i've been dining to see you

while our dining room is far from complete, decor-wise, its come a long way from the little design seed that first sprouted in my head.

something appealed to me about having some 'grown-up' elements that would make our house a little more transitional of a style and not purely modern. in particular, i really loved the thought of having coffered ceilings....but i did want them to be done in as simple a way as possible so that the lines would still be clean + pure.

here are the first stages of the dining room ceiling being framed in....it may not look like much to you, but the sight of these beams had me thrilled with thoughts of what was to come!

you can also see that we were able to save some cash by not using 'real' beams but instead by having them framed + drywalled in like so....

shhh! its our little secret.

at the final stage here [in this slightly blurry shot, sorry!] you can see the paint applied. crisp, fresh 'superwhite' on the ceiling contrasting with cool, dark charcoal 'grey' on the walls....both by benjamin moore. superwhite may be a lot scary for a lot of peope but i wanted our trim, cabinetry and ceilings to really pop and to show as true, bright white.

i am also super pleased with the sheen shown here on the walls and ceiling. we chose to go the way of eggshell in this house, hoping it would scrub up better for future kid phases than our previous home's ceramic, matte paint did. while we really enjoyed the matte finish, we're finding so far that the eggshell gives a great depth to the wall colors throughout and it also contributes a bit more glam feel to the house. we're really happy with the choice so far! [it was also a cheaper option than going with ceramic....love that]

backing up a little, here is a view of the pillars that frame the room on two sides. not surprisingly, i wanted the pillars nice and plain....but also bold and not flimsy looking. they measure 12"x12" around the main pillar and of course the trim adds a little width on top + bottom.

i like that the large scale of the pillars helps to close off what is potentially a very exposed formal dining area.

the first + last pillars are made to have that built-in-to-the-wall look....ie: they're not full size

hanging out amongst the squares of the ceiling is our double drum pendant, another restoration hardware beauty.

here you can see how the exaggerated squares on the ceiling are somewhat reflected in the paned look of the front window....even though each pane is technically rectangular.

parting glance. our little friend in the corner there is a 4'x4' canvas pier one print kevin gave me for christmas when we lived in our first house. i'm loving the look of it in this dining room.

and lest you think this room will sit empty forever, fear not! we did already find one treasure that'll sit right in the middle. her name is torsby and she is equal parts glossy white glass, shiny chrome and sleek minimalism.