A New Dining Table & Color It Sunday

It’s been a long while since we’ve had the chance to create another interior design coloring page for all of you, but I was inspired to do another dining room when we found this amazing new dining table on Craigslist a few weeks ago. See all our past Color It Sunday pages by clicking on the projects tab or here.

To say we’ve had a lot going on lately would be a huge understatement. With the move into a much larger historic home in September,  the One Room Challenge Nursery just getting wrapped up, the holidays, and our little Man scheduled to arrive shortly after the new year, we have been busy for sure.

You know what they say about the busy times? Be prepared to be even more busy... we must put out some special smell (sweat?!) that tells everyone that now is the time for other opportunities to come along. We’ve had multiple potential projects and clients give us a call over the last few weeks with intriguing possibilities, you have to wonder why it all happens at the same time! But we sure are grateful for these fun prospects.

That’s why if you noticed, we took last week off and just enjoyed Thanksgiving at my sisters place without posting. But today we are back at it with an industrial dining room inspired by a wonderful friends kitchen/ dining remodel.

Industrial Coloring Page Download

The dining room is a mix of industrial, mid-century, and rustic. You know how much I love a good eclectic mix and our friends do too.

Download the free pages or click the link below.

 

Would you create a feature wall? Some really modern art in the frames, find a few classic oil paintings, or some vintage posters?

Color it up and let us see your results on social media #thglcoloringpages, and thank Libby for the inspiration 😍.

And finally the new dining room table find for only $125 bucks!!!!

I know your thinking what is she going to do with yet another mid-century piece but look at those legs!!? It’s a big house I think it can handle some more mid-mod eclectic love.

I practically threw the money at the seller when my mother, daughter and I went to go “check it out”. Which is obviously code for I already know I’m getting this thing unless it’s falling apart. I guess I beat out the man driving from upstate NY to come take a look!

It’s just going to hang out here in the dining room with all this wonderful, amazing wallpaper (sense the sarcasm) for a while.

It needs a complete refinishing job, chairs, and something glamorous as a light fixture (Sputnik again anyone?), but eventually we will get around to this as well.

 

We are really debating a traditional chair with the table or going for it and grabbing something modern and matchy. what would you do?

 

 

How We Conquer Design Dilemma & Living Room Progress!

I joke with one of my best friends (who also happens to be a designer) about how we run into so many design dilemma's when working on our own projects. We both say it has something to do with loving so many different styles, it makes it hard to pull the trigger. We don't seem to have the same issue when guiding our clients into making design decisions. You just don't have the same perspective when it's your own space or home.

Really, I think we all get like this. Designer or not, when we are making so many decisions in a short time frame, we all can get overwhelmed and doubt our decisions.

Then there is the budget... so much pressure to get it right the first time because who has the money to do it a second? Not me, and I doubt that's how you want to spend your hard earned money either.

So we end up fearful, stuck and with a million design dilemma's.

If I do this will it look like? 

What happens if I move it over here?

I like the color in the store but what about in my space?

The Living Room

A few weeks ago we discussed the living room plans including a large rug, slider door, and our dilemma: the coffee table. Since then we have gone round and round and found more dilemma's, so finally this weekend I created and computer design to try and make final decisions.

Needless to say the computer didn't really help! I (just like most clients) got lost switching things around in an effort to see EVERYTHING I could possibly have and ended up two steps behind where I started.

Our Design Dilemma's

  • What size and shape for the coffee table
  • The huge brown sectional really darkens the room- so how to lighten things up?
  • Will we have too many wood tones in the space and will that make the room look rustic?
  • and on, and on....

living room photo of couch

The solution

So I went back to my trusty solution, a coloring page.

First I take everything out of the plan that we haven't determined. Like the coffee table, rug, and light fixture.

Then I make sure I have all the items in the room that we will be reusing. Like the big brown sectional. These are the items that are non-negotiable (Can someone please help me negotiate with Mitch about the sectional?! Its just not working in this small space lol).

