3-Stage Makeover: Elegant Dining Room

Bland as clear broth, this dining room lacked spice. A three-step makeover adds piquant tang with a generous dash of exotic flavor.



With generous proportions, handsome floors, and a distinctive niche, this dining room has loads of latent promise. But the room is too neutral, the floor blends with the furniture, and the lighting fixtures and draperies are wimpy. The dining set is a gorgeous choice for an inspiration piece. Its striking Chinese Chippendale style is timeless and suggests a design direction for the room. The table is set with simple china and crystal that, while a little too understated, create a solid foundation upon which to build.



Stage 1: Plain Dining

The alcove is a terrific feature that increases serving space, creates a natural focal point, and balances the room's pair of tall windows. The arrangement within the alcove, however, underwhelms. The console table is beautiful but underscaled for the niche. The mirror is dowdy and the spindly lamps belong in another house entirely. Walls and window treatments have the clout to make or break a room and in this case, it's the latter. Dining rooms offer the perfect canvas for invigorating color, but this room's beige-and-white scheme plays it far too safe. The windows' drama is stifled by timid draperies that melt into the walls.



Stage 1: Must-Have Basics

When shopping for china or dinnerware, first evaluate your lifestyle. Will the dishes be used only on special occasions or do you want something you can enjoy routinely and dress up for the holidays? White plates with a simple edge design are the easiest to coordinate with a variety of layering pieces. When choosing accent items, take cues from your dining room: Hand-glazed stoneware may be great on an Arts and Crafts table but odd on a Chippendale.

Stage 2: Adding Sophistication

The dining table is twice as commanding when anchored by an eye-catching rug. The subtle Greek key pattern echoes the chairs' fretwork, while the anything-but-subtle coral hue establishes the table as a focal point. A black pendant lamp adds dramatic scale with a contemporary twist. Walls and window treatments haven't changed dramatically -- they're often among the final touches in a room's decor. The tired sheer panels have been replaced with simple white shades, while the bold new rug cues the need for more color.



Stage 2: Simple Upgrades

The alcove houses a modern interpretation of a Chinese altar table that serves as a bar, while the handsome console table has found a better fit on the adjacent wall. Dragonfly prints -- Web clip art framed in faux gold-leaf molding -- reinforce the dining room's budding Asian aesthetic.



Stage 2: Building Layers

Accent plates don't have to be precious; look for distinctive dishes at import stores and catalog retailers. Chargers lend heft to a place setting and present an opportunity to incorporate contrasting materials, such as lacquer or metal, or shapes, such as squares.



Stage Three: Dashing Dining

With the furniture in place, it's the windows, walls, and accessories that propel this dining room past the finish line. Timid beige is ousted by swaggering color and pattern, and the tall windows finally receive their due. The table sets the stage for a chic evening. The simple white china is layered with graphic peony-pattern dinnerware, and votive holders are filled with marzipan favors. The runner fabric is a mid-century classic, but its crisp black-and-white geometry is perfect in the room's mix.



Stage Three: Add Accents

Seek out unexpected accents for the table -- decorative votive holders make clever personal candy dishes.



Stage Three: Dressed Up Alcove

The alcove is clad with boards to suggest the grid of a shoji screen. The altar table is bracketed by sculptural lamps that make a big statement. Unusual in a dining room, the floor lamps are an unexpected choice that ups the style quotient. A mirror framed in back-painted glass lends an exotic air.



Stage Three: Dramatic Walls

Walls and window treatments make all the difference in this makeover. Daring and glamorous, this wallpaper is certainly no wallflower. The bright orange and pink balance the rug, while black and white accents keep the powerful paper from going over the top.



Stage Three: Well Dressed Windows

Towering draperies play up the great windows and mirror the painted-white alcove. Black grosgrain trim echoes the chairs' fretwork, incorporates the rug's Greek key design, and adds a contemporary twist on a classic Asian motif.

Source: Better Homes & Gardens

Soothing Bedroom Just in Time for Baby

This master bedroom is mid-renovation.

Candice Olson creates a much needed retreat for newlyweds.

