May 17, 2011

Breakfast room design

So I am starting to work on getting our breakfast room a little more decorated.  We bought a new table last year, which is great because it expands to allow for lots of seating.  I also got the window seat situation fairly under control.  What we're lacking is seating, drapes, and a new light fixture.  Here is what I'm thinking now:


I have a few dilemmas.  I have a set of four vintage bentwood armchairs that really need to be refinished.  I am debating about colors.  They will probably need to be repainted instead of refinished, so I was thinking white with a glaze of some kind.  But then I also thought a bright color or more of neutral taupe would also be pretty.

In the pictures below you can see the design of the chairs I'm working on.  They are in the process of being patched, so forgive the ugly blotches of wood filler on the seats.  Someone made the questionable decision to try to upholster the seats, so I now have to fill dozens of tack holes.  With the room design above I used a white chair, and I think that might be the safest choice.  It would look good with our white woodwork, but I'm still not 100% sure.  Thoughts?


For end chairs I really like the Koobos wicker; the round back would go well with the shape of the vintage side chairs we have, and all the reviews seem to say they're also extremely comfortable chairs.  I think the breakfast room chairs should be comfortable, some place you'd stay to talk over weekend brunch or sit to do paperwork during the week.  Thoughts about the wicker chairs?  This room has windows on two sides, so I think the porch/garden vibe of the wicker would not look out of place.

My other dilemma is the lighting situation.  I've never loved our light fixture; it was just chosen very quickly at the end of the building process, and I'd like something more unique.  I think I would like something vintage, so maybe a tole or crystal chandelier?  I'd also like to tie in the color black since we have quite a bit of black in the living room adjacent.  I'm thinking black lamp shades on the chandelier and a trim on the white curtains.

Sources:
Side chairs: vintage (see x-back ones similar to design above here)
End chairs: World Market
Curtains: Overstock
Black/white Greek key trim: MJ Trimming
Black chandelier lamp shades: Lamps Plus

The breakfast room opens up to both the living room and the kitchen.  I've posted a couple photos of those rooms below so you can see why the colors and styles need to coordinate with these spaces.

My living room
(This kind of makes me laugh because I took this picture about a month ago and already the room looks different -- oh well!)



My kitchen

The breakfast room has the same light blue-gray walls as the kitchen and the same wood floors, so anything I pick has to work with those.

Sooo.....thoughts?  Suggestions?  Thanks in advance!

6 comments:

Nikki said...

I love the path you are taking with the design, but would you mind posting a pic of the bentwood chairs? your house belongs in a style magazine! so lovely!

Nikki said...

p.s. have you ever considered submitting the photos of your house to 'young house love'? They do a 'house crashing' post every-so-often where they blog about other peoples houses. They would highlight your blog, and show pics of your house!

Nicole @ one half world said...

Nikki, Thanks for the feedback. I posted a couple pics of the chairs above so you can see what they look like in their "before" state! I don't know if my house is YHL quality!! But thanks for the encouragement. Maybe once I get it "finished," but I will probably never get to that state! :)

Sarah Franczyk said...

I think that you do a great job Nicole- and whatever you pick would be lovely. I really know next to nothing about decorating. But it seems to me that if you had the white chairs- they would stand out a lot (because of dark table, dark floor). Which could be fine! Are you thinking of using the wicker chair for around the table or is it the chairs you are refinishing?

Nicole @ one half world said...

Hi guys, thanks for the feedback. I am thinking of using two (white?) armchairs on each side of the table and then a wicker chair on each end. There would still be plenty of elbow room, and I like the idea of using two different kinds of chairs.

Kara K said...

I really don't have any comments to add as I generally default to Nicole for decorating tips :) I like your white woodwork. But try telling that to Lance!

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