Our Best Before-and-After Dining Rooms
These dining room redos are nothing but glamorous
before after dining rooms 1
Dining rooms have an air of formality that can make them feel stuffy or dated, but these dining room redos are nothing but glamorous. Read on for all the inspiration needed to jazz up this space.
In the Wineski home in Massachusetts, a valance in Lee Jofa’s “Carnivale Paisley” relates back to the Gothic fretwork on the living room’s breakfront. Mounted high above the window, the fabric adds a finished look while preserving the view. The reproduction English chandelier from Vaughan Designs is playfully elegant.
The before photo from the Wineskis’ dining room is on the following slide.
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BEFORE Dining Room
The home’s dining room felt tired, a bit dated.
Another view of the new dining room is on the next slide.
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AFTER Dining Room
A dark finish refreshes the dining table and chairs, which are augmented by custom wing chairs covered in linen. An 18th-century Asian cupboard speaks of voyages on the high seas—appropriate for a bayfront house.
Interior Design: Gerald Pomeroy
For a glimpse at the rest of the Wineski home, click here [7].
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BEFORE Dining Room
Designer daughter Amy Morris knew the gold moiré wall covering in her parents’ new home had to go.
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AFTER Dining Room
The dining room walls were painted a warm charcoal gray. Morris covered one wall with mirrors antiqued and mounted in a grid pattern, adding glamour to the space. A large-scale antique chandelier replaced the crystal one above the table.
Interior Design: Amy Morris
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BEFORE Dining Room
The sad, empty dining room prior to renovation.
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AFTER Dining Room
What was once a wallpapered nightmare is now a chic dining room. A dining table, chairs, and a bench, all from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, create an intimate setting under the Galaxy chandelier. Blue accents lend cool encouragement to the taupe-gray walls. "We painted the dining room a darker color to make it more intimate," says Bob. "Then we added the upholstered bench to break up the monotony of a matching suite of chairs."
Design: Bob Williams
The rest of Bob Williams’ home renovation can be found here [21].
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BEFORE Dining Room
After adding on to a Houston home, the former family room needed a new purpose.
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AFTER Dining Room
A kid-oriented remodel led to the creation of this casual dining area -- a large room that serves as an all-around hub for the family. Bleached pine on the floors and ceilings as well as on cabinets surrounding the fireplace directs the room's calm palette. Combined with sparse furnishings, the result is a perfectly serence space. The Belgian bluestone table is from Watkins Culver Antiques. Dining chairs are covered in contrasting upholstery from Edelman Leather and Peter Fasano through George Cameron Nash.
Interior Design: Eleanor Cummings
More from the Houston remodel can be seen here [28].
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BEFORE Dining Room
In Jill Zarin’s New York apartment, the dining room had a heavy feel. Its Tuscan theme included elaborately swagged draperies, mustard-colored Venetian plaster walls, and mahogany woodwork. "It was too dark and not really comfortable," Jill says.
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AFTER Dining Room
For a lighter look, fabric blinds replace swagged draperies at the dining room windows. Walls in a faux shagreen finish are Jill's favorite hue–Tiffany blue. Tufted chairs with nailhead trim introduce clean lines while remaining classic. A new chandelier was chosen to work with the apartment's new Art Moderne feel.
Interior Design: Brad Boles
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BEFORE Dining Room
When renovating her new house, a homeowner called on her younger brother for design help.
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AFTER Dining Room
The dining room remained structurally unchanged, but the updated palette – mossy-green walls and eggplant-hued window treatments – gives the room a moody ambience. The dining room chairs, the first items that designers Joe Lucas and Parrish Chilcoat found for the house, caused one of many sibling battles. "Meg couldn't decide forever," laughs Joe.
Interior Design: Joe Lucas and Parrish Chilcoat
The rest of the classic home renovation can be seen here [42].
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BEFORE Dining Room
This home in a ritzy Hollywood neighborhood needed a dining room to match its location.
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AFTER Dining Room
Hollywood glam rules in the dining room with a gold-leaf ceiling and chairs designed by Billy Haines covered in Clarence House coral velvet. An 18th-century Italian chandelier is suspended from a starburst plaster medallion. Shimmering effects are enhanced by a crackled porcelain wall covering inspired by Chinese celadon ceramic ware.
Interior Design: Timothy Corrigan
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BEFORE Dining Room
The previous dining room was arranged around a rectangular table, but Debbie Cummins had a different idea. “I love round tables in a square dining room,” she says.
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AFTER Dining Room
The beautiful dentil molding and an original plaster medallion are the only remnants of the previous dining room. An antique Italian chandelier the Cumminses moved from a previous home reigns over the antique oak dining table. Debbie lightened up the space and brought a bit of blue into the the room with a floral drapery fabric and satin hems on the slipcovered dining chairs. “The floral is more pattern than I typically use, but I loved that fabric, and it pulled everything together in such a pretty way,” she says. “There was something about this Dutch Colonial house that seemed to call for a floral fabric.” The “Tree of Life” drapery fabric is by Michael S Smith for Jasper.
