Dining Room Accessories

Photo styling and developing color stories were a few of the topics we learned about in the Blogging Your Way e-course this past week. I had a fun time pulling together my blog mood board and now I am ready to try my hand at improving my photography. I have been collecting accessories for the dining room over the last few months, but I have not tried arranging them. This is the perfect opportunity to try out styling with my new accessories. I spent some time practicing various compositions this weekend.

These arrangements are not intended to depict how I will actually style the room, but rather how I want the finished room to feel. I also want to portray the color story I am building for the dining room. I tried to incorporate a few of the amazing tips Leslie gave us in class. The first, is to incorporate texture. The second, to play on the senses other than just sight.  Before we see the pictures let me just say…I still have a long way to go.  I am such a beginner and my photos lack clarity and sharpness, but I am working on it.  I even ordered a tripod.

For a while all the accessories I was grabbing for the dining room were smooth and shiny; glass vases, ceramic vases, crystals. I knew I needed to bring in some texture. I started adding texture to the room with the jute twine monogram.  To bring the texture to the table I will continue the natural element with a few simple table runners from natural colored linen.  I also found this cool wooden ball from West Elm.

I am toying with how to mix shiny and texture. I have these amazing hammered silver chargers to add another layer of texture to the table settings. I got them from Z Gallerie years ago and they haven’t been used in a few years. They have developed a nice patina I kind of like. I also found these amazing ornaments at Crate & Barrel. I know you are thinking ornaments are smooth and shiny, and you are right, but these smoke glass ones also have some gorgeous texture. Ornaments are an unconventional decor item, but they can make great vase fillers or decorative balls.

To add some more interest to my photos, I took Leslie’s advice to excite the other senses. I snagged these adorable gold lined steel votive holders at Crate & Barrel. Adding some lit votives gives the photograph some life. You can almost feel the warmth from that beautiful glow. I also popped in a few succulents. These are actually faux succulents, because I have a black thumb lately, but they add interest and give life to the rest of the inanimate objects in the photo.

This photo practice has helped me further develop the color story for the dining room. I had something pretty basic on the dining room mood board. As the room has evolved and I have played with various arrangements, the color scheme has evolved too. I have added some secondary colors that enhance and compliment the main colors; lavender, gold, and steel.   The touch of lavender appears on the china I inherited from my Grandma.  Bits of lavender, gold, and steel along with the more prominent teal, charcoal grey, aqua, and lime completes the layered, collected look. I achieved a modern, yet eclectic feel. Despite most of the colors in the room being cool colors, the room actually reads very warm. The warmth comes through the natural elements of jute and linen along with the hints of gold.  I am more of a silver person, but I cannot deny how amazing the gold looks with teal.

I hope you are getting excited to see the completed room. Pardon all the teasers, but I am still working to pull everything together. I want to show you every little bit that goes into the process of developing a room.