Ashley’s Design Dilemma
Time to tackle another room submitted by a reader, this time from a former-Virginian named Ashley. Now living a stone’s throw away from us in Maryland, Ashley submitted the following question along with her own first stab at a mood board:
I need help with my dining room. I’ve tried to put together a mood board but I don’t think it is very good… I really struggle with this whole decorating thing. My husband and I are both mathematicians so its really out of our comfort zone. I’ve attached a pic of our dining room and my mood board… any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
We liked where Ashley was headed - a square display case, a personalized wall decal and some floating shelving for a few pictures frames. Not bad, math lady! But we do have a few suggestions to punch it up and bring more balance and color to the room:
Here’s the moodboard breakdown.
1. With so much wall space, why hang one of these floating shelves from Pottery Barn when you can hang a group of them instead? They would definitely fill out the big wall across from the window (not shown) and look great with a few simple black and white framed photos.
2. This is Ashley’s living room (painted in Behr’s Mesa). She wants to keep it that color so her husband doesn’t have to paint again. What a thoughtful wife. And we think the color’s nice too.
3. With all that tan and wood going on, we think green would be the perfect, nature-inspired accent for the room… especially when those green accents are edible and delicious. So throw some green apples in a bowl on the table and call it a day.
4. Just like the floating shelves, Ashley’s display piece needs to be big enough to fit the room. And this large, cubed storage unit (the Expedit from IKEA) would really anchor that back wall behind the dining table. Since it’s see-through, it won’t seem as heavy as a piece with a wooden back panel. And it’ll give Ashley plenty of space to store all sorts of fun things from dishes to glassware.
5. We think dishing up a manageable serving of color would look gosh darn delicious in that dining room. And this fabric from Amy Butler would look great as a runner on the table and even on the seats of those chairs. It’s a nice sophisticated yet playful way to bring in that fresh green accent color.
6. Ashley’s custom wall decal from Etsy would work perfectly above those Pottery Barn picture ledges on the wall across from the window (not shown). Especially if the frames on the ledges feature photos of family and friends.
7. Last but not least, a collection of green bottles (in the cubed storage unit, on the ledges among the picture frames, and even down the center of the table) would look great and add a few more splashes of our nature inspired accent color. Just buy some bottles of Pellegrino and some cheap wine, drink up and wash off the labels.
So there’s our take on Ashley’s dining room. You likey? You hatey? Tell us, well, tell Ashley so she can get a little closer to the delectable dining room that she deserves.
And if you’re in dire need of some decorating advice, click here to get your very own virtual design consultation.
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Comments
Those are some great ideas! I especially like the Amy Butler fabric. I recently saw a post on the ‘Making It Lovely’ blog where the dining room hutch was redone so that there were fabric panels behind the display items. Here is the link http://makingitlovely.com/2008/03/05/rearranging-the-dining-room-hutch/
That green fabric could look really cool behind some of the squares in the bookshelf! My hubby has that bookshelf in his office at work, and it looks spectacular. He added some lighting to a few of the cubes to add a little mood lighting too.
The picture makes the room look fairly dark, so maybe putting in some window treatments that allow in filtered light and adding mirrors to some of the dispays might help maximize the natural lighting?
I think it is beautiful and very stylish. Very contemporary and orderly. Perfect for two mathemeticians :)
LOOOOOOOOVE IT!!!!! very contemporary-looking. I love the color accents - brown with green. Go for it, Ashley!
Maybe you can take the “after” pic and post on here.. :o)
to J and S- I absolutely love your website, perfect for people who are new house owners :o) Keep up with the good work!
Gina
OMG I love it! Thank you soooo much. I was out of town until this morning so it was great to see this…makes Monday a whole lot better! I really love the green apples centerpiece and the fabric and the bookcase especially since I have been wanting some storage in that room. I also like the comments about crown molding. I will def send in the “after” pic to you guys! Thanks a million. Off to send a link to the H …
Great ideas. I love adding green to the room. One more idea: get a new light fixture. The one you have is pretty low and I’m sure you could do better. As it stands now, the light makes the room look cramped. Good luck Ashley! And remember to send a follow up photo!
I think that your ideas are perfect! Especially the accents of green, and the Ikea storage (a bookshelf I have wanted for our home). Well done!