I, probably like so many of you, love interior design. I go over to friends homes and help them move furniture around, will text them photos of pieces they should buy to finish their rooms when I'm out and about, and will pick up swatches I think would be the perfect fabric they are hunting for.
Here is a painting I created for The Pink Pagoda back in 2014 for the One Room Challenge, which was my first experience with the Blogging Design Project
But when it comes to my house, I am so sad to say I am a mess. I just can not seem to pull the trigger on anything and wax and wane over every (little) decision.
I needed to bring in the forces. I asked Amanda Louise Campbell of Amanda Louise Interiors to help me with my dining room. We decided the best plan of action would be to tackle the space in a swift manner: finish it from start to finish in a month.
Here we are together at the Secret Supper Event we were a part of this summer
The Calling it Home Blog puts on The One Room Challenge highlights creatives blogging about any room they want to re-design. It also gives a week by week snapshot of what the process looks like in six weekly blog posts published while the room is coming together.
This is another One Room Challenge that Olive & Tate and Amanda Louise Interiors created earlier in 2016 with one of my paintings installed in the living room.
So this is Post Number One and I am going to highlight some of the issues with the dining room.
My dining room is prominently featured smack dab in the middle of my living room and kitchen. We live in a 1940's Bungalow (aka a shoe box) so literally every square inch of this house has got to count. The dining room is our only indoor table for eating, so we are in here a lot.
My husband and I have lived here for three years now and this room is still bothersome and an eyesore,. I really do think that your home should be your haven and sanctuary, so I want to make this room right and get to a place of happiness with it.
I have lots of 'wood pieces' as designer Nina Campbell calls them. (I saw her speak last year and loved that she embraces wooden antiques in every room she designs.) Our Grandmothers gave lots of wood pieces to us, so we can not part with them. I really want to counter-balance them with some chic, fresh, more contemporary elements.
I have been a chicken about hanging any art in the dining room because I really can not get comfortable with any of my choices. (Or maybe its the placement of my art? Or maybe its the potential framing quandaries I'm dealing with?) Basically I am paralyzed in this department
The space just really feels like an incomplete, unfinished, boring Grandma-Home right now. (Please avoid eye contact with the half finished craft project on the wall.)
The living room and kitchen are separate rooms, but they do all flow together. Its time to spruce them up with vignettes, fresh art, and little moments that make the complete space come together in a meaningful way.
Here is the color palette we're working with. I am not drawn to loud saturated colors these days. I really want the dining room to be textural, quiet, and let the art speak.
I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you and working with some really wonderful businesses to make it all come together with a fabulous end result.