Finally I put in one idea for each dilemma. Which meant a big square coffee table and big drum shade light fixture.

Once I have an initial design I render the picture in black/ white and create a coloring page for printing.

blank living room coloring pages

Coloring

You would think I (or anyone else for that matter) could just make six different designs and line them all up to make a decision.

What most of us actually start doing is wanting to mix and match to the umpteenth degree. Its brain rattling, and leaves you feeling anything but confident in your decisions.

So why does coloring help?

There is something about the act of making the little decision on what color to use. It starts to break the ice and build our confidence back up little by little.

If you absolutely hate something... You could always print another.

So you start making these mini decisions bit by bit and then POOF big decisions get made! All of the sudden you see a color you hate, and it lets you know you're going with the second idea not the first.

For us, one little afternoon of putting the page together and then coloring solved pretty much every issue. The big square coffee table? Not going with it at all, and we figured out what we will be diy-ing in it's place with a complete build plan!

finished living room coloring page

The brown couch with greige walls makes for a pretty brown and dreary room, those two things arn't changing . Mitch loves that freaking couch, and the wall color is amazing for little fingers and muddy dogs. What? Just being real over here about the mess of a much used and loved house.

We decided to create a light accent wall behind the couch and even think we may have finalized  a stencil pattern.

coloring page fixes wall design dilemma

The coloring even helped me decide on accent pillows to brighten up the couch.

So you see, for us this process really packs a lot of bang for our buck.


Some different styles of dining rooms coloring pages are located in this post. Look for different living room styles to print for free in the coming weeks when I get a resource page going with all the free designs you can print and color yourself.

I've been seriously thinking about offering these interior coloring pages for your own personal spaces. Contact me or comment below  if you really think you could use something like this for your design dilemmas, I'd love to work together.

What do you do when your stuck?

 

Dining room inspiration & design coloring page printables

DiningInspirationFeatureImage.jpg

Like all the rooms in our home, the dining room is still a work in progress. Part of our push in 2017 is to finish our projects we have already started, or need to finish.

So were starting with the dining room in January and finishing a few things that have been lingering since the porch remodels. Things like painting the room, fixing the crown molding, finally installing a light fixture that lights up the table adequately, and putting up some art. Eventually (were thinking next fall) were going to take another stab at our live edge slab table. Which warped on us over the last year.

So its time to start making some product and design decisions. Those can be difficult even for those of us with lots of experience. Heck sometimes I think its even more difficult because I have had so much design experience, I appreciate many styles, textures, and patterns.

When I find it difficult to finalize decisions its usually and indication that I need to slow down, add some constraints or design guidelines, and then look with fresh eyes.

So basically I had to peel my fingers of the pin it button … just walk away from the screen Susie.

 

What do I mean by guidelines?

First, I go ahead and look at what I have and really think I’m reusing in the current design. Like our live edge table, cafe stools, and mid-century side table.

Then, I take the architecture and homes age into consideration. Since our home has so much character already built in our door casings I don’t want the small rooms to get busy.

So that already narrows down some things and creates some guidelines for the dining room. All the new items will need to work with the items I already have, and our homes bungalow/cottage architecture.

Now, I can narrow down the search. When I come across something I absolutely love (like an idea posted on Pinterest) I can let go of it if it doesn't fit within the guidelines. It makes it easier to find the stuff that will work. Instead of being stuck on too many ideas that won't work and getting overwhelmed.

Once I find inspiration in some photos (possibly with similar items to what I already have), I go ahead and draft a design.

If I’m still having issues with the design and colors,  I will make a coloring page. That way I can really feel free to try some ideas (with no one overseeing).

free printable dining room coloring pages

I’ll even create a couple of designs that have different styles (something a little more traditonal , mid century modern, boho, etc).

