Black paint updates a traditional dining room

Paint can be used in many ways to change the feeling in a room.  In this case my client had a traditional New England colonial home but wanted this space to feel less formal traditional and more welcoming.  The new furniture has a french country vibe~plank top table and curvy slat back chairs.The sisal carpet replaced a traditional but bossy oriental rug and the linen sheers went a long way along with the black furniture in updating this room.

Like many colonial and cape homes in the Boston area suburbs, homes with dining rooms often had one or two built in china cabinets. I owned two homes that both had a matching pair of corner cabinets with the glass doors, so they aren't uncommon. When I specified black paint for this built in corner cabinet, eyebrows were raised~especially that of the painter.  When all was said and done, it was this piece that we liked best.  Filled with black and white transferware this corner cabinet no longer felt like the standard 1950s built-in.

The area rug is an indoor outdoor sisal style with a fabric binding.  This rug wears incredibly well and is value priced.  The "Cove" rug is sold online through Home Decorators catalogue. This rug is comparable to some of the ones you will see in Ballard Design's catalogue and I have used it many times with great results.

The 2" wooden rods (formerly white) were painted black, then beige sheer linen panels were hung with cream colored wood blinds for additional privacy.  Originally there were pole swags and jabots over the white rods. The walls were hand painted in a green faux finish that was a super popular and expensive look a decade ago~but still works well enough until my clients are ready to ditch the green color in favor of something else, like a coordinated neutral to go with the putnam ivory on the bottom of the room.

The long wine buffet is an Arhaus piece, and is not made by the same company that did the table and chairs.  Mixing pieces is easy to do when matte black is the common connector.

This color palette of cream, beige, green and black works nicely together.  You could easily change the green wall finish out to a neutral color to change the feel of the space again.  So remember the power of  paint  and what it can possibly do for your room.  I wish I had before pictures, but sadly this was done last year before my blogging started~however I thought you might enjoy seeing this project.