandelier is STUNNING!
I have been dying to get your PB candle wall sconces for over a year — I put them on my Christmas list but never got them as a gift, and when I went to buy them for myself after Christmas, they weren’t in stock. I keep looking at the site every time you link them, but they’re always sold out. 😠I’ve been holding off picking something else out because I know they’re the PERFECT addition to my room. Hoping they get restocked soon! My house basically looks like a CLJ-inspired Pinterest board already anyway. 😆