Dining Room Inspiration

This photo from the home of Wisteria catalogue founders Andrew and Shannon Newsom featured in the March 2008 issue of Veranda is my favorite dining room. It's light, airy and pretty, and as with most homes featured in Veranda, it's full of expensive antiques. The interiors were done by Newsom's mother, designer Jane Moore. The other side of the dining room including more beautiful antiques!

I browsed websites to see if I could duplicate this look on a budget. This is a compilation of furnishings found and not surprisingly, it's a challenge to copy this look at affordable prices. The Mora clock, sideboard, and French steel dining table are out of my reach, but I have a similar sideboard that could be repainted. The chairs are pricey, too, but less expensive ones could be substituted. The French round steel dining table really makes this room. Wisteria sells the oval steel "Campaign" table, which is less expensive than an antique, but it doesn't have graceful, scrolled legs of the original table. So, here are the details:

Petite French chandelier, circalighting.com Steel dining table from Paris, 1stdibs.com. Warning: prepare for sticker shock. $4,000 Steel table from Wisteria.com, but a little plain in my opinion and described as a "folding table", so not sure how stable it is for dining.

$1,000

Steel base from finegardenproducts.com. Curvy enough, but the price only includes the base. One would have to find a top, glass (which doesn't quite make it) or otherwise. $2,165 - still expensive, but includes free shipping (if that helps).

Dining chairs, okadirect.com. Pricey still and with the exchange rate they're about $500 each, but look similar to the original chairs.

Wisteria chairs at $379 each, but I prefer the straight lines and nail head trim of the original 19th century antiques (of course I do). The straight lines of the antique chairs balance the curves in the table and lighting fixture.

Chinoiserie print, art.com.

Antique lanterns, 1stdibs.com.

Pottery Barn lanterns. They're affordable and could be antiqued with a faux paint treatment.

Antique blue painted sideboard. You've probably already guessed this is from 1stdibs.com.

Antique Mora Clock. You know where to find it (other than Sweden).......... White ironstone tureen, ebay.com The roses are my own--a gift from someone special!

So, this was not much of a budget friendly solution to a very expensive dining room, but it was a fun project and has given me some decorating inspiration and ideas for my own dining room.