The Dining Room -- A saga

My dining room has needed a face lift since we moved into this house, and that was seven years ago. Seven years. Why did I wait so long? I think mostly because it was sort of a dead zone. I set up my furniture, hung a few things, and was done. We only used it for parties and in those instances I decorated for the occasion. I think the reasons I left it for so long are that:

(1) It was a semi neutral yellow-beige color that the previous owners had painted the walls. I didn't love it but it took longer than I'd like to admit to hate it.

(2) The room is a lighting nightmare. It faces east. Our backyard has large old trees. There is a small time in the morning, only really during summer months, when there is any daylight. We live in a rowhouse so there are no windows on the side walls. Only one set of windows on the east-facing wall.

(3) I could never commit on a wall color or a plan because the light is poor and the room is packed with large dark furniture. Fairly new furniture or furniture I've refinished. Our basement is packed so it's not like I could move anything out or rearrange.

So it was kind of a no-win situation. This is the "before" photo, when I decided to paint it green. The kitchen, living room, and dining room are all open to each other so I wanted to use a color that would work with the living room (black, persimmon, and maize) and I already had plans to paint the kitchen a warm persimmon/terra cotta color.

You can see the old beige color on the right. The green looked too institutional.  Elmo is not part of the decor.

So, this is just the beginning of the painting. I painted half of it green. I painted half of the room a persimmon color. Then a charcoal grey. I probably painted 5 or 6 different colors in this room. It would look one way in the morning, then different mid-day, and then something entirely different in the evening. It made me insane. I was a painting maniac. I spent weeks at Home Depot. Maybe even years.

So I gave up and painted it Behr's Seashore Sand. Do I like that my living room and dining room are both whimpy neutral colors? Nope. But I had no choice. The painting had to stop.

The tablecloth really isn't day-glow orange. I promise. It's from Crate and Barrel. 

So, now it's just neutral. I was inspired by things I found on Pinterest and Anthropologie. Other than the tablecloth, which I have to use because the table has a party-related injury on top that I haven't had repaired. Everything else I already had on hand. I will probably switch out some of the decor and images on the collage wall (just getting started) as seasons change. 

My collection of Delft houses and the Foo Dogs I inherited from my husband's grandma. 

I printed out the map of Charleston from the Library of Congress American Memory website.  Also I found the chalkboard, made out of an antique mirror frame, at a neat antique shop in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in June this year. 

A beach-inspired centerpiece that can easily change with the seasons.

Some of my inspiration that I found online on Pinterest.

I've had the starburst mirror for about 6 years or so. It originally came from Pier 1. I've always loved how it mixed with my Art Deco buffet and china cabinet (I refinished both myself; both had more than a few layers of paint when I found them in a consignment shop when we lived in Hampden).