Please help me come up with decorating ideas for my dining room

Question

I like urban style of decorating. Contemporary, simple, clean. I have my grandmother's antique dining room set. Circa 1942. Very ornate, detailed designs, middle-dark wood. I have no idea how to go about decorating a room with this style of furniture. I would like for the room to somehow still have an urban flair to it. I don't like heavy, ornate rooms. Please help me with ideas.

Answer 1

I really wish you had some digitals of your dining set.  Is it just the table and chairs or is there a hutch or buffet?  You can bring in an urban feel with a carefully choosen rug to ground the eating area.  And again find a chandilier with clean lines.  I'm not sure how you feel about painting the dining set because you did say it is antique.  And I'm not sure of it's value.  But if you want the color black would fit more in the urban style.  The easiest thing will be having few accessories but make sure they are pieces you love.  If you want some good examples of blending styles you may want to check out some of designer Candence Olsen, has the ability to blend modern and traditional to create amazing spaces.

Answer 2

I have a similar type of furniture as you, and you have to be careful of choosing colours that are not too dark, as this in turn makes the room dark.

In my lounge I went for two different shades of pastel green, peppermint and light sage and it works very well, other pastel colours would work just as well, rose pink, light blues,caramel etc. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Accessories and a light paint color will offset the dark heaviness of the furniture. I have a set like that too and using a double curtain rod, I put white sheer curtains imprinted with a leaf pattern in back and then lt. green silk curtains in front, on a window. (got 'em at Target, didn't cost a fortune.) I painted the walls sage green.  I used a black curtain rod with a curly finial. I picked up the finial design by putting up a wall hanging with that same pattern. The wall hanging has 4 supports for four 8X10 frames. I went on art.com and bought 4 botanical paintings and put them inside. Put a plant in the corner. I bought a planter that looks like a ladder and put a wicker, and a leather jug on it. Looks great! The accessories make the room! Watch the HGTV decorating shows. Their ideas ROCK!!