At the thought of hosting a fancy dinner party at home, my mind panicked and I retrofitted my engine with jet fuel. I wanted to update my dining room. All of a sudden, we had an incentive and a deadline.
“You start to see all the things they don’t realize,” my neighbor said, trying to calm my nerves.
“I’m more worried about them seeing all the things that I’m not aware of,” I said.
Aren’t we all tiny house blind?
Dinner parties were not my idea. A few months ago, a friend of mine, who is also an art friend, planned to auction off a dinner for eight people, including DC and myself, at his home to raise money for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. .
“Did you know your column is ‘At Home With Marni’?” she framed it. “Well, this allows people to actually be with Marni. You know what?”
Ah, I see. If he had known what he was getting into when he started writing a design column, Pets would have become a therapist. People think I’m true to my word. Before agreeing, and since no one should be paying to eat my food, I called a chef I knew to see if he could work with me. Chef Angelo Bersani generously agreed to donate his time to prepare and serve the dinner if I paid for the groceries. end! Chef and I ended up doing a package deal on the auction block.
Now that the food was ready (phew!), my focus shifted to the dining room, which was just to the right of the front door of the house. You can’t miss it. There are only two walls in this room. The side without walls faces the entrance and living room.
Now, I live in the real world, but for me, redecorating doesn’t mean throwing out all your furniture and starting over. It means working with what you have, making small improvements, and ideally getting big results. However, the important thing is to know what that small movement is, and that’s when the paralysis begins.
The next person I called was Christopher Grubb, a Los Angeles interior designer and longtime friend and colleague. “Harp!” I cried! “I have famous dinner guests who come to my house who think it’s something out of Architectural Digest, and they’re about to be sorely disappointed.”
Grub knows I tend to exaggerate. He also knows that I can follow directions. He agreed to work with me on an hourly basis. If I handle administrative tasks such as purchasing materials, collecting samples, and arranging workers, he will be the one making the decisions. That would save him time and my money. Once again, you’re done.
With the chef and designer on board, I felt my lungs fully expand and my blood pressure drop.
Grubb is on the West Coast and I’m in Florida, so we worked virtually. I sent him a photo of the dining room and told him that my goal was to move away from traditional furniture and make the room more transitional, and that he supported that direction. We discussed some ideas and then he gave me my to-do list.
Over the next eight weeks, we exchanged dozens of texts, photos, a few sob emojis, and made small improvements, including: It had great results. The same thing may happen in one or two rooms of your home.
◼️ Added a lampshade. I replaced an outdated light fixture in my dining room a few years ago, but I hadn’t “finished” the light fixture with the chandelier shade that Grubb had advised. I tried three shade styles, ordered one of each, and returned the rejected ones. I then settled on a tapered shade of black. Black shades direct the light down instead of out, which can make your lighting more dramatic.
◼️ It filled a niche in art. Installing art niches on walls is common, but it’s often difficult to do because you’re limited in the size of the art you can hang on your walls. My dining room accent wall niche was 5 feet square and 3 inches deep. Until recently, large tapestries were hung above the niches and covered them. However, in an attempt to make the space more contemporary, I sold the tapestry and ended up with a hole in the wall. “With niche areas in art, it begs the question, ‘Why?'” Grubb said, encouraging drywallers to fill in.
◼️ Put up wallpaper. To make the open room feel cozier, more intimate, and to differentiate it from the entryway, Grubb suggested covering the smoothed back walls and ceiling with sea-green grass cloth. This added character and texture to the room.
◼️ I replaced the mirror. Mr. Grubb liked the idea of having two mirrors on either side of the art on the main wall, but suggested replacing the existing round mirror with a larger vertical mirror to make the room appear taller. did. We kept the frames simple as we were going for a less traditional, more transitional look.
◼️ Added atmosphere. Once the new furniture was installed, all that was left was to add the finishing touches. All we had to do was add pale roses, patterned table linens, crystals and silver, candles, and of course fresh centerpieces for our distinguished guests to bring the room together. Like a symphony.
Marni Jameson is the author of seven books, including Right-Sizing Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow. Please contact marni@marnijameson.com.
Company is coming. With the prospect of his dinner party in sight, the author made a few small moves to redecorate his dining room. Here’s the before and after. (Photo provided by Marni Jameson)
Wall niches limit art options. If you have such questions, designer Christopher Grubb advises, write them down. (Photo provided by Marni Jameson)