Room of the Day: An Elegant North Carolina Dining Room

North Carolina interior designer Heather Garrett could see that her clients were drawn to dramatic spaces and charcoal hues, but because they hosted a lot of lively Sunday brunches and had young kids, they didn’t think they could pull off an elegant space. Not so. “Everything in here can take a spaghetti sauce spill,” she says. The room mixes old and new, local and far-off inspirations, and moody grays and white. It began with a beautiful prayer rug.

The rug belonged to her client, who is from Egypt. Garrett treated it as a work of art, mounting it and hanging it, then drawing the room’s color palette from its silk threads. The deep red, silver-gray and charcoal hues came straight from the rug, and it inspired all of her artwork and accessory choices.


The dining table is a North Carolina original through and through. Garrett wanted to create something that celebrated North Carolina’s history in a contemporary way. She designed the table using local reclaimed pine that floats atop a clear acrylic base, and had it fabricated locally. She painted the existing wainscoting white to reinforce the table’s horizontal plane.

“Everything is wipeable, bleachable, spongeable or Windex-able,” she says. Figuring a rug would have a tougher time taking on spills, Garrett left the easy-to-clean hardwood floor uncovered, allowing its dark-stained border to define the space. The molded plastic midcentury Eames side chairs can take heavy use, and their elegant Eiffel bases add to the mix of metals and interesting angles. Because she was mixing styles and eras, Garrett threw in the bust lamp for a nod to classical style.

Table: custom, available via Heather Garrett Designs


The tabletop is reclaimed wood from a local reuse warehouse — it was reclaimed either from a farm structure that was demolished or a tree that was cleared to make room for farmland. The live-edge pine top makes it a very versatile piece that can work with a range of styles.

A steel cross beam supports the table and brings a third material to the table. Garrett mixed many metals and finishes in the room, from industrial steel to highly polished nickel and brass, with gold leaf and oil-rubbed bronze thrown in for good measure.


A dramatic cluster of glass bubbles cascades from the silver ceiling. Faux painter Davide Aguiar created the luxe texture overhead. “He has really perfected this technique,” Garrett raves. Achieving the look involves applying layers of Venetian plaster, metallic paint and wax. “It gleams, but it is also very earthy and abstract,” she says.

Chandelier: Caviar 8 Adjustable Cluster, Arteriors


To make the room seem bigger and the ceilings higher, Garrett painted the crown molding and walls the same color. Small porcelain bowls with gold and silver leaf inside add glint to the walls.

“You just have to get on a ladder and screw these into the wall,” Garrett says. “As long as you don’t try to place them in a pattern, you can’t go wrong.”


She plucked the hue for these silk honeycomb-patterned drapes straight from the prayer rug.


Garrett designed the family’s entryway at the same time, making sure the two spaces were cohesive, as they are open to each other. The deep red rug in the foyer is another choice inspired by the prayer rug.

Chandelier: Lowcountry Originals


From the entry the brass mirror reflects the dining room, and more French-inspired modern black polycarbonate chairs can be brought in as extra seating if needed.

Chairs on far wall: Louis Ghost Armchairs by Philippe Starck


The mix of metals continues on the marble-topped brass console table. A silvery-gray faux bois wallpaper plays off the real woods used on the floor and table. “If the faux bois is different enough from the real wood in tone, color, scale and pattern, then the two can talk to each other,” Garrett says.

Mirror: Arteriors

URL: Room of the Day: An Elegant North Carolina Dining Room http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-24337.html