Chinoiserie Dining Room Reveal
- Melissa Meares
- Dec 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 21
This dining room was the very first room I fully made over and shared on the internet! I even won a little competition with it and was featured on The Nester's Blog! This was before I started my home decor page. It has been so fun to reimagine this room as my style developed, I became less afraid of using color, and I embraced the whimsical and playful aesthetic that we all loved as children but somehow lost as adults.
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Sources:
Ceiling color: Scented Valentine by PPG in eggshell
Trim Color: Cinder Rose by Farrow & Ball
The Before
Dining Room Layout
I always get asked, "Why do you only show two walls of your dining room?" I think people think I'm hiding some secret ugly part of my house but the truth is that there are only two walls! The wall to the right of the exterior door is actually an opening to my music studio, and the wall opposite the exterior door is actually our kitchen. Hopefully, these photos help convey the layout better.
The Inspiration
The inspiration for this chinoiserie dining room makeover is the wallpaper in our two-story brick colonial that I lived in as a child in Marietta, Georgia. I just loved the climbing vines of the flowers and wanted to find something similar.
This dining room makeover was part of a partnership on IG with Rebel Walls (although this blog post is not sponsored) and they sent over some gorgeous samples. From top left to bottom right, the samples are called "Grand Flower Thread," "Song Tree, Sand," "Flower Thread" and "Chinoiserie." The bottom left, "Flower Thread" was actually most similar to the wallpaper in my childhood home, but because our dining room gets almost no natural light, I really wanted a wallpaper with a white background to keep it as bright as possible.
The Wallpaper
I've put up quite a bit of wallpaper, but this was by far the easiest and best-quality wallpaper I have used. It went up with no wrinkles or bubbles, and the patterns lined up perfectly (sadly, that is not always the case with the way cheaper wallpaper is printed).
The Paint
Another question I've been asked a dozen times (or rather, told that I did it incorrectly): why did I wallpaper before painting? Wouldn't it be less messy to paint first? I like to wallpaper first because I need to see the wallpaper in the space before choosing a paint color. This mural has dozens of shades of pink, green, and purple, and there was no way I could choose a color without seeing the entire mural hanging up. And even still, I ended up repainting!
The trim and door are painted Cinder Rose by Farrow & Ball in satin
The ceiling is painted Scented Valentine by PPG in eggshell.
Other touches
It's truly all in the details, and I added this gorgeous onlay as a header above the door from Ekena millwork. I also replaced the door trim with this trim from Home Depot. The switch plates are another elegant addition, and very affordable!
This is our last project of 2024 and I'm so excited for what 2025 has in store for us!
xoxo,
Melissa