Monday, December 26, 2011

Guest Post: A Dining Room Full of Colors


Once again, Mansi is back to share decorating advice, this time for her dining room. I love her sense of style and personalization. She said this is my Christmas gift, so to the readers of The Whites blog, enjoy!


To help out Chanelle during these final days in December, I’m going to share some things we’ve done to decorate our dining room.



We bought street art on our Europe trip to decorate a large wall in our dining room.  I find art to be very expensive so street art is a good compromise because they’re cheap but still seem like “art” because they are technically from Europe.  We bought the frames separately (2 from Joanns and 1 from Office Max). They are still in the same color family and I think the slight differences in the frame add more “character.”   We like to hang our frames asymmetrically to avoid them looking too much like a boxed set of frames (even though I did just that with my photos in the living room). Not sure if the asymmetry helps with that but we like to think so!



We also framed this drawing made by my husband’s friend. I love how the frame has an “antique” look to it since my house is old. In my opinion, art and home décor pieces are so much more meaningful when it’s made by a friend, souvenir from a trip, etc. I wish I could commission Tim’s dad to paint my favorite flowers (hint…I love daffodils!).



To add another type of “texture” to the room, we put up metal sconces that we got for 9 bucks at the random stuff aisle in our local grocery store. I added some red candles for the holidays and figured I can change the color to accent different colors.  Also notice the red vase with poinsettia and berry branches. I try to change the vase each season – so far, I have flowers for spring and winter/Christmas.  



Notice the pig shaped cutting board and the pig grill on our buffet table. My husband loves pig-themed things (as well as pork and bacon) so while I wasn’t too thrilled about these in the beginning, it does make me smile when I see them. I tell myself that home décor doesn’t always have to look like a Pottery Barn catalog! The red plate is our last name in Chinese. My husband made that at one of those pottery-paint places. I made a large serving bowl that I keep on our dining table in the summer. Once again, they’re not professional pieces, but they’re functional and personal!




Lastly, while Chanelle loves bedding, I love placemats! I have a set for every season. The first is my autumn/Thanksgiving set. If I don’t have flowers, I usually set a bowl of potpourri in the middle. The bottom is my holiday set. I always get my placemats right after the season and it’s a quick way to change up the dining room.  Also note our curtains from World Market. I love these because they are colorful and tie in the various colors in our dining room (and priced similarly to other window treatments).  Hope something here sprouted an idea for your home!


The pig themed items crack me up because Calvin loves weird meats and Mansi is a vegetarian! I'll work on the daffodil painting. ;) I love custom art made by others or picked up from travels. It's so sentimental and a great way to display a memory. I hope Tim and I can pick up something on our cruise this March. There you have it readers- another beautifully decorated space with personal touches. My favorite!


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