My mind went into a panic mode at the thought of possibly hosting a dinner party at home. I wanted to redecorate my dining room. Suddenly I had motivation and a deadline.
The dinner party wasn't my idea. A few months ago, a friend planned to auction off a dinner for eight at my house to raise money for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Did you know your column is called 'At Home With Marni,'” she said. “Well, it lets readers feel like they're actually at home with Marni. You know that?”
Ah, I get it. If I'd known what I'd get into when I started writing a home design column, I would have become a pet therapist. People expect me to keep my promises! Before I agreed, I called up some chefs I know to see if they would help out, since people shouldn't pay to eat my food. Chef Angelo Bersani generously agreed to donate his time to prepare and serve dinner, as long as I paid for the groceries. Yay! The chef and I were set at auction.
Because I live in the real world, redecorating doesn't mean throwing out all of my furniture and starting from scratch. It means working with what you have and making small improvements that, ideally, add up to big results. But knowing what those small moves are is the trick. So I enlisted the help of Los Angeles interior designer and longtime friend Christopher Grubb, and asked him to take the reins while I did my homework: shopping for materials, gathering samples, and coordinating the workforce.
With our chef and designer on board, I felt my lungs fully expand and my blood pressure drop. Over the next eight weeks, we exchanged dozens of texts, photos, and crying emojis, and made these small improvements that paid off big time — and maybe you can replicate them in a room or two in your home:
Add a lampshade: A few years ago I replaced an outdated light fixture in my dining room, but didn't follow Grubb's advice and “finish it off” with a chandelier shade. I tried three different shades, ordered one of each, returned the ones that didn't pass, and finally settled on a black tapered shade. The black shade directs the light down instead of out, making the lighting more dramatic.
Fill an art niche: Creating an art niche in a wall can be tricky because it limits the size of the art you can hang in it. The niche in my dining room accent wall was 5 feet by 3 inches deep. Until recently, a large tapestry hung above and covered the niche. But in an attempt to make the space more modern, I sold the tapestry, leaving a hole in the wall. “Art niches just leave you wondering why,” says Grubb, who recommends having a drywaller fill it.
Before: A shadeless chandelier, outdated chairs, and a wall niche that limited art options. (Courtesy of Marni Jameson)
Wallpaper it: To make the open room feel more cozy and intimate, and to distinguish the alcove from the foyer, Grubb suggested covering the now-smooth back wall and ceiling in ocean-blue grasscloth, which added character and texture to the room.
Replace the mirror: Grubb loved the idea of two mirrors on either side of the main wall art, but suggested replacing the existing round mirror with a larger vertical mirror to make the room appear taller. We were going for a more transitional, less traditional look, so we kept the frame simple.
Update the end chairs: Our goal was to replace all of our tapestry-covered dining chairs with more contemporary seating and keep the table, but here we hit a dead end. We just couldn't find any chairs we liked that were available in time for our dinner party. Instead of settling, we bought the chairs we wanted and accepted the fact that they wouldn't arrive until September. Supply chains suck. In the meantime, we reupholstered the two armchairs at the table in a bold zebra-print fabric and painted the wood lacquer black. These chairs, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, are now living room staples, but they also double as end chairs for dinner parties.
Enhanced Ambience: With the new furniture in place, all I had to do was add the finishing touches – fresh centerpieces of pale roses, patterned table linens, crystal and silver, candles, and of course, notable guests – and the room came together like a symphony.
Marni Jameson is the author of seven books, including the recently published “Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow.” She can be reached at marni@marnijameson.com. Join us for our free virtual event, “Rightsize Your Life and Live Well Now,” on May 23. Register at https://extras.mercurynews.com/events/.