If you’re new around here, thanks for stopping by and welcome! I am Lauren Caron, an interior designer and the founder of Studio Laloc, an interior design firm based in Seattle, Washington. On the side my husband and I are remodeling our home that I’ve given its own hashtag #ourseattlecraftsman. We’ve renovated our kitchen, scullery, and in the last One Room Challenge, we renovated our powder room. I’m excited to be participating as a guest again and hope you’ll follow along as we remodel our dining room! If you missed last week’s post please check here to read it.

Week 5 Post

First I’d like to thank Linda Weinstein and the team at One Room Challenge . This is only my second ORC, and both times have been a wonderful experience. Challenging yes, but also wonderful! With the one room challenge comes a ever expanding community of positivity and support. Although it’s a lot of work, I would recommend everyone to try it at least once. If it weren’t for these challenges, I don’t think I’d be pushed to get through the rooms I’ve done. I’m already looking forward to the spring ORC. Although, still figuring out which room that will be! Thank you Linda for creating this event and keeping it going even through the most challenging of times! And thank you to the media sponsor, Better Homes & Gardens who makes this event possible!

On to the room…

If you’re reading this before I have my chairs installed in the room, that’s because I needed to upload this blog post and link it by the 11/29 deadline. The reality is that our room came with challenges in terms of finishing the customized dining chairs and the curtain hardware. I knew we’d be cutting it close, but life happens and we all have to accept that. Our fabric took a long time to arrive and our upholsterer, and our upholsterer had a family emergency that required the time needed to take care of that. This is why even when we’re working on our homes (not even in trying times like these), we need to understand that interior design takes time. Creating custom spaces and executing custom furnishings, takes time. Back orders are real. Lead times longer than 8 weeks are common. As much as I wished I finished in the time allowed, I don’t see this as a failure. I see it as a reality check.

For this portion of the reveal I have decided to photograph what we have, making a point to leave the missing components out - the chairs and the window treatments. When the chairs and curtain hardware arrive, I’ll be able to upload finished photos of the room. So, even without the chairs being finished in time, I can still speak to the overall design intention and outcome of the space. To start, let’s look at where we begin one more time and then dive in…

Before

The before of the room wasn’t terrible, it just didn’t feel finished or loved. The table felt lost amongt a sea of hardwood floors and wood paneling. the grey paint color that had been there since we moved in, felt cold and vacant. The chairs are cool, but not exactly right for this room. It overall just needed more, more energy, more intention, and more polish.

After(ish)

Pre-Reveal Dining Room Designed by Lauren L Caron of Studio Laloc Photo / by Lauren L Caron ©2020

How it all works

As you can see the room is layered in several different patterns, materials and textures. This was the intent with this space. I wanted to see how far I could push it without it feeling too crazy. How many patterns you may ask? I have SIX different patterns from the wallpapers, to the textiles, to the rug. And then I’ve layered in a variety of wood finishes from the dark stained fir wall paneling that is original to the house, the light oak flooring (flooring also original, the stain was updated 2 years ago when we moved in), the flamed mahogany sideboard, to finally the dining table that features a light walnut veneer finish. For the metal finishes I paired a mix of black, oil rubbed bronze, aged and unlacquered brass, and silver. For design styles, why not go the same route bringing in traditional case pieces like the sideboard, the table is a neo-traditional shape, to the modern chair frames. When you describe the mix it sounds like a mess. But somehow it all works. AND how does it all work? I will try my best to explain, however a lot it is just coming together from a sense of intuition and a laissez faire process. That I guess we can pinpoint as style?

If we were to disassociate all the formality of the styles of furnishings and textiles in this room, and we just look at it in terms of balance, rhythm, and unity - also known as the principles of design, we can understand how this space works.

Balance

First, I wanted to bring balance to the room. It is designed to be quite formal with its formal symmetry of the doors flanking the focal point of the room, the built-in hutch. However, aesthetically the room on its own is a heavy, masculine space and in my opinion did not initially feel balanced in that sense. The paneling is what drives this feel with the dark color of wood, and the strong lines that are created by the paneling itself. The craftsman style in a nutshell can be described this way.

Rhythm

Myself, being a designer that leans more feminine wanted to push the mood of the pendulum back toward the other direction, hoping the final result would end up more in the middle or have a sense of balance in terms of masculinity and femininity. So, utilizing the design principle of rhythm to focus on line and silhouette (in its 3D form), I’ve been able to accomplish this. With the furnishings, I’ve introduced curves via the oval table and the serpentine sideboard. I’ve further added to that direction, by bringing in layers of textiles to create softness, and on a 2D level, patterns with curves and flowy lines to enhance it.

