It isn't easy using large antique furnishings in today's dining rooms while staying current and stylish. Refer to my blog post of September 2012, Specific Requirements: Antique Dining Furniture, as this post is an update of that earlier project.
An appraisal was done on the project furnishings, pointing to the appropriate decision of cleaning, touching up and repairing. Complete refinishing would have lowered the value.
Using the design path created in the above blog post, I carefully chose lighting, fabrics, and accessories to work with my old behemoths, the original rug and colors of other areas on the main floor of the house.The chair seats got a large current pattern fabric in a neutral tone, Riad Dune. Lined curtains were placed in front of the bay window area on a dark wood rod. The dark wood relates to the dark dining furnishings and the curtain fabric is of a large modern sized toile with a brown background in a Linen and Rayon blend. Placing the curtains in front of the bay allows for optimum vertical height.
The formality of the silver chandelier was toned down by using dark natural linen shades.
Large retro style lamps fit the scale of the dining pieces and bridge the gap between today and the early 1900's of the furnishings.
Wooden bowls, boxes, baskets, and a mixture of vintage and modern table settings help to make the room less formal and more current with today's trends, without trying to make the furnishings be other than what they are.
The walls were covered with a textured green fabric, an updated colorful grass cloth look. The green color works with the rug, furnishings and accessories of the adjacent room as well.
The dark background curtains help balance the back of the space, where there is a lot of light from the windows, with the front of the space where the large buffet is placed (it is on the left, not seen in the above photo). The server that is seen on the right, in the back of the photo, also helps to balance the larger buffet, not shown. The five foot diameter round table is in the middle of the space under the chandelier. The table can seat eight without the addition of leaves. Yet the room still feels spacious and inviting.
The server and buffet are placed on opposite corners in an attempt not to crowd the table and traffic flow around it, refer to the above mentioned blog post for the space requirements. New mirrors above these two large pieces help lighten these areas and give a feeling of more space around them. The larger mirror is used over the smaller server piece, giving it a larger sense of scale and helping balance the opposite larger buffet.
The bay window area is the perfect spot for the large lazy suzan style silver serving piece. The buffet is too high for this piece. Placed on the server furniture it sticks out into the room, crowding the table and chairs. This permanent display solved a storage issue as the piece is 34 inches in diameter.
Although the original plans and design path called for the addition of a china cabinet, once the project was underway it was thought to be too much furniture. Using the bay area for the lazy suzan server was adopted as a new option for the plan.
While the silver tea set kept its original spot on the buffet -small hand painted antique tiles with neutral colors, dried hydrangeas in a silver bowl, a tiny carved wood trinket box, large retro style lamp with dark natural linen shade, and amber candle holders maintain an elegance without being overly formal.
Mirrors still need to be hung and art work chosen. The art and wall hung pieces have to work hard in this space to maintain the balance of old and current. It is worth waiting for the perfect pieces to come along or be commissioned. The design path set forth in the earlier blog post stated that art of a personal nature be used. Art placement may also make a difference on the exact placements of the mirrors, they will learn against the wall for now.
Although the art part of this project has not been completed, the room is certainly ready for use. Further detail can be added to this space and any space at any time. Some changes can be made without disrupting the style and sense of the way it is now.
Look for a future blog post on the three phases of a space and how some people like to live with phase I while others move on to phase II and still others like the highly detailed spaces full of character and objects found in phase III.
This photo is of the completed space with art and mirrors hung. See more photos of the roomon the Houzz web site.
