ThatsQuirky: I’m so excited to show you after photos of my dining room (remember the before?) We’ve kept things pretty simple - I painted one accent wall and the remaining walls in a pretty shade of blue that’s one notch darker than the living room. 

PAINT: Selecting paint colors was my biggest challenge. The living and dining rooms are connected through a large arch and I wanted each room to look different, but also flow through smoothly. My vintage globe collection, black and white rugs and accents in the living room and the original wood trim were my main concerns. And I finally got that black wall I’ve been dreaming of! I love how it shows off our old house walls which are so full of character!

WINDOWS: I did a set of bright white sheers for the windows and did a super deep hem which adds a little weight and helps them drape well! And I was surprised to see how much light they disperse in the room too! 

LIGHTING: We love the original dining room fixture so we had some help rewiring it and did small, clear, round bulbs. We couldn’t find Edison bulbs in this size, but we can still get the same effect because we put this switch on a dimmer. When turned down, the filaments are visible just like a larger Edison bulb. 

FLOORS: The rug is from Overstock.com and it’s the kind of weave that our cats can’t ruin (a big problem for previous purchases). Not the kind of thing you want to take a nap on, but just fine for under a table. I like that it breaks up all of the wood in the room!  We’re waiting to refinish our floors, but I did polish them up with some Old English. 

DECOR: You’ll also notice we don’t have anything on the walls. At first I thought I’d do a gallery wall of black and white prints on the black wall, but the living room has a lot going on and it’s kind of refreshing to look into the simple, uncluttered dining room.  We might hang one of my brother’s original paintings there, but not sure yet! 

We have a massive collection of spirits, but they’ve taken up residence in a kitchen cupboard. Instead we have out a few decanters and bottles of our most used spirits (bourbon, gin, cachaça, St. Germaine and Campari) with our wine below!

SOURCING

• Black Wall: Midnight Dream, Benjamin Moore 
• Pale Blue Walls: Bird’s Egg, Benjamin Moore
• Arch: Madjestic Blue, Benjamin Moore
• Rug: Jill Rosenwald Black Cluny Rug via Overstock.com
• Table: Floor Model (last one!) at Thompson Furniture, Bloomington IN
• Flowers: Bloomington Farmer’s Market