As a newlywed, starting a new life in a brand new home is pretty exciting. However for my client the excitement was reduced to a simmer when she arrived to mountains of moving boxes. Unpacking and decorating appeared to be a daunting task. Luckily, she had the foresight to contact me months before the actual move. So when we finally met for the first time, it was off to the races!

The dining room is the very first room you see when entering the house. It was pretty nondescript decor-wise, but had great architectural interest like heavy crown molding and wainscoting. She and her husband had already chosen gorgeous lighting during the finishing process, but it still needed a little punch.

Below is the design plan we discussed. Though the inspiration image below shows a purple hued room, it’s noted in the plan that my idea was to replace it with a fiery red. We’d also replace the wood chairs at the heads of the table with two upholstered host/captain’s chairs in gorgeous ikat fabric by Kravet. Each chair would also have a custom decorative blue beaded pillow also by Kravet. The wild card here was not the red ceiling, but the geometric rug. Is was a stretch for her traditional aesthetic, but she accepted my challenge to modernize her signature look.

Here are the final results…

I had a bit of time photographing into the window, my apologies for the blurred lines. Nevertheless, you capture the vision, no?

Being a windows girl, I literally clutch my pearls at the contrast between the dark wooden rod and the chunky golden rings. ::twirls with delight::

Just to give you a clear idea of just how big these rings are, I snapped a photo for my instagram crew before the installation. I could fit these rings around my wrist.

Here’s closer look at the rug. I was literally holding my breath on reveal day hoping she loved it and she did!

There wasn’t a ton of room for a large buffet, so we used an existing piece and surrounded it with a mirror and pictures I found in her basement. The plates are treasures from her travels.

 Adjacent to the dining room is the entry. Again, she just moved in so I had a clean slate to work with.

Given the space wasn’t very wide, I decided to go light on the furnishings and big with wall decor

There are so many of my favorite things in this shot. Sconces, greek key pillows, boxwoods, and weather pots. They add so much character, don’t they?

Stay tuned for later this week when I reveal the work we completed in the living room and breakfast area. If you need help getting settled into you new home (or your old one), shoot me an email info@erikaward.com! Hope you enjoyed reading about this transformation. Could your home be my next feature?