Unity

The next principle that I’ve utilized is unity. Naturally this room is warm and has a lot of rich browns to it. I wanted to pull in colors to compliment the browns but also, an absence of color in some instances to enhance it. The wallpaper does just that, the black white, which is more like a black and warm cream, are together an absence of color. The paper still gives us the flowy lines, but we don’t have the distraction of added color to compete with the wood paneling on the walls. The colors I have brought in are a harmonious combination of greens, pinks, mauves, and warm, soft blues. All of which are seen throughout the rest of the main floor in my home and work really well with brown. Choosing a limited palette of color unifies the space and ultimately pulls it all together.

So there you have it, while there is A LOT going on, it all still somehow works. When broken down to the most basic of principles, it makes sense why it works. I was intentional about the elements I brought in, but in many ways I relied on a little bit of magic and intuition to attempt adding some of these to the mix.

Hidden Glassware Cabinet

I couldn’t finish out this post without giving the hidden glassware cabinet a shoutout. As shown above, the hutch is flanked by two french doors. Both of which led to real rooms in the past, but we decided to close out the door on the left when we remodeled the scullery. If you follow me on social media you can see how the two rooms backup to each other in the floor plan. It’s within my STORIES highlights. But since we closed the doorway off, we were left with a door that led to nowhere. I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to add more glassware storage to my dining room without sacrificing anymore floor space. Wanting to keep the symmetry intact I added curtains to the backs of the french doors. I also had the idea that if we ever decided we didn’t want the curtains, having a mirrored back panel would create the illusion of a space that extends beyond the french door. We ran into some trouble with getting the mirror installed and had to have it cut down twice, but in the end I think this is super successful use of an odd space. It’s also a bit of magic, because when you open the cabinet it’s such a statement!

Sources

Now for sources. I have to say that everything but the fabric on the window treatments was NOT sponsored, unless you include the items my mother gifted us. I did pay for the POD and the permits required, to ship these items out to the west coast, which was not inexpensive. I’ve said in the past that I need to get better at reaching out for help, but this room was already coming together on its own and I had a limited timeline to get what I needed for it. #IPAIDFORTHIS holds a lot of truth in this room.

Textiles + Soft Furnishings:

Drapery Fabric: F. Schumacher, Pyne Hollyhock in Charcoal. *sponsored*

Thank you to Schumacher for sponsoring the window treatment fabric. This was a long shot asking for help in this purchase and I’m so grateful they came through. The Pyne Hollyhock print is a true design classic and I’m so excited to finally be able to use it in my home. I actually wanted to use it in our last rental cottage dining room but I never bit the bullet, since it was an expensive fabric and a rental. It is truly worth investing in classic pieces that you know you will love for many years to come. They will outlast trends. And the best thing about drapery is that the amount of yardage you use for drapers will allow for the fabric to be reimagined in the future if drapes are not what you want them to be in the next design iteration.

Wallpaper - Gucci Herbarium, black & cream

Chair + Door Drapery Fabric - Ballard Designs, black check / Same fabric found on Etsy.com

Wall Sconce Fabric - Kelly Wearstler, Feline in Ebony/Beige

Napkins - Hedgerow Edison, linen in blush

Rug - Vintage Wilton, Birds of Paradise, found on Chairish

Furnishings

Dining Table - Vintage found on Chairish

Serpentine Hepplewhite style Sideboard (similar) - Vintage, gift from my mother

Dining Chairs (similar) - Vintage parsons style, found on chairish, custom modified and upholstered.

Labor

Custom Draperies - made by Martha & Ash, traditional pinch pleat style

Custom Pleated Walls Sconce Lampshades - made by Cruel Mountains Design

Lighting

Wall Sconces - original to the home

Chandelier - by Arteriors sold on YLighting.com

Hardware

Door drapery hardware - Rejuvenation, cafe curtain rods in Antique Brass

Picture hanging hooks and chain - House of Antique Hardware, Art Nouveau Rail Hook

Accessories

Dishware - Antique blue & white china and Scalamandre Zebra by Lennox / Vintage (no longer available)

Beeswax Candlesticks - Hedgerow Edison

Candlestick Holders - Vintage Barley Twist Candlestick Holders + Vintage Brass Twist Candlestick Holders

Tea Setting - a family heirloom that is on loan to me, until I pass it on to my niece

Marble/Alabaster Table lamps - Vintage from Red Ticking

*Please note: anything I have not provided a source for, I am intentionally choosing to keep private. Please be respectful of that decision. I am being very generous with the insight into my process and the sources I do share. I’m not being paid to share these sources, so you should consider this as a gift. Whenever possible I am linking affiliate links to earn a few pennies for the sources I am sharing.