Design Dilemma: Rachel’s Dining Room

My friend, Rachel Perls is a color expert and writer of Hue. She wrote to me about a month ago asking for help with her dining room decoration. She’s got the color down solid – a nice complimentary scheme of orange and blue The walls are orange and she covered the chairs with a nice blend of blues. She’s planning on painting the trim a dark brown.

So, we’ve got our color scheme. Rachel needed some help with furniture placement, a buffet and some finishing touches. So here we go.

The table needs to be placed with the short end facing the entrance. As you can see, it makes a better traffic flow into the kitchen and around the table. That’s simple! The next place to go is the area rug.

The walls, table and floor have orange tones, which can look monotone. The large window and the wide doorway on the other side cut down on the saturation. Still. I felt it would be a good idea to go with a neutral carpet to cut back on the orange without clashing with the blue patterns on the chairs. The 5′ x 8′ sisal carpet ($158) is from Pottery Barn). It has a bound edge and fits nicely under both the table and chairs. Next, we need a buffet.

I’d like to see Rachel and her husband some pieces they’ll keep forever. I love this Chinese Butcher’s Table from Wisteria ($1,499). The age on the antique buffet gives the room tons of character. Plus, it can serve as a buffet table – terrific for entertaining. Since Rachel is lucky enough to live in San Fransisco, she can shop the antiques in her wonderful city for just the right thing and keep this in mind while she shops. Lucky girl!

We need some simple accessorising. Rachel already owns this tiled mirror. The color ties in perfectly with the blue chairs. I’d hang this over the buffet. She’s going to need some artwork on the other wall as well. I suggest starting an art wall with a variety of photos, art work and other elements. To see how to create this look, read my earlier post on the topic.

I’ve added a hand-painted Talavera plate from Novica as a centerpiece on the table. Two would be even better.And that’s it! A simple plan for a beautiful, colorful room.

Jennifer’s Tips

• Always start with the item that has the fewest options. Here, I would have started with the rug and then chosen fabrics for the chairs afterward.
• Neutral goes with everything! Duh. The beige sisal cuts back on the orange and creates a nice extra layer of decoration.
• Don’t freak about matchy-matchy. Please! This room will look really great with a mix of styles. The only important element is the scale. Keep all the pieces the same scale. Say no to a giant chair with a tiny table.

Okay, let’s hear your tips. How would you decorate Rachel’s dining room?