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I think the problem is you have only sharp boxed shapes in your dining room as well look into more curvy Mirrors

This is such an interesting thread. Lots of helpful ideas but I think Beverly has nailed it. Absolutely stunning. Gorgeous room with floors to die for. Lucky girl, tresmamma!

I think replacing the sideboard with something mid century modern or a warmer toned wood look great but I love eclectic.

I agree with Joemd and Beverly. Your dining room is calming, simplistic, and beautiful. Love the white walls. I personally don’t like rugs in eating areas due to food falling to the floor and spills. Art is very subjective. Buy what speaks to you not what speaks to others.

It's fun to wake up to all these comments! Thank you all very much! I will sit on this a little bit and think about what I should do next and most importantly, first.

Blank slate:

The cloud affect of the soft blue paint above the white drum(see Beth H post) that featured the clear globe shaped accents, that tray inset ceiling, is very soothing. The lines of your room are very clean, so bringing in some soft designs, such as the inset of the soft blue ceiling, and even circular mod art canvas on a wall, rather than a square or rectangle piece,-- or circle mirror, and lamp shade tones to complement or mimic that soft blue ceiling, could all work nicely in this beautiful room. IMHO I love drama on the ceiling with the deep shades, but admit, the softer colors as Beth H shared in her post, the painted tray photos, might be less tiring if you don't change things up often in your home. Blue is a dominate color in nature and tolerates almost all shades beneath it, too. As you say, you do have alot of nice folks giving you ideas and there is not a bad one here. You have good bones to work with!! This is a great post share to keep up with.

Too much info. Now I don't know where to begin LOL! I will post updates when I get this done. Thanks again everyone.

Sorry, we overloaded you. The danger of posting but I encourage you to begin with some pink in the dining room, with deep blue ceiling. Then go from there.

Nooo, it's all good!!! Thanks Flo!

It is a beautiful room, so you almost can't go wrong!

Taking a break from it by living with the room as a blank slate is sometimes a good idea when we feel overloaded with decorating ideas. I hope you enjoy the process and your beautiful room, tresmamma. Good luck!

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Just got my latest Ballard’s catalog and there was a perfect piece of art for you! Check it out. Indigo blues and blush just beautiful. Enjoy!

It will look quite different when you actually have a dinner party in there, with place settings, and people, and candles and food on the table. I think you are over-worrying. Just saying'.

Beautiful Flo!

Touch of Class(online site you may check out). Also, FRONTGATE has several similar, Le Marigot & online you might look at Tulipa, Gardenia and Magnolia titled ones.......similar in shades from Flo. There is also, Grandin Road is another site with interesting items...... Even BLAIR, a lower price site, has an interesting one, Amsterdam View, in similar hues, and other architectural ones-- tho maybe too many lines. Nice picture tho! This is too much information, --but maybe in your next room you can find something just perfect. The one Flo showed, may be the best hue and size for your walls, and your taste. It is very very nice!!

Thank you redsilver! I will check out those sites.

I just want to say... go back through the pics and take a look at how whatever is on the wall works with your chandelier. When the mirror is hung vertically, I think the shapes fight each other. Ditto for the round mirror even though I like a round shape there (but not with the chandelier). I think your best bet is the artwork in a rectangular or sq. shape. But maybe you already came to that conclusion!

Anyway... you have such a pretty home. It's exciting to see what you do with it.

idea... this between 2 mirrors [vertically]?!

24 x 36"

[https://www.houzz.com/products/equality-original-artwork-by-david-moore-prvw-vr~66473606[(https://www.houzz.com/products/equality-original-artwork-by-david-moore-prvw-vr~66473606)

Better might be 1 larger piece:

[https://www.houzz.com/products/skyfall-large-modern-artwork-prvw-vr~9038307[(https://www.houzz.com/products/skyfall-large-modern-artwork-prvw-vr~9038307)

[https://www.houzz.com/products/milliken-mix-and-mingle-highland-star-damask-rug-batik-78x109-prvw-vr~51578297[(https://www.houzz.com/products/milliken-mix-and-mingle-highland-star-damask-rug-batik-78x109-prvw-vr~51578297)

But the floor already has a look, so a heathered mix including wood's color?

[https://www.houzz.com/products/safavieh-porcello-prl7680a-10x14-grey-dark-grey-rug-prvw-vr~61628408[(https://www.houzz.com/products/safavieh-porcello-prl7680a-10x14-grey-dark-grey-rug-prvw-vr~61628408)

Hi tresmamma- What a beautiful room! You just need more color in it. You don't need to paint the walls if you punch up the color and pattern around. What colors speak to you, and what do you need to coordinate with? What does your china look like? That will inform what other colors you choose.

Can you please measure your room and the size of the table? Then you can decide whether or not you can find a rug that will fit. It doesn't matter whether or not the rug covers that bit of wood inlay or not. Now if you don't want a rug because you are concerned about food spills, that is another matter.

The blue velvet chairs are wonderful. I am sorry to say that the grey host chairs are rather boring. Why not recover them with perhaps the front in the same blue velvet and the backs in a vertical stripe with a solid welting or if you are allergic to stripes, then a print of your choice with a solid welting, or a striped welting put on the bias on both sides for real pizzazz.

I can't tell if the lamp shades are dark blue or black but a stripe might be more interesting.

Before you run out to buy any art work, why not go to the library and take out some books on the history of art/painting and just leaf through the pages and just put stickies on anything that catches your eye. Then go over them again to see what does and why and categorize them according to color and style.

What are the color families, and are they big and bold graphics like the gold lips on blue or are they impressionists in cool colors like Monet or in hot colors like some of Van Gogh? Go to an art store and buy a color wheel for a few dollars and go around and around and see what make you happy.

