Our Gray-te New Dining Room

I just couldn’t take the banality of our dining room anymore.

It had great features with its spacious size, good light, pre-existing moldings and hardwood floors.

But it was time for a change from the Terra Cotta painted-over wallpaper and Navajo White walls that was our dining room for the past 3 years.  And I was inspired.

I envisioned wainscoting for the lower half of the walls, just below the chair rail, painted a clean white.  The ceiling, baseboard and moldings would all be white, too.

And after much careful discernment and diligent scouring of the internet, social media and TV shows for color inspiration, I was fairly confident that I wanted a deep, dramatic gray on my walls above the chair rail.

Gray?  Yes, gray.

It started with a walk through of my new neighbor’s freshly painted dining room (Benjamin Moore Timber Wolf), followed by a laborious online journey through Pinterest, Houzz.com and just a plain ol’ Google search that led me to fifty shades of fabulousness (sorry, couldn’t resist the reference.)

I was also completely smitten by the Jonathan Adler-decorated set of E! Fashion Police 

 

For a hot minute, I considered going in an adventurous direction – turquoise – which is supposed to be the next big thing in home décor.

But without the help of a decorating professional (which I was not using for this project), I didn’t have the nerve to pull this off on my own.

So back to gray.

I was looking to stay true to the roots of my 1930s colonial and not push the envelope too far to the modern in terms of decor.  I find deep, rich colors dramatic and elegant, and felt that I could ground the gray by the warm wood of our antique sideboard and china cabinet.

My living room is Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe so I wanted there to be a natural flow between the two rooms.

And so this was my process:

I used Pinterest for what it’s truly intended for: a pinboard of ideas and inspirations for an actual, functioning project. I searched “ gray dining rooms” and came up with hundreds to look at.

I was also drawn to this room on Pinterest that uses Benjamin Moore’s Silhouette, accented by Montgomery White.  And then I was thinking of painting the ceiling Niveous just to add another dimension of color (**tip: colored ceilings seem to be a hot trend in design right now **)

But there were so many others, too.

I grabbed three color decks from Rossi’s, an area Benjamin Moore paint store, and spent WEEKS comparing, contrasting and trying to decide what color samples I’d ultimately go with.

I spoke to anyone that would listen to me and asked for many opinions.  One opinion that was extremely helpful – and ultimately the tipping point – was James from Waldwick Paint. James is the in-house wallpaper and color specialist who was able to advise me over the phone (he’s that good!)  It helped that I knew every Benjamin Moore shade of gray like the back of my hand.

James advised going with either Dolphin or Cinder from Benjamin Moore’s Affinity Collection.

The winner was:  Cinder!

And then there was our painter – Angelo of Angelo Kouletas Painting, LLC.  Angelo and I grew up in the same hometown and I’d known of his painting service for years.  After receiving a flyer in the mail, I gave him a call and started to tell him about the nature of my project.  He was on board with my vision, and was a patient advisor on my color selection (we met about three times before work even started.)

After a few days of work, my dining room dream became my dining room reality.  Take a look at the transformation here:

And we’re not quite done…

As soon as our windows are replaced, selecting new window treatments will be the next step. Followed by “finishing” the room with decorative accents like wall hangings, vases, etc.  I’m hoping to hit some Estate sales in my area, and even head back down to this amazing shop in Greenwich Village called L’Maison Supreme specializing in French-inspired antiques, art and accessories.

In the meantime, I’m back on the hunt for decorating inspiration.

And I could use your help – where do you get your inspiration from for home décor projects? Can you recommend any blogs or other online resources?  How would you decorate my new gray/white dining room?  Please share in the comments below.

I’d gray-tely appreciate it.

oxox

-mom a la mode

{I was not compensated in any way for this post.  All opinions expressed here are solely mine.}