Dining In

Just one more, technically not from the bulletin board, but inspiration just the same.  These may be my favorite dining room walls.

This house wants green and blue (and maybe a dash of red.)  It does.  It has no affinity for yellow, though it holds no personal grudge.  This house shrugs at yellow.  This house would walk by yellow in the hall and say “Hi, how are you,” but would never stop to hear about the horrific drive to work.   It may also be a little vain as it cannot seem to pass up a mirror. 
A little mirror, a little fretwork.  I just keep wondering if I could do it myself.
Images from Charlotte Moss’s A Flair for Living, photography by Pieter Estersohn.
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25 thoughts on “Dining In

  1. I loved that one too. Wasn't it the Lorton home from Tulsa?
    The fretwork was devine and makes the room, along with that gorgeous wallpaper.
    I think I remember the story, and the home is fabulous!
    L.

  2. Exquisite! I think the dash of red makes it – but really just a dash, a soupcon. And I'll bet you could diy – I couldn't – I'm hopeless in this category – but somehow, I'll bet you could!!

  3. Hi- I saw the book " Mr. Blandings builds his dream house" in a store. Do you have a copy? I am sure you do by now but if not would be happy to pick it up for you. Cheryl

  4. Leslie – yes, this was the Lorton's house, fun Tulsa trivia and, yes, Cheryl, I do have a copy, but thank you so much for thinking of me.

  5. Any woman who can move a 5000 ton desk while wearing stilletoes and eating Triscuits can, Yes, put up a mirrored wainscot with fretwork overlay. Yes she can.

  6. I bet you could, and I bet you don't even need a carpenter. A good pattern, a small saw, and a glue gun could do the same thing. I think you should. I'd also paint the back of the fretwork black to cut down on the reflection.

  7. I like the fretwork but have to say my first impression as I scrolled down through photo was of "Z-brick" due to the color of the reflection and the shape & size of the geometric pattern. Also be careful of mirror height and how chairs are placed so you don't end up with the reflections of all your dinner guests seats….

  8. You really are a wonderful writer, and much as I enjoy the pictures you post it's your writing that makes me turn to your blog first.

    Love the dining room! And of course you could do it – or most of it – yourself. Can't wait to see, and read about, your continuing efforts on the new house.

  9. Some wallpaper and fretwork!!! I am a chinoiserie addict and this room feeds my habit. It is gorgeous. Thanks. Mary

  10. After doing that dotted wallpaper for your boys? I am pretty sure you could do that yourself!

    All you'd need is a miter box and a whole lot of patience.

  11. I truly love your blog–it keeps me smiling! This post reminds me that when I was a kid, I used to give everything a voice and a gender! Yes, my bookcase was a boy, but my side chair was a girl. A frilly girl actually. So is your new house a boy, a girl, a man, or a woman, or…??? (Or am I just too weird for words?)

  12. Oh, to have a dining room (or any room for that matter) papered in hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, whether from Gracie today or antique. Lovely. I would have thought this dining room was in England, and am happy to learn it is in Tulsa, which gives one hope that such sophistication would spread East, rather than the other way around. Reggie

  13. Oh how I love Chinese wallpaper–especially with birds! I'm all for mirroring above or below eye level, too, particularly in a dining room; it creates such lovely, flickering movement in low light. It is a beautiful room. My one concern about so much fretwork over mirror, gorgeous as it is, would be the cleaning: imagine getting into all those little corners without popping the moldings off the glass. Antiqued or cloudy mirror might be more forgiving, though less dramatic. Or maybe settle for a tall, beautiful cupboard with fretwork-over-mirror doors?

    C.

  14. Green and blue with accents of red is exactly where I am right now, and three of the images in the previous post are in my personal files, too.

    Can't wait to see how this project evolves.

  15. White is shrinking quietly away into a corner? Yes, of course YOU could pull it off. I, on the other hand would probably end up with some rough, ugly plywood looking thing.

  16. That simpering sound you hear is just me sighing with longing…what perfection

  17. This dining room is in a junior Lorton home in Tulsa. (The parent's fabulous home was decorated by Mario Buatta). It was inspired by the dining room created by Parish-Hadley for the San Francisco home of Ann and Gordon Getty which had bevelled mirror fitted into the openings of the fretwork, a labor-intensive but particularly effective detail.

  18. What an awesome dining room! I am new to your blog and I have really enjoyed reading over your posts. Look forward to reading more.

  19. But of course you could, but if you could not, I would come and somehow we would muddle through with tools, brushes and paint create a pretty little room that would be the life of the dinner party.
    pve

  20. Perfection, both those rooms. That second picture was on the back cover of Southern Accents and its been long placed in my inspriation folder, just fabulous..that chinoiserie is a home run every time!
    Please visit me at my newish blog (less than 2 months) all about the building of our new home and my love for decor/design. Always a treat coming here….
    http://www.theenchantedhome.blogspot.com

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