As you might have gathered from recent posts, my boyfriend and I are in the process of decorating the house we bought last year – an all-white affair that’s in need of some personality. We’ve already made a start on the lounge and third bedroom (the big reveals to follow soon!), and next up is the dining room. We’ve been trawling the web for ideas over the past few days, so I wanted to share a few of the images that have helped to shape our plans.
Both Chris and I are suckers for Scandinavian design, and I have a feeling this room is going to end up with a strong Nordic influence (perhaps more so than other areas of the house). We love the Scandinavian way of entertaining, particularly the Danish concept of hygge – a word that has no direct English equivalent, but which roughly translates as the sense of connection and cosiness that comes from good company and good times. We therefore want to create an inviting, sociable space, with warm, low-hanging lighting as a focus.
I also have a feeling that the dining room is going to be one of the few spaces in the house to remain white (my love of grey seems to be taking over everywhere else). It opens onto our patio, so we’re keen to maximise the light, airy feel as much as possible. That means it’s ripe for showcasing some artwork, so a gallery wall or a quirky collection of mirrors might be in order…
Most of the furniture is already sorted. Both of us love pairing rustic pieces with more contemporary items, and after a lot of searching we found the perfect chairs to go with our chunky wooden table – vintage Bertoia chairs from the 1970s, sourced from Bristol-based eyespy and similar to those shown here:
We’ve been debating whether or not to add curtains and a rug to bring in a bit of warmth, but we want to avoid making the space look twee or cluttered. After a lot of discussion (thanks to everyone who responded to my plea for advice on Instagram!), we’ve settled on a pair of linen curtains in dove grey, which have a lovely clean look and a beautiful texture. Well, I had to sneak a bit of grey in there, and I hope it will provide the soft blend of colours shown in the two rooms below. Now we just have to get around to shortening them and putting up a curtain pole…
I’ll post a few pictures of the results as soon as we’ve finished. In the meantime, there’s more dining room inspiration over on my Pinterest board.
Photography by (from top): My Scandinavian Home, Stil Inspiration, bengtgarden, Vastarintama, SF Girl by Bay, Emmas Design Blogg, and Coco Lapine Design and The Style Files
Leave a Reply