Photo by Jeremy Samuelson for Cottage LivingI can't stop looking at this image of the dining room in Cynthia Good and Joey Reiman's Atlanta home, from the latest issue of Cottage Living magazine.
We've been toying with painting our deep red, too-grown-up dining room a similar aqua shade, but weren't sure how it would look with our dark-stained, somewhat rustic table and antique sideboard. Judging from the results here, though, I think the juxtaposition of new and old, pop and primitive works beautifully.
I love the gallery of psychedelic Beatles images, too -- they add a sort of louche bohemian vibe to the space, not to mention injecting a lot of vivid color. It just seems like a bright, happy, fun place to hang out.
Let's break it down:
The paint is Benjamin Moore's Surf City, which in person is almost the exact color of a Tiffany's box.
The four Beatles portraits, taken in 1967 by famed photographer Richard Avedon, are $650 for the set from Poster Classics or $1,250 through GO Antiques. (You can also find reproductions -- licenced or otherwise -- going for as little as $5 each on eBay.)
The table in the Cottage Living spread is an antique -- as are the painted chairs -- while ours is the Basque, $799, from Crate & Barrel.
We'd go white and modern for the chairs. (I bought a set of vintage Saarinen tulip chair knockoffs super-cheap on eBay awhile back. Unfortunately, they're too short for the table, so I'm still on the hunt for something that will provide similar contrast.)
What do you think of the space?
14 comments:
I say YES! Go blue! Who needs a red dining room these days anyway. However...I say accent with red. I think that shade of blue (and others similar) provides such a nice soothing contrast when paired with glimmers of deep red. The cushions on the chairs made me think to tell you this (even though I know your chairs might not have red cushions...do they?). And dark, unfussy wood is the perfect third element. Do it, Leah, and blog the hecks out of it!
Thanks for egging me on, Cardboard!
Our fake tulip chairs don't even have cushions -- as I said, they were super-cheap. If we used them, I'd have to make up some new cushions. But then, if we used them, we'd have to cut at least two inches off of the table lets so that we wouldn't feel like midgets at dinner. (What was it with all the super-low furniture in the Sixties?)
And it's funny that you mention the red, since right now our dining room is dark red with bright turquoise accents that I incorporated in an effort to make the room seem less serious and grown-up. Didn't quite work -- though I'm now sold on the red-aqua combo, just with red as the accent instead of the dominant hue.
Later chica,
Leah
personally, i'm for just about anything blue, as long as it's not pastel. i love this faded aqua. go for it! i'm not into the beatles, so i'd swap those out for vivid travel photos, or some dramatic black and whites with a punchy color accent (i'm for tori), framed in a dark wood that would match the table.
I love the blue walls, they would look fantastic. I love that vintage birdcage in the corner on the spread...might not fit into your style, but it's a nice touch. I say go for it!
Love it... funky, modern but grounded by the wood... and doesn't seem like una fortuna to construct, it may give a cool feeling to your darkish room--go for it! You did half the work here anyway!
:0) Tara
Do it.
I think I need to get a subscription to Cottage Living. I love it every time I lay my hands on one; that first photo is so beautiful!
oh - i have a wood table with jacobsen 7 chairs
It looks fun and lighthearted, I like it. Go for it!
Aqua blue and brown (being the wood)look fabbo together. Go for it. I think the red accents will work well to. Try out a few reds to ensure the colour relationship 'pops'.
leah, I really love the rooms you choose to highlight on your blog. My good friend painted her kitchen a beautiful turquoise when we first started seeing this blue in design mags. It looks fantastic. I do recommend trying to find the "grayer" version of whatever turquoise you're drawn to---it tends to be more livable. Can't wait to see the end result!
This is funny, I just marked this page in my copy of Cottage Living! I can't do the color (floor plan issues) but I love it so much I'm toying with the idea of painting our cheap IKEA sideboard that color.
I hope I'm not too late to give you some advice: don't choose a paint chip that looks as bright that pic. Trust me, it will be much, much brighter once you put it on the walls. If you're looking for a color that feels like a Tiffany box and goes well with wood, go with Devine Paints "Devine Blue." http://www.devinecolor.com/ocean.html
It looks very light and baby-ish in the can, but it's definitely not light once it's on all four walls. It's also slightly grayed out, giving it a sophisticated feel. As a bonus, the paint has absolutely NO SMELL and goes on like buttah. Of course, you'll need to prep those red walls with primer. Sure you don't want to stick with red? I know blue is in right now, but it's really not a color that goes well with food. (I have Devine Blue in my LR.)
PS
Devine Paints are available in SF, I'm pretty sure.
If you want a turquoise-y blue that really goes well with dark wood and white check out the interiors of the Condesa DF Hotel in Mexico city. Just google it and go to their website- it's very chic and fun at the same time. It was done by India Mahdavi and I must say it would look awesome with those chairs (it wouldn't be too hard to lower the table). If not maybe you could get some vintage chairs and just paint them as in the magazine.
What an awesome room! It seems energetic and peaceful at the same time. Good luck!
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