We’ve been living 2+ years with an empty dining room, and while this isn’t a big deal, the dining room is the very first room you see when you come in the front door. And a completely bare, completely beige room really wasn’t setting a great tone for the rest of the house!

Once we got a fresh coat of paint on the walls (Calico by Devoe) and some pretty wainscotting and crown moulding installed back in the Fall, it was time to get serious about decorating this room. So I created a dining room mood board to help me pull it all together.

We started the hunt for a dining set on President’s Day weekend of 2013. And over President’s Day weekend of 2014, we pulled the trigger on a table and chairs. Oh yes, you read that right… one solid year of table-hunting. Not that we spent each of those weekends table-hunting… but we definitely take our time making a decision!

Now that we’ve got the table and chairs in our space, I am itching to finish out the room and call it done (at least for now!). We obviously know about half of what we’re working with: carpeting, wall color, trim, dark wood tones, and the brushed nickel finish on our chandelier. And we have a pretty clear vision of how we want to decorate: a big metallic-framed mirror opposite the window to bounce light around the room. Anchor the long orange wall with cool black-and-white photography of Cincinnati. Probably something iconic like our Roebling Suspension Bridge or city skyline. Maybe a panoramic photo divided amongst three canvases?

But beyond that, I’m open for suggestions! Pulling this mood board together (my first!) was really helpful and got me thinking about some of the possibilities we could try. I’m loving the idea of a pop of rich, tealy blue,  and some blingy accessories to play up the brushed nickel and the mirror frame. Space is tight with the chairs and table in place, so maybe instead of a traditional sideboard or china cabinet, we could try two silver bar carts or something like that.

Do you create mood boards to help guide your design decisions? What’s the hardest part about putting one together?

Update: see how the dining room finally came together here!

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