Free Printable Coloring Pages

free printable dining room coloring pages

So that leads me to your free coloring pages. You have a couple of different design layouts and styles to choose from and can play with the colors till your hearts content.

How can interior design coloring pages really help?

  • Help you color in your current guidelines (like our floor color and the white cafe stools we already own.)
  • Start to answer those tough questions for yourself. Like do I have too many metals mixed into this room? (It helped me to color in our brass fixture above the dining table since we don't currently have a brass fixture in our house.)
  • Try new styles (you know spread your wings and fly....) If your space is very traditional, how would it look to mix in some mid-century modern pieces? Its easy to take the risk on a coloring page you can just throw out if you hate.
  • Try risky colors. Their is something about coloring it all in yourself that helps you finally make that decision. (Like if green walls will work for you. O yeah that's what I started with when we moved in.)

Doesn't it just feel great to make some of those decisions on your own (or as a couple)? You can end up receiving so much advice about designing your space (friends, family, design shows, co-workers) that your really not sure. Going through a process yourself helps calm the nerves and puts you back in the driver's seat.

 

free printable dining room coloring pages

 

You can download the three different designs below and try it out yourself. Go ahead and color your pages in. Don't forget to tag us in your posts so we can see what beauties you come up with!

 

dining room coloring pages download

Let us know if these pages were helpful and what styles and rooms you might want to see next in the comments. I'd love to create some more for other spaces and styles you might be looking for.

 

free printable dining room coloring pages

Finding Dining Room Inspiration

With my guidelines in tow I find it easier to love something, and then let it go, and not get my mind jumbled with too many ideas. You shouldn't just follow every rule in design blindly, but guidelines  can help you let go of too many ideas. Which will help zeroing in on the ideas that will work.

So I ended up pulling some inspiration off of Houzz.com, and if you haven't ever check it out, your missing out.

San Francisco Charmer
Resident Art
Those fixtures just make me want to sing! We wanted to add a bit more of the mid-century modern to the room. Which will tie in nicely to our side table which will move into the dining room.
 dining room side table
The only reason I ever got this piece was because my mother hated having it in her room as a child. Apparently it pinched her when closing the doors one too many times. Of course she's over here at our house tons, must drive her crazy to still be plagued by it!

Mood board

 

  1. We love this amazing giraffe print. It would be a nice reminder to embrace our tall goofy selves.
  2. I don't want the dining to end up too Mid-Century modern with the addition of a fixture like this, but I just keep going back to it. Here's a budget friendlier version.
  3. We painted the entry this Sherwin Williams color and have loved it, most likely you will eventually see it on the kitchen walls as well.
  4. The side cabinet will store our barware, what better then to have a vintage mid century decanter on top like this one. Or this one.
  5. I mean who can resist? Maybe a cactus inside, or maybe a bowl to hold our wine stoppers, and other miscellany.

Once I put together this mood board I realized our colors are very muted. Although my inspirations had white and grey walls, they brought a generous amount of color in with the art and plant life.

I've been playing with my dining room coloring page to see if I'll keep it all muted like below or add color with a giraffe print and plants. The color really looks great in these spaces, maybe I'll embrace the eclectic side and get some more color in everything.

Reality Check

Nothing is ever exactly how you originally envisioned it, the beauty of design is in the process to which you get to the end result (does a room ever really stop evolving?). When I first started designing our dining room table I had decided I wanted to find all different vintage styles of barstools, but it just never lined up where I could find the right height (our table is counterheight) and in reasonable condition to be rehabbed. So we ended up purchasing some and I'm very glad we did, but they still aren't my absolute favorite....

dining room cafe stools

They blend in to the small dining room with a little style, they are so much easier to clean than I would image something we painted would be, and they all came in time for Christmas and guests the year we bought them.

The point is, you don't have to love every single thing in your home to have a wonderfully designed space. Stay tuned in January for how this room comes together, here on the blog, and on Instagram!

Anyone else finally finishing some spaces in the new year?