Can't see them overall in the whole room, but love the chandelier and mirror! The aged glass is a great touch. Also like the chair idea. Breaking up the coral a bit might be a good idea and will certainly add some design zip and modern appeal. Those chairs look gooood.

Are you planning on keeping the drapes plain?

This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Jan 10, 13 at 22:45

How dare you edit your post to correct my questions, snookums (now I've edited mine to remove those questions)!

This post was edited by KevinMP on Thu, Jan 10, 13 at 22:48

I know you were trying to simplify the picture without including the original drapes and white chairs. Just meant we can't see how they look overall in the whole space.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Jan 10, 13 at 22:47

Wow, I love that quiet understated elegance the light fixture and mirror give. I think simple lines are just so elegant. I think you really brought it up another level.
And theres so much great input from the GW posters, I am really enjoying reading this thread.

See above, drapes will be (assuming they look good when I get them) linen or a linen/cotton blend in a dark blue-gray just like the walls. I'll trim them either with fringe or bullion in coral/brick/tan/cream. I got two samples today to show you all:

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ok. Good, that's what I was wondering if you were going to alter them. I think they'll look great trimmed.

Great choices on the mirror and light fixture. I'm still sad the drapes are going though. I might not get over that. :) I don't like the coral color at all. Probably because its veering away from masculine. I agree with the fabric store and am looking forward to seeing what they suggested.

Look what I just found: coral fabric used with a regency table:

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The key with the coral, geokid, is going with the varieties that are more brick red/terracota over the ones that read pink. I haven't quit on other colors yet. I'm just waiting because those chairs will be the largest expense (besides the table), and I want to be sure I have everything else in there to decide. And hopefully I can force Pal to take a short walk and convince me in person!

Love the new mirror and the chandelier with the dark shades. The drapes look interesting as well and I like the first fringe. But maybe a clean look for the drapes would be very nice. Good work!

Love the chandelier, think I like it without the shades, but will the light be too harsh without? Also love the mirror and glad you gave up on the coral herringbone-can't wait to see your new fabrics and love the idea of two fabrics.
You seem to do pretty well on your own!

Yes, I understand what you're saying. That's why I'm interested to see the fabric store's coral choices. I didn't like the solid coral look of the herringbone fabric you showed. It didn't read herringbone to me. That's all. Not against the color in general. I think it can be done well. Although the photo with the coral fabric chairs you posted feels tropical to me for some reason. Maybe because the chairs are light wood.

I hate the coral in the picture I just posted, I just randomly came across it and thought it was interesting since they were using it with similar furniture.

Phew! I hate it too. Made me think if Blanche Devereaux returned to her native Atlanta mansion and brought her Miami chairs with her.

I don't even know who that is or what that means! Is that the lady from Golden Girls?

Ohhh, you had me with the lovely changes to your room. But your admission of lack of knowledge of Blanch Devereaux lost me again.

Fortunately you redeemed yourself in the end.

I love the way that thing are coming together. I love your taste on it's own, but how it is enhanced with the great advice here. Looking forward to seeing the finished room (and picking up those "old" curtains and mirror on ebay)

I hope you are having as much fun as we are! I like the aged and beveled mirror, and the more I look at the narrow frame,the more I am liking it. It was not like at first sight.
I do like the chandelier with the shades, without them I think it looks undressed and too plain.
I love bullion and hope you use it as the edging on the curtains. Fringe is just too ordinary,and your room is extraordinary.
And I can't wait to see a sample of the chair upholstery fabric.

Ditto all of coops post....and the mirror is perfection!. It also adds a very slight Asian feel...restfully simple.

Here is a black lampshade with gold lining from Lampsplus.com.

It came with black shades with the gold foil lining. That's why I was interested in Navy. They may be able to stay, but I may try to see if I can get any from the RH outlet in a different color.

I'm late to the party. I've been watching from the sidelines.

I really love how the details are pulling together for your room. The new rug is fabulous. I wasn't sure about the table and chairs until I saw them in the space -- perfect. Love the new light fixture. I wasn't crazy about the original mirror in there and didn't like the Home Goods option at all, but I LOVE the new RH one you just got. Curtains and trim are going to be lovely (for what it's worth, I prefer the second trim you showed). Overall, the room looks elegant and cozy and welcoming. Formal, and yet not.

I think I have more trouble than the next guy picking fabrics, but I think you need something a little lighter in color for the armchairs...something creamy or oatmeal or very similar to the color of the side chair seats. I had been thinking about a very heavy, almost chunky, natural colored linen, but with the curtain fabric that may no longer work. But I'd love to see you find a fabric that is calm and simple and lovely. Your room has a lot of subtlety and I'd look for more of that in chair fabric.

