By Emily Williams
With its reduced size, the dining area of this year’s Inspiration Home presented a challenge for Stock & Trade, a home furnishings and design business located in Homewood, to create a dramatic space where a homeowner could entertain while also using the room for everyday dining.
Gallery manager Christopher Rankin teamed up with lead designers Barbara Williams and Chris Magidson to create a versatile dining room.
“Everything is so open concept now that designing to fit those spaces has to be a good mix,” Magidson said. “It has to be casual for everyday living, but because that’s also your only space now, there has to be a certain level of elegance to it for more formal entertaining.”
The designers said they tried to choose pieces of artwork and furniture that were a good balance of comfortable and formal. To start, they chose a round, wooden table with matching chairs.
“We happen to just love round tables and that space lent itself to a round table,” Magidson said. “The dining room is almost square.” He added that the curves of the table create a natural pathway from the open kitchen and living area into the dining room.
To add an element of drama, the designers incorporated two large mirrors, mounted on the wall between windows to create the illusion of a glass wall.
“Something mirrored is always a good idea because it reflects the light so beautifully,” Williams said. “That makes a dining space more elegant.”
Keeping with the neutral tones of the rest of the Inspiration Home, Stock & Trade kept colors to a minimum and brought in brighter colors with table accessories and artwork.
“If you go back and look at truly classic design, you see that they kept it neutral and there was a reason for that,” Magidson said. “It’s clean, it’s classic and you don’t get bored with it.” He also added that any neutral shade is a color, it’s just a more calming palate to work with.
“I always tell my clients, don’t let anybody shame you for not having bold color,” Magidson said.
The design of the dining room reflects the advice that Magidson and his team would give to anyone who is looking to fill a dining space in their new home. If the space is on the smaller side, they suggest keeping furniture to a minimum to reduce clutter and buying things that will stand the test of time.
“We always encourage people to keep the core pieces neutral because you are financially making a bigger commitment with them,” Magidson said.
Williams suggested buying just the important pieces first, such as a table and some chairs.
“Lighting, that’s going to be one of the most important pieces also,” Williams said. “But you can evolve the room over time if you get a couple of pieces that function.”
According to Rankin, a homeowner shouldn’t be afraid to leave a space empty while they wait for the right purchases.
“If you get those pieces that you really love versus just getting pieces to fill a space, your whole home is going to be much more reflective of who is living in it,” Rankin said. “It will be collected rather than decorated.”ϖ