My Midcentury Modern Dining Room Progress

The unboxing phase of my recent move is now behind me, and in today’s post I am sharing a sneak peak of my midcentury modern dining room progress update…

New home….new life….and a whole new decorating style, baby!

While I just finished unpacking the last box of junk from the old 1980’s rancher, I was just too damn impatient not to share some of what I have been doing to my new midcentury modern lake cottage.

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So mind you…this space is still a work in progress in terms of styling (a first layer if you will).

While I don’t plan on making any drastic changes to this house, I am on a mission to make it feel more personalized to my tastes and personality.

So the first thing I did was change out the existing farmhouse chandelier, with something more modern with this staggered glass sputnik chandelier.

While I typically lean a little more boho farmhouse, I was called to highlight more of the home’s midcentury modern characteristics.

Not wanting to distract from the beautiful back wall full of windows overlooking the lake and all its bountiful wildlife (deer, heron, geese, hawks and cranes galore), my goal is to keep the decor as streamline and as minimal as I can possibly muster.

As a result, the challenge is to find ways to inject my family’s unique essence without taking away from the architecture and the views.

When it comes to making a house a home, I realize it will probably take some time to find my happy medium on the spectrum of minimalism versus maximalism (as to be expected when going for a feeling and not simply a look).

Given my husband and I are Grateful Dead fanatics (dead heads as they say) , I thought a surefire way to make the home feel like “us” without adding too much clutter was by means of this framed mug shot of Jerry Garcia on the wall above a custom live edge shelf. I love the tongue and cheek punch the quirky art gives the otherwise muted space.

Further incorporating our vibe, I placed some personal mementos and crystals on top of the custom built console table.

Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for the solid wood pieces in this room. I actually purchased both the dining table and the console table from the previous owners as they were custom built for this house in beautiful white maple and walnut (not to mention constructed to the perfect dimensions for this galley style space).

Because I invested way more than I was comfortable with into the dining table and console table, I knew I had to conserve the budget somewhere.

Since the dining table is freaking massive(over 10 feet long), purchasing eight dining chairs under budget was no easy feat, but with these white bucket chairs from Home Depot, I came in under budget at $450 for all eight chairs.

I figure when the day comes that I can afford my dream chairs(8 Bauhaus-style cantilever chairs to be exact), I can simply move these multipurpose babies outside . Until then, I will just keep dreaming.

With the cedar board and batten walls painted in a very warm white (Shoji White by Sherwin Williams) and the warmth of all of the surrounding wood beams and accents, I am finding I can get away with more minimalism than I am used to without it feeling too stark (in person at least).

And when the sun rises and the golden light comes beaming through the A-frame of windows,I get all warm and fuzzy inside.

All of that being said, however, I still plan on adding a rug underneath the table (possibly even 2 rugs as I am a sucker for the layered look).

When you aren’t gazing out to see the colors of nature outside, houseplants and moss balls inject a little more visual interest and color into the mostly white backdrop.

Hell.. I may even add a few pops of additional color eventually. The possibilities are truly endless, and I absolutely love that stage of the design process.

I am hoping by the time my summer tour goes live , I will have more layers of styling accomplished in this room to share with you.

Although…it doesn’t really take much in a space like this, which is truly one of the architectural highlights of our 1970’s gem.

Be sure to shop this space by clicking on the affiliate links below…

My Dining Room Sources:

• chandelier – West Elm
• dining chairs- Home Depot
• large fiddle leaf fig tree- World Market
• round mirror- Target
• moss balls and gold bowl- Hobby Lobby
• chrome planter- Home Goods
• art- Fine Art America
• dining table – custom built at Chattanooga Hardwoods
• console table- custom built at Chattanooga Hardwoods
• paint color- Sherwin Williams “Shoji White”

Thank you so much for stopping by this week! It would mean the world to me if you could share this post with a friend or on social media…

Now get out there and design some good vibes along with a fabulous life.