I’m Loreen Epp, a writer and professional interior designer from New York. I’ve spent my career in the home furnishings and recently launched my own company, roomplanners.com.
Rooms to Rave About is one of three blogs I write. The others are listed on the sidebar of the blog.
My goal with this blog is to help you think through your own rooms by looking at why some rooms work, why some don’t… and what can be done make even the toughest rooms awesome.
Please feel free to send me a room you’d like me to rant or rave about. Or tell me if you agree or disagree with my ravings!
3 comments
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September 17, 2009 at 3:50 pm
renee
what is the greenish paint color that you used in the dining room ‘make dining room look bigger’? it has white wainscot on the bottom. i like this color alot
September 18, 2009 at 4:01 am
Dave
My wife and are are about ready to paint our dining room and are wondering if we should paint the bottown wainscotting a lighter or darker color than the top half of the wall. We have a darker stained wood trim for the base molding and around the window. The floors are oak. Any thoughts? Could we do a cream wall with the wainscotting being a goldish/yellow color?
September 19, 2009 at 4:09 pm
loreenepp
Hi Dave -
With the dark wood trim, you could definitely use a cream-colored wall. Just make sure it’s a cream with slightly yellowish undertones rather than pinkish undertones. It’ll look better with the oak.
If you want to use 2 colors (above and below the wainscotting)… here are a few thoughts. If your dining room is on the small side but you still want to use a darker color in the room, use a darker color on the top and a lighter color on the bottom. This might seem opposite of what you’d expect. But by keeping the lightest area close to the floor, the room feels spacious and airy where you walk, sit, etc. and creates a perception of more floor space. If your dining room is large and you want it to feel more intimate, use a darker color on the bottom. If you’ve got young kids, you might also prefer a slightly darker color on the bottom because it shows less markings and fingerprints.
My post, Make a small dining room look bigger (July 7/09) shows an example of a light/dark dining room.
Best wishes with your dining room project!
Loreen