modern dining room furniture

Using Burlap to Add a Rustic Feel to Our Modern Dining Room Furniture

In the last blog post by Laura Redd, she talked about how our space would be improved by some simple window treatments and other finishing touches.  We took her suggestions to heart and decided to make our own curtains and table runners for several rooms in the house.  When we had our house warming party a few months ago, the event planner (Melissa Lewkowicz with Events by Design) decorated our house with colored burlap to give the space a comfortable rustic feel.  We loved the look and decided to use colored burlap on a single table runner to see how it looked.

Creating More Space for Entertaining

 After 6 months of living in their new home, Jess and Peter have learned how they live in the space and have reached the fun part of furnishing and decorating their house.  Now we can truly define how to use the space to best fit their lifestyle.  Peter in particular really wanted a larger table in the dining room to allow for more seating for dinner parties and larger games.  

Balancing our Diverse Dining Table Needs with Modern Dining Room Furniture

Jess and I often have dinner parties and gaming nights in our dining room, so having enough table space has always been a challenge.  In the new house, there is plenty of room to eventually expand to a larger table to accommodate Thanksgiving dinners and other special occasions with friends and family.  I tend to favor fairly large tables like the Refectory Table from the Waverly Place Collection by Hooker Furniture because it would have plenty of room for people and all my games with their expansions.  I currently have to set up a small table just for cards, and this table definitely has room for board games, cards, and even some snacks on game night.  Plus, people wouldn’t have to squeeze together like sardines. 

Modern Dining Room Furniture to Display Our Special Dishes

After unpacking our kitchen appliances, dishes, and accessories, Peter and I quickly realized that we didn’t have a place to display our nice serving dishes & vases.  Although we have plenty of shelf space, a lot of our dishes were too big or awkwardly shaped to even fit into our normal cabinets.  We were also missing storage space for kitchen linens, dish towels, and napkins.  With a big empty space on one wall, we decided it was time to get some modern dining room furniture  to properly store some of our things.

Using Paint to Define Spaces in Your Home

When you look through the different rooms in a house, especially one with an open floor plan like Jess and Peter’s, defining each room with different paint colors can create a really interesting and inviting space. Now I’m not suggesting painting one room bright red, then blue, then green – this will create a kaleidoscope look that will appear more dizzying than designer.  However, painting each room a distinct, yet complimentary color to represent each room as you walk through the house will draw the eye to the different features of each room and create an elegant color scheme for the entire area.

Too Much Yellow for a Modern Dining Room

One of the first orders of business when we purchased the house was to go through each room & decide which needed to be painted first.  As the kitchen & dining areas are the most important, high-traffic areas for us, Peter & I decided to start in this direction.  As you can see from the pictures of the house before we purchased it, the dining room was a bright, garish yellow.  In fact, almost every room in the house was painted a different shade of yellow.

Modern Dining Room Furniture with a Garden Theme

I recently remodeled my kitchenette.  I wanted to design the room with a
garden look since gardening is a favorite past time of mine.  I started
with a bold green color paint that I used below the chair rail but kept the
walls a soft cream white.  I used a fun accent border for a splash of color
and garden pictures. 

Making a Home your Own

My husband and I bought this fabulous 1950’s home that only had one previous owner. This home had good structure and character, but was very traditional in decorations. There are many decorating things that I don’t do, like flowers on walls, carpet and clutter. I have a simplistic style and things have to flow.

One room of the home that caused me to cringe was the dining room. It had light green carpet, flowered wall paper and a gold and crystal chandelier….urgh!

Kitchen Design with Modern Dining Room Furniture

About a year and a half ago, I purchased my first home in Martinsville, VA; located in an older, traditional neighborhood and about a mile from Lake Lanier.  At the top of my list for renovation was the kitchen.  It was outdated and in poor condition.  The wallpaper, appliances, flooring, cabinets, and light fixtures all needed to be updated. I took a long-term approach and planned a design that was aesthetically pleasing, sensible for how I live, and fully functional, given my love for cooking.