Dining Room Before and After: Classic + Elegant

I recently worked on a dining room with my client/friend Sarah.  Sarah has impeccable taste and is the person I love to go antiquing with or run a decorating idea by.  We have very similar styles and both love understated,  quiet, comfortable rooms.

This is a before photo of the room from the listing with the previous owner’s furniture before they moved in.  It was clearly not their style but they saw past the beige/orange/country decor and had a vision of what they wanted.




Quite a transformation!   Sarah’s handy husband  installed the wainscoting to add some interest to a basic room with no details.  He also painstakingly scraped off the stucco ceiling himself!  These two design decisions changed the feel of the room drastically.


We took this photograph to show the gorgeous double pedestal table base.  The table is made by Toronto based Geovin, one of my sponsors who I wrote about here.  It is shown with one leaf in but comes with another leaf extending the table to 103”.  Perfect for hosting large gatherings.  We chose their medium brown finish which is timeless.


I love the modern, upholstered chairs with the traditional table.  Sarah painted their 15 year old Ikea buffet Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter.   The large scale lantern fixture is one of my all time faves.  Sarah worked with an Etsy artist to create the custom painting which adds colour and vibrancy to the room.



You can see the wide plank, distressed hardwood here.  As it was not in their budget to replace it, I suggested we minimize the busy, orange flooring by installing one large wool sisal area rug.  This was a wise decision as it reinforces the calm palette.

What do you think? When I’m grown up, I want a dining room just like this!

Update:  Thanks so much for your sweet comments! To answer your questions - the paint colour above the wainscoting is Para's Fan Light Grey (P2103-4).  I absolutely love this light grey colour and must use it somewhere in my home! The etsy artist is Andrada.

If you require decorating advice, please contact me at vanessa@vanessafrancis.com.