If you tuned in to our last feature, then you are familiar with the beautiful Howard home that we have been working on over the past year. Today, we would like to share with you the fabulous dining areas in their home.
Bill and Debbie Howard are clients at Yeager Design and Interiors and recently purchased their forever home. They had decided to upgrade their living situation so that they could entertain family and friends on a regular basis with ease and no spatial constraints. YDI was happy to partner with them to make their forever dream home a reality.
As you come through the front door of the Howards’ home, you are greeted immediately on the right side by a beautiful dining space surrounded with smooth, white columns. The previous tenants used this space as a formal living/sitting area. As we showed in our previous installment, we switched out the living and dining areas and took this space as an intimate, formal dining room.
Because this room was so visible as a first impression, we knew it had to be a showstopper, yet casual enough for all of the Howards’ entertainment needs. We chose a hand-hewn pine trestle table and surrounded it with luxurious dark-gray velvet side chairs and accent linen light-gray captain chairs.
To anchor the back wall, we chose to install a high sideboard, custom-finished in slate gray with a whitewashed top. To pull in a signature metallic accent, the Howards fell in love with our antique brass metal buffet mirror. It was the perfect touch to mix up our finishes and throw a little glam into the design.
The wooden orb and wire chandelier with crystal served as a rustic yet chic light source for the room and helped to pull in other rustic touches, like our golden steer head and antler center pieces.
As you traverse onward through the Howard home, you come to the open area kitchen and casual eating space. While the dining area is not huge, it serves as another sweet setting for more casual and intimate meals. Mr. Howard also uses it for his weekly poker matches.
We chose to install a 60-inch round pedestal table, with finishes similar to the sideboard in the dining room. To amp up the design, we paired it with a modern interpretation of Windsor-back chairs. We also traded out the previous light fixture for a gray-wash wood chandelier that complements the relaxed atmosphere while playing nicely with the new island pendants across the way.
To accent the tabletop, Mrs. Howard likes to keep glass cache jars as her centerpieces. We filled them with Spanish moss, and she places seasonal items in them throughout the year. On a regular basis the Howards keep five of the larger scale chairs around the table and a sixth chair off to the side for extra company, as well as a comfy spot for guests to sit and be entertained while the Howards are cooking.
Some YDI insider tips for round tables:
- Try not to squeeze too many chairs around a table. It can make guests feel too close to one another and squished in.
- The width of a chair dictates the number of people seated at a table. The smaller the chair, the more seats can fit.
When it comes to the Howard home, as you can see, they have used a beautiful neutral palette of whites and grays with metallic accents. Even though some may think this is a contemporary color palette, when mixing it in to a traditional built home, it turns into an eclectic collection of neutrals ranging from cool to warm.
We at YDI love to use color, but sometimes the serenity and peacefulness of a monochromatic gray scheme can be breathtaking and ethereal. We look forward to bringing you even more spaces from the Howard home and hope that you enjoyed this insider view into YDI’s project with the Howards.
Elizabeth Yeager Cross is the owner of Yeager Design & Interiors in Scott Depot. You can follow YDI on Facebook, and Yeager Cross can be reached at 304-760-8914 or by email at Yeager@ydiwv.com. Have a design challenge? Find out what our area experts have to say! Send your questions — even photos — and a summary of what you’d like help with, along with your contact information, to social@wvgazette.com. The solution to your design challenge could be featured in a future WV Design Team article.