Are you planning a holiday table for a special dinner? Whether a gourmet feast or a pot luck, setting the mood for the gathering can be achieved with a table that says “I’m excited you are here!” From table linens, china, centerpieces, even chairs, the key is color! Repetition of color is what you notice first! It gives the setting continuity. Not enough dinner plates from your china pattern? Every other place setting can be from two different sets or every other one can be a totally unique plate. Once you have used coordinating dishes for a unique look, matched dishes will look boring! The challenge is using variety while maintaining the color theme. The personal details on the table can lead through family history, travels or collections. Adding a garland of fresh greens is aromatic. Candlelight is flattering. If children are coming, provide a craft activity and extend the table to include them! Have appetizers ready before guests arrive and a use a simple menu to enable the hostess to enjoy the guests. Many dishes are fine at room temperature. Here’s to a happy holiday season! #Champagneforall #HolidayDining
Design Tip
Dining During the Holidays
Recently I was working with clients with an insurance claim who were starting over with furniture! It was a similar situation to many home owners when they move here without the baggage of past homes! Over numerous years working for a design studio that was within a furniture store, it was quite interesting to see the continuity achieved when we weren’t dealing with existing furniture.
Whether you are replacing or starting over, some consider key furniture pieces as keepsakes to treasure forever! Others in today’s world, consider everything disposable and just want a fit for the current location! Therein lies the challenge of acquiring dining room furniture. During the holidays we’re looking for family dining areas. After the holidays, we’re looking for free space.
After a lot of entertaining, designing custom homes and working on spacing issues in remodels, my favorite solution is the least expensive and easiest! I combine light weight outdoor tables or folding tables (not necessarily the same size and width but square or rectangular) into as long of a table as we need usually in adjoining spaces. Matching or coordinating tablecloths are added for unity. Use whatever you have in abundance for the centerpieces – candles, fruits, pumpkins, squashes, small limbs with foliage or flowers to create a one-of-a-kind table. It is more flexible than a big table that never accommodates the exact number of spaces we need for a given group. Sometimes existing furniture has to be moved for the day but it is always festive and inclusive. #FriendsfortheHolidays! #HolidayDining
Contemporary Backdrops
Contemporary backdrops! Roche Bobois ads illustrate the huge difference between plain drywall with a lonely piece of art compared to a backdrop with significant interest! The settings vary from Asian, Old World, color drops, extensive lighting and some are quite simple. Our current contemporary trend allows for expression or a clean, simple less is more look!
Beauty of Mosaics
Remember all of those mosaics in the entries of McMansions? Initially those were made in the US with laser jet cutting techniques. Then they started to come in from China and the local market diminished. With the recession behind us the technology is being used for the most beautiful mosaics! You may not want to clean or maintain them in high use or water areas, but if that is not an issue then their beauty is significant for a great focal point wall or backsplash.
How High Is That Ceiling?
Ceilings should be in proportion to the total space of the room! Many years ago, John Romack from Romack Builders and I were analyzing his newly built home and discussing this. We have worked on many homes from many architects and architectural designers since 1982. We came to the conclusion that the space doesn’t feel cozy if the ceiling height is higher than the width or length of the room. Yes, rules are made to be broken but generally this is a guide.
Simple Elevation Changes
Extend your color blends to your own home by photoshopping your exterior front or any room! The Sherwin Williams Color Tools enable you to experiment with changing your colors before you pick up a brush. You can take a photo of any view with your smartphone camera, upload to the app then recolor to a combination you are considering without much effort.
With a light box and an enlarged photo, the exact room or exterior can be redrawn with only architectural details then let the fun begin! My cantera stone rep, George, used this on one of our projects to add stone details around the windows. I have used it to show improvements to fireplaces. It is representative of the exact space. Do you want blue window frames? Color them in! Or change the fireplace to a low, horizontal line of fire and get a truer visual on the space!
Pair Paintings and Rugs
Add visual interest to your halls by assembling all of your favorites that don’t necessarily look great anywhere else and grouping them with cohesion in mind. Maybe its color, a collection or from a trip.
Following the angle of the stairs, the Weston apple overlaps a small festive rug with similar colors. The boring half wall became more interesting with wrought iron insets.
Niche Collections
Add visual interest to your halls by assembling all of your favorites that don’t necessarily look great anywhere else and grouping them with cohesion in mind. Maybe its color, a collection or from a trip.
This African themed grouping is based by my Grandmother’s antique drop leaf table. It has been a corner table with one leaf up, extra seating for dining or the play station for children. The accessories have a mainly red and black for visual flow and are simply an ever changing collection.
