Formal Dining & Sitting Rooms

Question:

Hello!

We have lived in our home for over a year and a half. We still have not furnished our sitting room and our dining room is not complete. I don’t know how to decorate the two adjoining rooms. I would like the sitting room to be formal like the dining room, yet comfortable. These are the first rooms you see when you walk in the front door and they are empty! I cannot decide what I want to do. I have thought about having wall frames installed on the walls, but I love the feel of wallpaper. I have also thought about just having the bottom chair rail with lower wall frames. Another option is color? Do we paint the rooms the same? Do the walls in the two rooms need to be alike?

I have a traditional/Tuscan/French Country taste in furniture. I tend to be drawn to Damask, Toile, and Fleur-de-lis designs. I’ve thought about a settee and two wing chairs for the sitting room. I do know that I love every piece in your catalog! The window treatments came with the house when we bought it, so I am not against changing them.

Thank you
Kim

Answer:

Dear Kim,

Thank you for your recent Design Dilemma. We have created an allover plan to help you with completing your sitting/dining room combination. We do think they should be treated as one area and we will achieve this with color and fabric coordination.

Let’s start with the dining room. Installing a chair rail will give you the formal feeling you are looking for. Since you love wallpaper as much as we do, we selected our Marianna Damask in taupe for above the chair rail. If you take a swatch of the wallpaper to your local home improvement store, they should be able to computer match the paint color for below the chair rail. Next we think our Bullion Fringe Panels in Off White Quilted would give you that French Country look. A collection of white dishes, like our Antique Beaded Dinnerware, hung on plate hangers above the chair rail would look spectacular!

1 – Marianna Damask * 2 – Bullion Fringe Panels * 3 – Antique Beaded Dinnerware

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In the sitting room, we selected our Hudson Upholstered Settee in Off White Quilted for an elegant look. We also chose two Louis XV Salon Chairs in a Walnut finish and covered in our Toffee Check fabric. The Preston Cocktail Table in Rubbed White placed in front of the settee would be perfect! Against the back wall, the Benedetta Console in Tuscan Brown with our Grande Bouquet Plaque in Antique White hung above the console and a pair of Bronze Chartres Buffet Lamps flanking either side would be perfect. On the front windows, try our Medallion Panels in White for an elegant touch. If you need a side table, our 30” Terrific Trio with Burlap Fringe will do the trick placed next to the Hudson Settee.

1 – Hudson Upholstered Settee * 2 – Louis XV Salon Chairs * 3 – Preston Cocktail Table
4 – Benedetta Console * 5 – Grande Bouquet Plaque * 6 – Bronze Chartres Buffet Lamps
7 – Medallion Panels * 8 – 30” Terrific Trio with Burlap Fringe

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All in all we think these choices will create the elegant and sophisticated look you have wanted. By choosing various shades of beige and white, we have tied the two rooms together with a European elegance. We hope our suggestions will help you create that special look. Please let us know what you think, and don’t forget to send pictures when you finish the project – we would love to post them on Style Studio.

Sincerely,
The Style Studio Team

Posted 12/11/09