Last week was such a slow week. I didn’t make any real progress on anything because I’m still waiting — waiting for my contractor to do his part on the storage room, waiting for fabric and air-dry clay to arrive so that I can get draperies sewn and my chandelier made. But I was also waiting because even though I put forth two different ideas last week for the one wall in the dining room that has the most wall space, I really wasn’t thrilled with either one of them.
If you’ll remember, the first idea was to remove the TV from the wall with the gallery shelves and simply replace it with a decorative mirror…
The other idea was to somehow make my colorful pinwheel artwork fit this space. In my mind, that would require widening the shelves that flank that center area, but some people also suggested the addition of sconces in the available space.
I sat with those options for a bit, and my favorite of the two options was the mirror. But I just couldn’t make myself move forward with that idea. I really do love those shelves. I love the way I have them arranged. I love all of the color and pattern. But I like it with the TV. Once the TV is removed from the equation and replaced with anything else, the whole thing stops making sense to me. In other words, this was the perfect arrangement for a sitting room where we sit to watch TV. I don’t think it’s the perfect arrangement for a dining room.
So while I really wanted to head to Home Depot and gather all of the supplies I’d need to make a really pretty framed mirror, I couldn’t force myself to do it. And I’m so glad I didn’t because late Saturday afternoon, I was checking my email, and I saw an email from a reader who had told me she was going to send me an idea. (Thank you, Anita!) So I opened up that email and saw this picture…
I was WOWED by this. This is a yes. A thousand times, yes. I absolutely love this look of having one big, impactful piece of artwork on this wall.
I did a little editing to the picture to take out the recliner so that I could try to image the table and chairs sitting in the middle of the room a little easier. And of course, the drapery fabric shown here is distorted. The actual pattern isn’t that big, so there will be more repeats in the pattern than what is shown here. And I’ll be pulling up the rug as well.
I showed it to my mom, and she wasn’t quite as excited about it as I was. She does like the idea of a large piece of artwork on that wall, but she pointed out that with it that big, part of it will be hidden behind the table and chairs. While I do agree that at certain vantage points, like if I’m standing in the kitchen, some of it will be hidden. But from other vantage points, the whole thing will be seen. The same would be true if I put a big mural on that whole wall, or if I covered the entire wall with wallpaper, but that’s never stopped me from using wallpaper or a mural.
I can see how it would be a problem if I were using something like a large landscape painting. With a landscape, all of the actual land of the landscape would be hidden behind the table and chairs. That would be a problem.
But I don’t think that’s an issue if the artwork is a huge abstract piece.
So with this new inspiration, I also wanted to test out how it would look to use the table in its smaller, leaf-less version in the room. I had been hoping to use it with the leaf and have four matching chairs on the sides, and then two fully upholstered captain’s chairs on the ends. But I wanted to try this and see how it looked.
Obviously, the smaller table fits the small room much better. And that would save me time and effort because I would only have four pretty simple chairs to reupholster. Adding two fully upholstered chairs to the “to do” list would take a lot more time.
And if I keep the table small, I could also keep the buffet. So I did a couple of mockups to see if I like the big, impactful, single piece of artwork with the buffet as much as I liked it without the buffet. And yep, I do! At least this way, the whole thing can be seen even when the table and chairs are in the room.
And also, if I wanted to go the landscape route, I could do that as well since none of it would be hidden behind the table and chairs.
So I think the one single, large piece of artwork is the winning idea either with or without the buffet. And after living with the table in its smaller version for the last two days, I’ve decided that I really do like it that way. It fits the room better and the room feels more open.
I do find it so interesting how much changing the function of the room (from sitting room to dining room) changes my perception of what needs to go on that wall. Those gallery shelves were one of my favorite features as long as this room was a TV room. But for a dining room, I think they’re too much. That one, single piece of artwork works so much better for a dining room.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Trending Products
TERSE Fashion Women’s Headbands for Sho...
