COUNTRY CHIC
A homeowner’s love for both Virginia and Florida creates inspiration for an elegant cottage dining room.
A homeowner’s love for both Virginia and Florida creates an elegant cottage dining room.
DESIGN INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM MANY DIFFERENT
SOURCES, and a favorite locale is a great place to start. For this dining room in northern Virginia, it was a love for both the homeowner’s new and old living areas that inspired the design vibe. “Our client had just returned back from Boca Raton, Florida, and wanted a room that felt like a mix of Virginia meets Boca,” says designer Pamela Harvey of Pamela Harvey Interiors. Here’s how Pamela helped the homeowner achieve her design dreams.
STEP 1:
Pick a foundation. The first piece Pamela found was the wallpaper. The design works for both the Virginia inspiration, because of the classic pattern, as well as the Boca vibe, because of the sky-blue color. “The wallpaper gives the room a great backdrop [against] which to build the design,” Pamela says.
STEP 2:
Decide on complementary pieces. With such a vivid pattern, it was important to keep the other elements subtle to complement, instead of overwhelm, the design. “We chose pieces that are light and clean with classic lines and that meet our client’s goal of a casually elegant home,” Pamela says. For example, the curtains, dining table and chairs are all white, with subtle accents of blue to tie into the wallpaper. “Good design is often about restraint and keeping some items really simple, such as the basic white cotton drapery panels trimmed with a blue tape trim,” she says.
STEP 3:
Add contrast. It can come in many forms, from color to texture and even the types of items you place in your interiors. “Every room should have a mix of old and new and a mix of high and low price points to make the room more interesting and collected looking,” Pamela says. She invested in the brass chandelier and double-pedestal dining table. She paired them with pieces such as the homeowner’s old dining room set, which Pamela had painted and reupholstered. The combination results in an elegant, yet comfortable and inviting, space to entertain.