By Candice Olson

Before: Dingy and Disheveled

When newlyweds Jeff and Tamara purchased their home a year ago, they started a massive renovation project. But their work stopped abruptly when life presented them with some unexpected ups and downs. While they got the great news that they were expecting their first child, they also found out two months later that Tamara had cancer. Needless to say, they quickly shelved plans to finish the house and began what seemed like an endless stream of medical appointments.

Fast forward one year, and things are on the upswing. Baby Jasmine has been welcomed into the world, and Tamara has been given a clean bill of health. But since the couple’s bedroom was left unfinished during their renovation, it was important to Jeff that it be completed and transformed into an oasis in which Tamara could relax with their daughter. So after receiving his letter asking for help, I grabbed my crew and geared up to give the family a bedroom sanctuary that would help them unwind after a tough year.

The existing bedroom was bland, boring and very blue. It needed more light, more storage and an airier, more contemporary look. To give it the soothing, peaceful vibe I wanted, I looked to nature for my colors, fabrics and finishes.


Using organic materials and nature-inspired patterns and colors, Candice created a soothing sanctuary for two.

After: Breezy Oasis

Taking inspiration from a fabric with a cherry blossom pattern, I decided to fill the room with soothing shades of cream, green and bark, and I started things off by painting the room in a fresh coat of celery green.
I made a fantastic bed the focal point of this room. I used a sustainable wood frame and an organic rubber mattress, and then I topped it all off with natural cotton and linen bedding in meadow-inspired shades. But the big story here is the headboard, made of a blown-up floral pattern put on canvas and then on Masonite.

Flanking the bed are two dark walnut bedside tables with storage drawers that are backed with mirrors and sconces above it. At the foot of the bed, I put a wooden bench with a soft, buttery green vinyl top.

Opposite the bed is an oddly angled area, which I filled up with a mix of open and closed, custom and store-bought storage features. I also put in a small chair and a gorgeous wood table to sit below the room’s windows. On these windows, I put up the cherry-blossom patterned fabric for a light and airy feel. For privacy, I also installed some green and bark woven blinds.

To lighten and brighten the room, I put in some well-placed monopoint lighting, in addition to a centerpiece fixture on the ceiling comprising a simple, modern linen shade with a diffuser on the bottom to create a relaxing glow.

After adding accents and accessories, including a beautiful and colorful composition of carved blocks on the wall, I called this relaxing space complete.

The unfinished, blue bedroom wasn’t cutting the calm criteria, so I called on Mother Nature to help create a soothing room full of relaxing hues and natural fabrics that play softly against stylish linear furniture and cabinetry. Now the room is a mix of organic and modern; it’s a breezy oasis that is just what the doctor ordered for Tamara, Jeff and baby Jasmine. Now that’s divine!

Source: HGTV

Sideboard

Modern sideboard

A sideboard is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes such as silver, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers, all topped by a flat display surface for conveniently holding food, serving dishes, and even lighting devices. The overall height of the tops of most sideboards is approximately waist level.

The earliest versions of the sideboard familiar today made their appearance in the 18th century, but they gained most of their popularity during the 19th century as households became prosperous enough to dedicate a room solely to dining. Sideboards were made in a range of decorative styles and were frequently ornamented with costly veneers and inlays. In later years, sideboards have been placed in living rooms or other areas where household items might be displayed.

In traditional, formal dining rooms today, an antique sideboard is a desirable and fashionable accessory, and finely styled versions from the late-18th or early-19th centuries are the most sought after and costly today. Among its counterparts in modern furniture styles, the form is often referred to as a server. Some of the earliest production of sideboards arose in England, France, Belgium and Scotland. Later, American designs arose. Characteristic materials used in historic sideboard manufacture include oak, pine and walnut.

Sheraton Style

A Sheraton style chair with rectangular back

Sheraton is a late 18th century neoclassical English furniture style, in vogue ca 1785 - 1800, that was coined by 19th century collectors and dealers to credit furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, born in Stockton-on-Tees, England in 1751 and whose books, "The Cabinet Dictionary" (1803) of engraved designs and the "Cabinet Maker's & Upholsterer's Drawing Book" (1791) of furniture patterns exemplify this style. The Sheraton style was inspired by the Louis XVI style and features round tapered legs, fluting and most notably contrasting veneer inlays. Sheraton style furniture takes lightweight rectilinear forms, using satinwood, mahogany and tulipwood, sycamore and rosewood for inlaid decorations, though painted finishes and brass fittings are also to be found. Swags, husks, flutings, festoons, and rams' heads are amongst the common motifs applied to pieces of this style.

