It has taken a long time to get here but finally here are my 3 easy blue dining room updates!
I say a long time because when we bought our house nearly 11 years ago, the dining area was in the side return next to the kitchen. It was a cluttered, busy, hard-working area and so difficult to get on top of in terms of cleanliness and tidiness. See photos below of the old dining area.
It was only a couple of years ago when I had a brainwave – to swap the dining area and the second reception room which didn’t get used much at all. And from there it went through a couple of colour schemes: midnight blue and then pink before I colour-drenched it last year. You can see the entire dining room and colour-drenching process in this post here.
I finally settled on what it is now: a fully colour-drenched, panelled and calming scheme of blue, natural wood and white dining room. I can confidently say this room is staying like this for a long while!
So without further ado here are my 3 easy blue dining room updates.
3 Easy Blue Dining Room Updates
1. Panel the walls
I used a traditional beaded wall panel style wainscoting kit from CutMy. The best thing about CutMy is that they pre-mitre the strips of moulding and deliver them ready to install!
It’s so easy to just tap in the measurements of the panelling you want and voila they get delivered to you ready for installation without having to measure and mitre. Watch a short 20 second video here of how I panelled this wall.
2. Go pedestal
I changed my 4 legged table into a pedestal table to reduce the leg clutter in this tiny dining room. This Beliani SUNDS extendable dining table is the perfect fit in both form and function.
It is sturdy with a tempered glass top and a hidden leaf that can be folded out when the table needs to seat around 10-12 comfortably. Without the extension, the table seats 6-8 very comfortably and that with the fairly large traditional tub chairs.
I went for the CRAIG chairs in light wood also from Beliani. They are easy to put together and roomy to sit on. I’ve never had white chair pads before so I protected them with fabric protector to make them stain-proof.
This is the first time I’ve had furniture from Beliani and I have to say their delivery, communication and customer service are excellent.
3. Pare back the colour scheme
My dining room does not get direct natural light being sandwiched between the front room and kitchen side return in a traditional Victorian terraced house layout. It was important for me to make this room as calming and peaceful as possible as it also doubles up as my desk / office on one corner.
I went for a pale blue hue. Grey Stone by Little Greene and colour-drenched the entire room from walls to doors to ceiling to fireplace to built-in furniture. This provided a serene backdrop for the panelling and mirror on the walls, table and chairs and the accessories on the shelves. Little Greene colours are now available as Intelligent finishes suitable for multiple surfaces from one tin. You read that right, one tin. Primers no longer needed! I’m really excited about this that I’m continuing this colour scheme in my hallway. This time I will be double-drenching, so watch this space!
I went for natural hues of white and wood for the table and chairs and a blue and grey ceramic table lamp the THAYA also from Beliani that complemented the colour scheme perfectly.
To add interest and conversation pieces, I hung four V&A gold-framed pictures which I bought from Victoriana Lanes on the dining room wall within the panelling as statement wall pieces. They totally look like they naturally belong to the period property.
BONUS
For the table styling, I decided to up the interest level by using three different crockery designs but stayed within the complementary scheme of blues, greens and golds. Truth be told I had very limited choices as we keep breaking our plates and there’s not enough of one design to set a complete table!
I hope you enjoyed this post on 3 Easy Blue Dining Room Updates and found it inspiring. If you have any questions, message me on Instagram and I’d be happy to help if I can. Don’t forget to download my free resources that will help you design your own interiors and grow your Instagram account! Let’s chat on Instagram Layered.Home and together get inspired!
This post is not a sponsored post but contains previously declared sponsorships with Little Greene, CutMy and Beliani.
