Case of the Mondays: Dining Room
This week’s COTM is dedicated to the little dining room in our coastal cottage.
I am a huge fan of having an enclosed dining room!
Ours isn’t anything fancy. It’s got a modest footprint and simple finishes, but it’s still its own space and I love it. Brendan and I enjoy having meals together in it just the two of us, but we also enjoy being able to host small gatherings of 4-6 without having to create a makeshift eating area. I occasionally use it as an office space, too, and enjoy it just the same!
I know there is a big trend toward the open-concept living space connecting your kitchen, dining, and living/family rooms together into one grand room – there are pros to this layout and the renos I’ve been a part of have turned out so well. But that being said, I personally appreciate the division and dedication of spaces (as long as the kitchen is spacious enough for cooking and light socializing!) I don’t know exactly what it is about it, I just appreciate each space as a standalone. Even if I did want to make it open concept, this house wouldn’t really allow for any major layout changes anyway, so it works for us.
“When we first moved into the house, we furnished it quickly and cost-effectively with inherited, thrifted, and IKEA pieces of furniture and décor. And this space was not an exception!”
One could say the mixture of Scandinavian, art deco, MCM, and craftsman pieces “works” in the rustic, eclectic cabin vibe we’ve got going on, but I still dream about the DIY updates we can do to make the house more us, and have a design theme that ties each room together. I know this means parting ways with a few pieces of furniture that have sentimental value, but I have time to get to that place (or figure out how to make them work!) :) Until then, I will continue to enjoy the homely vibes we’ve created with our mashup of furnishings because that’s the stage we’re at in our homeowner journey.
Current situation:
MCM laminate dining set my dad bought back in the 1970’s
Red clock left behind by previous homeowners, we kept it
IKEA as-is area rug and pendant light
Whitewashed wainscoting that just looks unfinished
Below is a quick sketch of the floor plan with the new items drawn in. Since the space is quite small, the layout is straight forward, but the transformation will be major! Since it’s just the 2D plan and you can’t see the walls, I’ve annotated the sketch with what I want to do with the vertical planes.
Design Intent:
Keeping with the overall aesthetic of casual and cozy with hints of traditional, I’ve chosen a solid wood round pedestal table (love the simple, curved leg detail!) and vintage style chairs with a curved back. The neutral, patterned rug is ideal for a dining space (hides marks and stains well) and works seamlessly with the other pieces and finishes. The brushed brass clock contrasts the organic textures, and the woven pendant light just tops it all off.
(Brendan and I really like the wood of the paneled ceiling, so we would like to keep it the way it is.)
Below is the mood/dream board for the dining room:
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:
Paint walls and wainscoting a warm white
Paint the crown, base, and window trim a warm grey
Install new woven pendant light
Install new area rug, table, and chairs
Decorate with clock and faux olive tree
Set the table with speckled dinnerware, brushed gold flatware, and burnt orange linen napkins!
*We plan to update the windows sometime soon, too.
ITEMS TO PURCHASE:
Same pattern in an 8’ x 8’ area rug
And last but not least…
BUDGET:
Based on these furniture and décor pieces - $3800
If I can source better deals - <$2500
Thank you for following along with my COTM Dream Board this week! If you missed my last one for the master bedroom, you can check it out here. As for the next COTM post, since the dining room is adjacent and visually connected to the kitchen, I’ll be posting that board so stay tuned!
Hello! Catherine here.
I’m a Vancouver-based interior designer and love all things creative! I’ll be sharing things that inspire me, posting design tips and DIY projects, chatting about all kinds of topics, and hopefully inspiring some people to make little changes at home to create an environment that is functional, beautiful, and a perfect reflection of you!
