Dining Room {Client Design}

When it comes to building a new home, there are definitely some advantages -- making your own selections, picking the floorplan that suites your family, designing a kitchen with your specifications.  But there are also some ways to save some money along the way.  I always suggest choosing builder grade options in certain areas that you can go back and upgrade on your own later, such as lighting or paint.  Most builders give you the option of one paint color throughout the entire home -- which is just not realistic.  Paint is the easiest thing to change yourself.  And with thousands of lighting choices out there, choose the basic package for now and change out the light fixtures once you move into the home for a more dramatic, personal home.

This dining room, I recently designed, is a brand new construction home for a wonderful family that was looking to bring in some warmth and personality into their home.  They were smart in choosing a basic paint color throughout the house that we could then change room-by-room.  And they were right in choosing simple lighting fixtures that can be changed out for something with more interest and character.  While the lighting and paint color might be the most dramatic change in the space, they definitely weren't the only things that helped create this casual, farmhouse chic inspired dining room.

It is hard for a lot of people to describe their "design-style."  It is even hard for me to describe a design style in a couple of words sometimes.  So, this client came to me knowing that they loved Joanna's style from HGTV Fixer Upper!  Which I loved, because I am obsessed with their style and that show.  They were looking for a Dining Room that could look like it was designed by Joanna, so that was my goal and my only direction for the space.

What I loved about designing this dining room especially, is that this family of five use this table to come together for family dinner every night.  Unlike a lot of dining rooms that rarely get used, this space had to be casual enough for every day dining and grand enough for formal dinners.  I decided to do a fairly neutral color palette with navy as the main pop of color because navy can be very fun and casual, yet very moody and sophisticated for a dining room.  I chose a dark, dramatic blue, gray wall color for the paint and a chandelier with just a touch of sparkle in the crystal hanging down from the bottom.  Modern, rustic touches keep it casual enough for everyday use.

What made this orb chandelier extra special were the light bulbs I chose.  Of course, you can choose the standard pointed candelabra light bulbs for a chandlier like this, but for a more custom, modern approach I chose round bulbs from Lowes, like these.  I was obsessed with how these light bulbs completely morphed this chandelier into something even more spectacular!

BEFORE

DESIGN PLAN

AFTER

This Dining Room design was a big change for the family -- going from a tall bar-height table to a standard height dining table, and then bringing some color to the walls, but it is such a warm and cozy space now with character for family dinners or even homework and crafts!  You can see the entire design process of the Dining Room here and I will be revealing the entry way makeover of the home very soon too!  Its's one of my favorites!

Paint Color:  Granite Peak #6250 Sherwin Williams

Dining Table-World Market / Wood Dining Chairs-World Market / Navy Dining Chairs-Target / Solaris Orb Chandelier-Home Decorators Collection / Feather Artwork-Joss & Main / Rug-Weekends Only / Wood Sign and Wood Arrow-custom artwork available to order through JSD!  (Email us at jessicastoutdesign@gmail.com)

Paint Colors for a Dining Room

When it comes to choosing paint colors, my first bit of advise is to CHOOSE THE PAINT COLOR LAST!  (if you can*)

I know that seams a little tricky because you have to paint your space before you can move furniture into it, or hang new lighting, or hang anything on the walls, but if at all possible, wait until you have a few items for the room picked out to determine your specific paint color.  Fabric is the best thing to match paint colors to.

I started my design process for this space by browsing Pinterest.  I knew I wanted to do a darker gray/blue color on the wall as a rich contrast to their existing white chair rail and wainscoting on the lower half of the wall.  So, I went to Pinterest to look at dining room inspiration with a rich, blue/gray color on the walls.

from Suburban Faux Pas

source unknown

from Honey & Fritz

I loved this last inspiration photo because it shows the client what dark blue walls looks like with the white wainscoting and dark hardwood floors.  These walls were a little too blue for what I was wanting to do, but still a gorgeous space.

I ended up coming up with 6 color choices that I liked for the space.  I waited to narrow these down and finally choose one until I had some of the pieces of furniture and decor purchased to see them together in person.

These are obviously all very similar, but some are darker, lighter, more blue, or more gray.  I wanted something that looked blue but also looked gray.  Like it would be hard to distinguish it as gray or blue!

After one of the pieces I chose as artwork arrived, I was able to narrow down my choices to four paint colors.  Honestly, all of these go well with the art because there are so many different shades in the painting.

artwork purchased from Joss + Main

Eventually, I chose to go with GRANITE PEAK!  It is the perfect shade of blue + gray that I wanted for this space.  I plan on doing navy head chairs at the dining table, so that rich blue color was important.  But I also wanted it to be a little subdued with the gray undertones.

This family just moved into this home less than a year ago, so without having to already re-paint the entire home, I chose some accent areas and some separated rooms that would look great painted a different color to give the home some contrast and personalization.

Like most open floor plan homes these days, the living room and kitchen is one wide open space, that has walls connecting to the second floor and even into the entry way.  We wanted to add a little contrast to the walls but with no stopping point in most places, it is challenging to decide what paint colors to go where.

The easiest thing to do is to choose one wall, which should be a focal wall (fireplace or tv is usually here) and paint it a darker shade than the surrounding walls.  I still love an accent wall.  Some would say they are "out" but I don't think so -- as long as they are done correctly.  I like to do a lighter paint color on the surrounding walls and a darker color on the accent wall.  So, I chose Dovetail Gray by Sherwin Williams.  It was a pretty easy decision here because I have used this color a lot in projects and it always looks gorgeous.  It is a very warm gray, with a little brown undertone, but not too much where it still looks gray.  The hardest decision was deciding whether that was dark enough.

DORIAN GRAY is a shade lighter than DOVETAIL, but I felt like that was too light and not enough contrast to their existing tan walls.  It wouldn't have given them a distinct accent wall.  GAUNTLET GRAY seemed way too dark for this one accent wall.  I didn't want it to be too overwhelming.  It is good to pick a color and then look at the surrounding colors, lighter and darker, to make sure you are choosing the correct shade of paint.  Sherwin Williams' paint deck makes this really easy because all of their colors are shown in continual gradation.

Here is a room I found on Pinterest in Sherwin Williams Dovetail.

I use Pinterest a lot for my initial paint color choices.  You can just type in your paint color in the search area, and tons of rooms in that paint color will pop up!  Don't always trust these though, because remember, it's still on the computer and the colors will be a little off due to your screen color. 

We were going to choose the same darker shade of gray for the sun room, but instead, decided to NOT to take the "safe" route and to go with a little more color than just gray.  So, we chose COMFORT GRAY also by Sherwin Williams.  Another favorite of mine!!

Here are the three colors I chose for the home all together.  They all go together nicely to keep a cohesive look throughout the home.

from Design Dazzle

This is a space showing the COMFORT GRAY wall color.

This is a rendering I started to see what the space will look like with the paint color I chose - GRANITE PEAK.   I love putting renderings together to get a better visual of what the space will look like.  These aren't the final curtain choices, just one in the running so far!

There is still a lot to do with this space to make it perfect.  Even though there are not a lot of items needed for a dining room, besides the basics -- table, chairs, rug, curtains, and some artwork, each piece has to be even that more perfect because there aren't as many items for the eye to look at.  So each piece has to be perfect and gorgeous!