Dining Room Update

The dining room has always been the room I have disliked, ever since we moved in to this house (Yep, I know, I am really drawing you into this one with such a positive opener?!)  I have never been able to get things quite right in here; it just hasn’t given me the feeling that it’s finished.  Since we moved it just over two and a half years ago, it’s had two different colours on the walls, I have made two different blinds for the window; I added extra chairs for the table, then we changed the table altogether and added a bench too……now we have too many chairs.  Are you seeing a pattern emerging here?

I ripped a fake fireplace out of the wall (if you fancy a laugh you can read about that one here) and have since repaired and re-tiled original fireplace and stacked it with firewood.  Now, obviously, this wood isn’t for burning (no matter how desperate we get), it is purely for ornamental purposes (I think we all know how much of a fan of that notion my husband is?).  I like it, it makes the room warmer, creates a feature and makes the room feel a little more “hygge”.  We originally painted the chimney breast in a light blue shade not long after we opened the fireplace, but surprise surprise this colour has also begun to tire.  I mean; is there something wrong with me? (Please don’t answer that)

There was a point that I had an armchair re-covered to put in the corner of the room; that didn’t work, no one sat in it (well, Boris did, and he wrecked it).  Now a desk resides in the corner as a writing desk for me, and I managed to get my husband to add some much-needed cupboard doors to the once named “Corner of doom” that seems to house every electrical item and/or cable we have ever owned.  All in all, it’s looking a little more “done” than it ever has.

There is always room for improvement though isn’t there? I have been swooning over many a beautifully-styled and captioned photo on Instagram pictures of late, namely from the #styleitdark gang (shall we call them a gang?).  Anyway, the temptation was just too great for my poor little easily influenced self to cope any longer, I had to find out for myself and just paint something in bloody “Downpipe” before the anticipation of not doing so killed me!  Quite frankly what was the worst that could happen?  I hate it and I re-paint it; no big deal? A risk worth taking I’d say.  I knew if I painted the chimney breast in this shade then I would need a much taller and brighter mirror to help keep a light and bright feeling in this room.  I didn’t want it to close in on itself or begin to feel too dark again (It’s such a dark room, my biggest success to date in there had been our installation of ceiling spotlights to actually make it feel like a room of normal daylight!).  I went for the Wilton White Window Panel Mirror from One World, as I thought it would be tall enough to create a feature on the mantlepiece and bright enough to create a brilliant contrast against the “Downpipe” on the wall.  I was so happy with the finished result, it completely changed the look of that side of the room, and didn’t make it look smaller at all.  In fact, quite the opposite.

Ever since the bench had arrived last year to sit against the wall, I had always felt that the wall above had begun to look a little bare.  You see, the problem I find with changing things in the house, is that one change often causes a ripple effect; and now suddenly everything needs changing!  The print and the oar that had always resided there suddenly looked far too small for the space; they paled into insignificance against the bench that sat below them.  I needed something that was more impactful and complimented the new darker feature in the room.  I decided on two sets of botanical prints from One World (which you can buy here and here).  They were big enough to make an impact, with colours that complimented the rest of the room and the table that is below them.  I know I was a bit late to jump on the botanical bandwagon, but I couldn’t help myself; I just fell in love with these and had to have them.  I debated whether to hang them in a square or along the wall in a line, and eventually settled for a line after much deliberation.  I could not be happier with how they look; I finally feel like that wall has the feature it deserves.  It just looks finished; finally. (It has only taken me since December 2014?!).

These two changes were so simple, but they’ve made such a difference to the room.  I already feel like it’s a space I want to spend more time in; somewhere I can actually enjoy as opposed to using as a corridor through to the kitchen.  The recent changes have also (as per usual) inspired me to make a few more changes (See, that ripple effect again?) that are now on the “To do” list.  I have already ordered a new desk chair to go in the corner (let’s face it, sitting on the re-shuffled dining chair wasn’t going to cut it forever), and I am currently planning (that means shopping) to properly style the shelving on both sides of the fireplace.  I think these could be just the things required to make it finally feel perfectly finished off.  Although I don’t want to tempt fate here, or run out of things to decorate.  I mean, could you imagine?……….

Elle x

*This post has been created in collaboration with One.World with items being supplied to me for the collaboration.  However, all opinions and writing within this post are my own