Can't wait to see what you end up with. Thanks for sharing your wonderful home.

What is fun about Kevin's posts is he interacts with all. Is realistic and takes the time to respect agreement or disagreement. Plus it is great to have a guy to throw our ideas at. Thanks Kevin for taking the time to respond and stick around for us to watch the evolution.

Lizabeth-gardner, I have a dimmer on that switch. I currently have 40W bulbs in. If I use the shades, I will go with 60W, but if I don't, I'll likely drop it down a bit. I don't need all of the high hats plus 240W-360W pumping out of the chandelier if I'm not using shades. I'd also likely switch to a totally different type of bulb; maybe thread-spun.

Love, Love, Love the mirror and light fixture. I was not a fan of that last mirror at all. This one is PERFECT!

I can't believe how fast you are going!

You could easily paint the outside of the shades to match the walls. My Perfect Color is a vendor for custom-matched spray paint.

Interesting about painting them. I think C&R on Washington Ave. does that, too.

Pal, you were the first one on here who recommended coral fabric (you and every store I've been to...), but I'm really having a hell of a time with it (even if I am moving fast, I swear I've looked at everything). Do you have an idea on texture or pattern. I know that herringbone is really a solid, but I'm including things like that in "pattern."

I did find a nubby chenille that has a goldish main color with navy and coral peeking through at points. I just think it looks like a sofa fabric, not a dining room fabric.

The mirror is lovely & the shades are a must for the light fixture, imo. Nice that Pal points out you can match your navy when you spray paint them! Perfect.

If you are in your early thirties everything in the room is too old for you, lol! Seriously, you have very refined & sophisticated taste for such a young lad. Most your age think "Chippendale" refers to a group of half-naked male dancers. (I guess you could invite the Chippendales to sit in your Chippendales!). Ha, ha.

Kevin, really love your new fixture and mirror. Have to say you really nailed it on these two, and I think with the navy shades the fixture will be even more beautiful. The simplicity of both really add to the room. And love the drapery color and texture choice, whichever it becomes, with the trim (either). I think once you figure out your chair fabric, the trim might sort itself out.

I really like the chandelier. Another vote for shades, too. I like the mirror's antiqued glass and am sure I'll come round on the frame--at first glance, I found it too narrow. However, I like the overall effect of the mirror, including its size, with the objects on either side of it.

I still can't see coral fabric going with the floor. But it occurs to me that, once you have curtains up, their color would change things such that the blue in the curtains would serve the same purpose as having chair fabric in blue and coral. And the curtains--I prefer the first fringe sample; it's a little hard to see, but it looks like the rug's fringe and it would go well with each other.

BTW who made the chandelier, if you don't mind my asking.

Thanks, everyone. My style has always been traditional and it's fitting for the house. I've tried to make things as modern as possible in certain areas (like the kitchen and bathroom), but have tried to leave the house traditional in the living and sleeping areas. If only traditional furniture weren't so damned expensive.

The chandelier is Northeast Lantern Ltd. (handcrafted in NH), model 906-AB-LT6 (with upgrades for the candle sleeves and shades). Like I said, it's online for $547 (without those upgrades), so I'm not sure why I was able to get it for such a low price ($249). The perfect thing about it (besides the minimalist nature and the color/sheen) is that it is not huge. It's only 23" wide. Most of the three- or four-light varieties are too small but the larger ones are too big for my room. This one is just right size-wise, at least. http://www.northeastlantern.com/collections/chandeliers/chandelier-906-ab-lt6

I've come down with a watered-down version of the flu (I got the shot, but oh well). So, I'm still at home today. Here's a better picture during the day time that's the cat's head you see in the mirror trying to attack the chandler because I accidentally tapped it and it started swinging):

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The shades look narrow for 60W bulbs, but it does say 60W in the ad. Get the candle drip sleeves! (You can probably find them for less if very expensive there.)

I was thinking of getting the larger ones from the RH outlet if they have six in stock. I used one of them in the canopy room, but they're not gold lined (still high quality with a great glow though):

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Those narrow ones are very quaint so kind of quirky looking, though, and you don't typically see them that way. I really like them. Goes with the old house, imo.

And did anyone every give me feedback on this flame stitch fabric? It reminds me of John Adams' wing chair in the HBO series (similar to the one below). I think it'd look good on the head chairs, at least on the back and sides, since I'm going with plain drapes. What say you?

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I like the color balance in the last picture, but think the pattern would be too much with your rug. Have you taken your room pictures down to fabric row and looked through the shops there?