Without pedantic archaeology, it brought the Neo-Classical taste of architects like Robert Adam within reach of the middle class. In many respects Sheraton style corresponds with the contemporary Directoire style of France. The Sheraton style was the most reproduced style in the United States during the Federal period.

Mission Style Furniture

Mission Furniture is a style of furniture that originated in the late 19th Century. It traces its origins to a chair in a San Francisco Church. The term mission furniture was first coined by Jose McHugh of New York. The word mission references the Spanish missions throughout colonial California. The style became increasingly popular following the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901. The following years saw designers begin to blend the original style with Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau.

Art Deco


Vase by Daum (c. 1900).


Chair designed by Henry Van de Velde for his house "Bloemenwerf" in Brussels.


Art Deco Furniture Collection, Royal Ontario Museum

Design Philosophy

Mission Style is a design that emphasizes simple horizontal and vertical lines and flat panels that accentuate the grain of the wood (usually oak).

Influential People and Companies

Many designers and companies played an important role in the development of the design over the years. L&JG Stickley, Stickley Brothers, Charles Limbert, Charles Rohlfs, Grand Rapids Bookcase and Chair Company (Lifetime), The Shop of the Crafters, Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene and Greene.

Tuffet

1940's Poster promoting reading among children

Tuffet, pouffe or hassock are all terms for a piece of furniture used as a footstool or low seat. It is distinguished from a stool by being completely covered in fabric so that no legs are visible. It is essentially a large hard cushion that may have an internal wooden frame to give it more rigidity. Wooden feet may be added to the base to give it stability. If the piece is larger, so that storage can take place inside it, then it is generally known as an ottoman.

Hassock has special association with churches, as it is used to describe the thick cushions employed by the congregation to kneel on while in prayer.

The names tuffet and hassock are both derived from English names for a small grassy hillock or clump of grass, in use since at least the sixteenth century. Pouffe is a nineteenth century French import for "something puffed out".

A tuffet is also an English unit of capacity, equal to 2 pecks, or half a bushel.

Another connotation of the word tuffet is the description of an inflatable landing area for precision accuracy parachute landings.

Bergère

A French Empire bergère by Pierre-Antoine Bellange, c. 1815, of gessoed and gilded beech, in the Blue Room of the White House.

A bergère is an enclosed upholstered French armchair (fauteuil) with an upholstered back and armrests on upholstered frames. The seat frame is over-upholstered, but the rest of the wooden framing is exposed: it may be moulded or carved, and of beech painted or gilded or of fruitwood, walnut or mahogany with a waxed finish. Padded elbowrests may stand upon the armrests. A bergère is fitted with a loose, but tailored, seat cushion. It is designed for lounging in comfort, with a deeper wider seat than that of a regular fauteuil, though the bergères by Bellange in the White House (one illustrated) are more formal. A bergère in the eighteenth century was essentially a meuble courant, designed to be moved about to suit convenience, rather than being ranged permanently formally along the walls as part of the decor.

The fanciful name, "shepherdess chair", was coined in mid-eighteenth century Paris, where the model developed without a notable break from the late-seventeenth century chaise de commodité, a version of the wing chair, whose upholstered "wings" shielding the face from fireplace heat or from draughts were retained in the bergère à oreilles ("with ears"), or, fancifully, bergère confessionale, as if the occupant were hidden from view, as in a confessional. A bergère may have a flat, raked back, in which case it is à la reine, or, more usually in Louis XV furnishings, it has a coved back, en cabriolet. A bergère with a low coved back that sweeps without a break into the armrests is a marquise.

Appearing first in Paris during the Régence (1715-23), the form reaches its full development in the unifying curves of the rococo style, then continues in a more architectural rectilinear style in the Louis XVI, Directoire, and French and American Empire styles.