Friday 28 June 2013

Our Dining Room Reveal!

Welcome to the full reveal of our 
Modern Country Dining Room!



Let's start right back at the beginning for a moment to how the room looked when we first were shown around our house....



See that yucky fireplace in the picture below? 
That was mine. 
Oh, yes, it was.



The fireplace in our dining room was attached directly to the wall with an orange varnished-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life pine fire surround. 



In fact, that goes for all the wood in the room.
Of which there was plenty.

So much, so wrong!
What's a girl to do? 



Aaaaaah! That's better.
At some point in the future, we'll tackle the kitchen and dining room head-on by ripping out and starting again so this was very much a makeover, rather than a full renovation.


I liked the existing grey stone hearth 
so we had the plinths lowered to sit on the stone. 
A smidgen of soft-industrial chic never goes amiss in my book.



I didn't want any orange pine so we painted all the woodwork Dulux White gloss. Nice and crisp against the lush new wall colour, Gregory's Den by Earthborn - a gorgeous Modern Country shade.



The wall between the wood and the fireplace caused endless discussions with, errrr...... me, myself and I. 
{Yes, you read that right.}



The three of us had fascinating debates.
 Should it be the greyish colour of the walls? 
Or white to match the mantelpiece? 
Or...or.... 



*head explodes*



I decided on 
matte black. 
And, you know what?
I LOVE IT!!



When we set out with this room, we knew we wanted a flow-through feel between the kitchen and the dining room, and I'm thrilled with the way the two rooms work together now.



As this is a room that we may structurally alter in the future 
we were keen not to do work that we would 
then have to undo in the long term.



Often, that can mean ending up compromising 
but in this case it was a very 
Modern Country Style workable solution 
and rather gorgeous too, if I may say so. 



Hurrah for paint!!

So, there you have it:
The full Before and After of our 
Modern Country Dining Room!

{If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them by email,
in the comments, or over on Modern Country Style's Facebook page.}


Enter your email address:

to subscribe to Modern Country Style





Wednesday 26 June 2013

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

I'd say we're nearly ready for a full Modern Country Dining Room reveal, don't you, sweetiepips? But before I go the full hog and bare all, I wanted to urge you, if you have a rather gloomy, North-facing space, like our dining room, to take the plunge and hang a massively, enormously, humungously large mirror.


You'll be a-maaaaazed at the magic that mirrors can spin out of their shimmery, shiny surfaces. 


It took me aaaages to find one I liked. We were somewhat limited by dimensions as I wanted the mirror to fill the blank space above our brand, spanking new, much-needed (check out the UG.LEE fella above) radiator cover. Lots of pretty but small mirrors around, I now know!! I looked all over for the perfect specimen and finally,finally, finally found one I loved.


It's a large (woohoo!) bevelled mirror with a wooden surround in burnt silver, and has the pretty bonus of gorgeous detailing carved into the wooden surround.


And, while it may sound super-poncy, burnt silver is a terrific colour - it manages to be warm and cool at the same time.

It was a nightmare to hang as it's so heavy. Our very handy handyman attached brackets onto the back, gouged into our walls (our poor, lovely walls getting a battering again) attached the brackets and carefully plastered over again.


Despite my very vague hand movements specifying that I wanted the mirror hung portrait-wise, it got hung landscape at first. I thought about keeping it that way, as it looked more than passable but decided to be a total fusspot and asked him to rehang it (poor man, poor walls!!).


So, was all the pain worth it?

Yes, oh yes, yessity-yes. Look at all that lovely sparkle bouncing around the room! It brings the whole space alive, injects lots of natural light, and looks gorgeous too, as well as filling a very blank wall! A multi-functional piece, if ever there was one, my friends.

Do you need a mahoosive mirror in your life?
Have I persuaded you?

{And if you loved this, don't forget to follow along for the full reveal this Friday!)

Love,
Sarahxxx



Enter your email address:

to subscribe to Modern Country Style





Monday 24 June 2013

Could this be Paul Massey's house revamp?

Have I got a goody lined up for you today: 
A stunning Modern Country house tour 
of a Victorian London home. 

 When I first saw these beautiful images, 
I thought it was Style-King Paul Massey's pad that I shared here.
It certainly has his touch, doesn't it?

Take a look and tell me what you think...












Warm linen, starkly empty rooms, a bleached-out palette 
and all soaked with lashings of white paint.

Makes you wonder...is it Paul Massey's home reincarnated?


Images via Light Locations

Enter your email address:

to subscribe to Modern Country Style





Friday 21 June 2013

Kate Middleton's Maternity Fashion

I thought it was about time we saw how Kate Middleton is getting on with being pregnant. Let's take a time-travel trip to see how stylish Kate has been dressing to impress.


And more to the point, how she's finding maternity fashion.


Just how does a princess dress for pregnancy these days?


With Kate Middleton's usual flair and grace, that's how.

kate-middleton-pregnant-side

Not for this princess is the bare-it-all look. Kate Middleton's pregnancy style is modest and reserved....


but not at the expense of looking feminine and gorgeous.
I love that.


Tailored and chic.
Fitted and lovely.


From the earliest signs of a tinsy bump to full-on maternity style, Kate Middleton does Modern Country Fashion like the future Queen she is.


Images via zimilar, US Magazine, NY Daily News, Glamour,  The Stylist, Huffington Post, Just Jared 

Enter your email address:

to subscribe to Modern Country Style





Monday 17 June 2013

Secret Garden


Isn't this Secret Garden beautiful?

Garden wall | Garden design | Traditional garden | Image | Housetohome

Take a look at all the delicious traditional Country elements:

the soft informal planting
the beautiful curve in the arch of that old brick wall
the aged stone statue and plinth
the cobbled path

The juxtaposition (what a fab word) of these elements against the formal topiary structure underpinning it all is 
my idea of Modern Country Gardening bliss!

A hedge is a simple form of topiary used to create boundaries, walls or screens.

Not at all family-friendly (where would the footballs go?! I'm lucky enough to have five littlies, so this is always utmost in my mind!) but very gorgeous nevertheless!

Now then, who fancies seeing a bit more of how a certain Kate Middleton is getting on looking stylish-whilst-pregnant? 
Be back here sharpish on Wednesday. ;-)


Images via Homes and Gardens

Enter your email address:

to subscribe to Modern Country Style





Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
01 09 10