Kevin, putting differences aside, have you considered paisley, or even a harlequin pattern? As much as I like Herringbone, and the masculine flavor it continues to give the space, it isn't giving that 'wow' your space deserves, and seems to be a little too mundane in regard to the rest of the space.

Incidentally, I LOVE the last mirror you posted! It gives a nice vintage touch which compliments your furnishings.

As for the flame stitch fabric, I don't feel It's sophisticated enough for your space~just my 2 cents.

Patty_cakes, I'm over it. So long as you don't tell me to take the table back! I think the flame stitch is possibly too sophisticated (i.e., old school) (I edited what I said because I mis-read your original post) and thanks for the mirror compliment. I still think velvet would be nice, and I saw a decent corduroy yesterday, but I cannot find the right color. I just haven't really found anything that matched and didn't clash, and after spending two days going through fabric realized that nearly every pattern was too bold and competed with the rug. I have seen a lot of the diamond looking fabrics, but they all seem a bit plain.

This post was edited by KevinMP on Fri, Jan 11, 13 at 12:45

You know, I like the idea of the flame stitch. I'm not sure you could get away with it on the dining chairs. And you're doing four not just the heads? One wing chair in the cream would work, imo, if it were a living room. The blue would get muddled in with the rug pattern.

But maybe the flame could take the place of the checked drapes? I think I could see either color used that way and it sounds intriguing!

(I've never thought of flame stitch as being unsophisticated. Seems to me I've seen it in formal settings and think of it more that way. Very traditional.)

This post was edited by snookums2 on Fri, Jan 11, 13 at 12:39

Well, you got me with John Adams, I loved that series.
I would prefer something else, but so far, everything you've chosen will still look good when you are an old man so that's says something.
It's not too busy for me.

Snookums, I'm only upholstering two arm chairs (the two below, which also appear in the corners of the dining room when the leaf/leaves are not in the table). I'm trying to avoid upholstering the new Chippendale side chairs because the fabric is new, neutral, nice, and will hardly be seen tucked under the table.

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I thought you brought out the armless parsons for eight.

Have you entertained and discarded the fabric Julie posted on the 8th at 23:41? I like it a lot, but would need to see it in your room, of course.

I will, but I'm not paying to have them reupholstered because 8 is a rarity, and they're already upholstered in something neutral. Does that change your mind? (Also, I mis-read patty_cakes' post and thought she (or he) was saying that the flamestitch was sophisticated. I agree it's a little too old-school, but I take what patty_cakes is saying to mean something more like a velvet or modern-day grownup.)

Geokid, that fabric is teal in person. Wouldn't go. I looked at it at Calico the other day. Greek key is probably my favorite design (in fact, I ordered a sample of coral Greek key tape as an option for the drapes), but I think it's a bit too busy a pattern unless it were a tone on tone (especially that type of "Greek key," which seems a bit bastardized, but is still really cool).

Love the new mirror you found (didn't really like the last one) and the light fixture. How do you do this? The planets never align for me like this. I can never find what I am looking for when I need it or can get it. I only find things when I don't need them, don't have the room, or can't afford them.

I think the drapery fabric you found will work perfectly and I like the first fringe the best FWIW though either would probably look great.

The chair fabric is still a stumper though.

LA, it's the beauty of living in a major metropolitan area. Lots of options, all close by.

I always seem to find things that are discontinued, lol.

That's what I was thinking. I need to take a trip into the city when looking for something. Fabrics alone are really limited in the suburbs.

"they're already upholstered in something neutral. Does that change your mind? "

I think I like the simplicity of a solid for your table, because it's all very elegant together, although more formal. It might be a bit much with two directly on the rug. Is the cream even available? The blue would be a muddle of patterns, I think, without more contrast in color.

I do think you might be able to do a flame on the drapes. I can definitely picture a chair in the corner without clashing.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Fri, Jan 11, 13 at 13:19

Kevin, I don't think it's that shiny stuff you're probably familiar with since it has linen, but does it look too orangey? It looks like flame stitch, but in a tone-on-tone.

Marvic looks to have nice textiles, and can be purchased at Zimmer and Rohde, D & D building on 3rd av.

Here is a link that might be useful: fabric

Love the mirror! Like the chandelier, especially with shades. However, o would look for black metal shades. The black with gold lining is looking very gaudy 90s these days. A light pink lining is almost always better anyway, if you can find those small shades with it.

The flame stitch is too much, both the exaggerated pattern and the number of colors--- just too many. A more restrained coral and something Bargello would be nice.