Thinking Outside the Box...

A recent client wanted her dining room to reflect her love of bold color, tropical dreams, and flights of fancy. This is a really great kind of client for a designer to have. We had a lot of fun along the way but the room presented several challenges. The first one was the narrowness of the space. The room was 16+ feet long but only 11 feet wide. The client already owned a narrow dining table and Paris flea market chairs. The chairs are adorable but low. They needed a cushion to bring the seat up to the proper height to dine. Custom cushions in a hot pink fabric were just the thing, both functionally and in a fun decorative sense. The window provided our next issue. At the end of the room was an asymmetrical bay window with not three windows, but a fourth, on the next wall that demanded to be included in the treatment of the bay. Helser Brothers French Poles took care of that issue beautifully, thank goodness.

Helser Brothers saved the day with their French poles.  Custom pink cushions bring the chairs to a proper height.

The next challenge was the area rug. The homeowner owned the area rug and liked it, but the colors were dull and muddy. This homeowner really prefers clean, clear color and yet refused to abandon the area rug. We chose a clear color pattern on the window treatment bringing in the pinks and greens that she loved while adding a gold colored linen leading edge band to the panels. These bands helped tone down the playful fabric and helped tie in the area rug to the design.

Banding on the leading edge

Finally, the client needed some way to fill the long wall behind the table. We needed an affordable solution and again, she wanted something really different. At the Spring 2010 High Point Furniture market, Holly Blaylock of C. R. Laine furniture had used birdcages on the walls in the company's showroom. When I saw this long wall in my client's home, her tropical leanings and the dining chairs, I knew what needed to be done.

Mike Barclift, master installer and "fix anything" guy.

I contacted Holly and found her source for birdcages. I had my installer, and fixer of anything, Mike, to cut down the largest birdcages for them to fit in depth. We arranged them on the wall and filled them with flameless candles to provide a soft, safe, candlelight during evening meals. The result is an out of the box dining room that embraces it's narrow proportions, offers up a tropical setting and provides whimsical flights of fancy for a delightful and happy homeowner.

The completed room