Interior Design: Debbie Cummins
The rest of the charming Dutch Colonial remodel can be found here [56].
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BEFORE Dining Room
What was once a formal living room with a fireplace homeowner Susan Brunn transformed into a cozy dining room.
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AFTER Dining Room
Susan transformed what was previously her formal living room into a cozy dining room. With French doors that lead to the balcony and a two-sided fireplace, the spacious dining room is sun-washed during the day and warmed by the fire at night. The sophisticated space is enhanced by a chic, neutral palette. Side chairs from Hickory Chair are covered in two fabric designs and partner with a Guy Chaddock table Susan had refinished. A chandelier from Ochre brings a splash of glamour to the table.
Interior Design: Rosemary Merrill
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BEFORE Dining Room
The dining room of the Goodyear home circa 1941. Perfect for cocktail parties, the original dining table was mounted on a motorized post so that it could be lowered to floor-level when dinner was over and the dancing started.
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AFTER Dining Room
The simple linear shapes of the chairs are in tune with the room’s modern influences, and casters on the feet allow for easy movement across the stone floor. The Lee Industries chairs are slipcovered with Sunbrella fabrics.
A different view of the dining room is on the next slide.
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AFTER Dining Room
The exterior walls of curved glass provide wide-angle views of the landscaped grounds. While light-blocking draperies weren’t required, thanks to the architect’s deep overhangs, Eric had soft sheers fashioned from fabric to gently filter the sun and provide privacy in the exposed dining room.
Interior Design: Eric Cohler
To see more of Eric Cohler’s restoration of the Goodyear house, click here [73].
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BEFORE Dining Room
Prior to renovation, dark woodwork in bad condition trimmed the perimeter of the room and the overall decoration was dated and mismatched.
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AFTER Dining Room
Sanded, whitewashed floors lighten up the once dark space. Even in the absence of a rug, the dining room remains cozy, with an original brick fireplace (which received a new mantel as part of the remodel) and luxurious silk drapes. The opening of the dining room fireplace was also lowered, putting it at a more intimate level for those gathered in the dining room. Cream-colored Gustavian chairs cushioned in floral linen encircle an English double-pedestal table.
Interior Design: Loi Thai
To see how the rest of this townhome was lightened up, click here [80].
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BEFORE Dining Room
A simple weekend home in North Carolina needed to become an idyllic mountain retreat.
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AFTER Dining Room
Autumnal colors distilled from an oil painting above the buffet are used throughout the house. The hunt scene depicted in the painting helped set the decorating agenda the homeowners love.
Interior Design: Jane Hoke
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BEFORE Dining Room
“This was a bachelorette cottage with a sofa and a pizza box when we started,” says designer Jeffrey Marks of the homeowners’ previous dining space.
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AFTER Dining Room
After long days in hot kitchens, husband-wife chefs David Lentz and Suzanne Goin wanted a fresh and romantic refuge. Now leather chairs, glossy surfaces, and tangy colors give the room its clubby feel.
Interior Design: Jeffrey Marks
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BEFORE Dining Room
When Thuy Tranthi and her husband purchased an abandoned Tudor house, every room was in need of character.
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AFTER Dining Room
"Here I was able to go crazy with the ornament," says designer Eric Lysdahl of the Parisian-style dining room. "Pilasters, ceiling details, plaster swags, and a Versailles-style parquet floor totally transform what had been a big, sad space." While the room has all the formal flourishes Thuy loves, it's also entirely user-friendly. “We wanted to use the dining room for dinner with our daughter, not just guests,” says Thuy.
Another view is on the following slide.
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AFTER Dining Room
Reproduction Louis XVI chairs with durable damask upholstery (neutral linen covers the backs) welcome use. Even the elegant French-blue wall color has a casual subtext. "Both homeowners are serious sailors, and the palette relates to the sea," says Lysdahl. Still, 18th-century elegance reigns, from the Biedermer dessert table in the corner to the reproduction hand-carved chandelier. A marble-topped console table and gilt mirror are also in the Louis XVI style.
Interior Design: Eric Lysdahl
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BEFORE Dining Room
The previous owners added French doors to the quaint dining room.
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AFTER Dining Room
The dining room is painted a delightful netural taupe, and the addition of French doors to the outside brings light to the once closed-in space. Despite the design challenge presented by the room's octagonal shape, homeowner Ellen Conley was still able to indulge her passion for order and beauty—just look to the carefully arranged mantel. Under the sparkly Niermann Weeks chandelier, whose shape is outlined in crystals, sits a fanciful tablescape featuring Ellen's collection of Herend dinnerware and figurines.
Interior Design: Mary Jo Donohoe
To see the rest of this Maryland before-and-after, click here [109].