With the deep shade of blue of your chairs, the colors that go with that are tints of itself, the yellows, oranges, reds, and greens, violets, and of course white and black, and gold and silver.

I think the artwork that you have there now doesn't add much to the room. If you want to leave the walls white, that might work, but then really add color with a rug or art that has the colors you want to add plus the blue. That you liked the picture with the dark blue background with the gold lips says you like the deep blue with gold, and you like orange too, that might be a place to start, but do your own experimenting, you might surprise yourself.

Rather than have the colorless crystal candlesticks on the table, I would have a wide crystal bowl with lemons with their leaves attached. Or oranges. Keep your eyes peeled at charity shops. Families donate and sell things that look plain (Steuben, Simon Pearce, etc) and you can can some great things. On the sideboard you can have a yellow orchid plant , or a vase with irises, or if you like drama, birds of paradise, or sunflowers, or lots of orange gladiolas, or yellow gladiolas. Big bunches of one type of flower make a statement in a simple glass vase.

The chandelier seems to give a lot of light, you might not even need the buffet lamps since with such dark shades they are not illuminating out at the room, they only illuminate down at the surface of the buffet and up at the ceiling. and when you entertain, you might want to use the top of the buffet to set out your desserts and not have room for the lamps anyway.

Someone mentioned something about the height of the chandelier.

The rule of thumb is that the dining room chandelier should be hung 30 - 34 inches over the dining room table in a room with an 8 foot ceiling. If the room is taller than 8 feet, than raise the chandelier an additional 3 inches for every foot of ceiling height. So if we pick an average of 32" for an 8' ceiling, for a 10' ceiling, we add an additional 6" and say your chandelier should be hung 38 inches above the table, you can work with the range of 36 - 40 inches above the table.

You might be able to use one of the mirrors oriented vertically towards the left of the sideboard with something(s) to the right, depending on the length of the mirror and the distance between the top of the chair rail molding and the crown molding. Wait and see until you get the rug which will guide you to what art you want and that will let you know if you want to use the mirror. A wowie sunburst mirror over the buffet would look great because it would not be repeating the rectangular shape of the chandelier.

I would not paint the room or the ceiling or in fact, buy any art work now until after you buy the carpet, because if you buy an oriental carpet, that will be your largest purchase and longest-lasting investment and will inform your other choices in the room.

I am partial to Persian carpets, and they will come in the colors that work with your midnight blue, orange, yellow, green and red.

tresmamma- here are some starburst mirrors that would look great, and some Persian carpets-

I will never understand the matching lamps on a buffet. Why not use something Dining room appropriate i.e. large covered platter, to pretty up a buffet? When would lamps be needed more than they would be in the way if one were to really use a buffet for its intended use?

following...

Does anyone else think those beautiful floors are cupping a little in the dining room? I thought that was going to be the issue, because the room looks pretty nice!

They are crowning. I hope it will be fixed when we get them refinished. I posted about it a few weeks back.

Ah, crowning is the opposite of cupping? They are beautiful floors. I love the herringbone in the hallways.

Look what I just found at Home Goods. I have no idea which way is up :). Do you like it?

I think it's lovely as is. I love the classic black-and-white theme. If I was craving more color, I'd put a bouquet of bright colored fresh flowers on the table and call it good. (I'm thinking yellow, but that's my preference.)

The important thing about the HG painting is, do *you* like it? Really like it? It's not my style or colors at all, but other than that, it looks like a generic piece from a home decor store.

Pretty! I love the pink tulips on the table too.

I really do like it! It has some silver in it which I like and I like the colors. My husband gave it the thumbs down though. It might be because he doesn’t want to hang it ;).

That is rather perfect! Great find! With fresh pink tulips on the table, stunning! Tell your hubby that this was a great find and great bargain (assuming it was) and you can hang it. Not that hard. Just make sure you don't hang it too high. About 4-6" above the buffet maybe slightly higher just depends on look with chandelier. Kind of have to eye-ball this one.

Is that frame silver or white? If white, I would rub and buff it to silver tones. It would look better.

How would you do that Flo? I have one I would like to change to silver as well.

I know Flo! Well, it was $299 but I had a $200 giftcard . Here is picture of frame. Which way would you hang it?

@c Renee- it depends on the material. Rub and Buff is available on Amazon and at Hobby Lobby and there are other brands as well. It is easier to use because you have a lot of control. I don’t like spray painting cause no matter how careful I am I get drips and voids.

Flo, can I do that to these? They already have some silver in the frame.

I would do it on the white parts. You could test a small spot and if you don’t like it remove it. If you aren’t comfortable trying it, then you need a completely silver frame. That would be costly. So decide if you love it enough to modify it. If not, return and keep looking.

Following, that picture is perfect.

Is it so ugly with the white frame? I would prefer silver but it's a white metal frame so maybe a little less tacky than a regular white frame....

Even black that outer trim would look better. The white against your light wall might not be best. Kind of cheapens the look. That art might be available on etsy.com. I know I have seen it. I would love to see it with floating black frame with silver inside edge.

It's a bummer because I like it :(. Oh well

Is there an artist name on it? We might be able to source it elsewhere for you.

This is one your art reminded me of but don’t know artist. I have left inquiry. But you have such a good deal, perhaps you should try it on the wall without the packing and removing the mirrors. I know, it is a job. But might be only way to tell. I would worry a bit with trying to modify white. It looks like an enamel of some kind.

This beautiful dining room could be great with some artwork and a colorful rug. Check out these ideas for your room:

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https://www.houzz.com/products/hand-painted-flowers-wall-decor-artwork-iv-prvw-vr~90921966