Welcome to Inspirations

We love this article from the Washington Post:

Why the dining room is due for a revival

 By Jura Koncius / The Washington Post

For many overscheduled families, “dining” has been reduced in recent years to grabbing a plate of food at a kitchen island or on an ottoman in front of a screen. Even in homes that have a separate dining room, the table is regularly commandeered for homework or, at this time of year, as a tax-prep command center.

But there are signs that we are heading back to the dinner table, designers say. Their clients are tiring of grabbing meals in the “great room,” a more informal, open space that often accommodates drive-by eating and lounging. Or they’re annoyed with noisy restaurants and want to do more entertaining at home. Many young families are looking for a more structured family dinner hour around a real table.

“Everything is so casual these days, it’s nice to be a bit more formal in a room where you entertain or gather your family,” said designer Erica Burns of Bethesda, Maryland. “The room sets the tone, since there’s no TV in there and hopefully no cellphones. It’s a space focused on conversation and eating.”

A separate dining room is on many homeowners’ wish lists. In the January 2017 Home Buyer Reference survey, 73 percent of those who responded said the dining room was “essential or desirable,” according to a spokeswoman for the National Association of Home Builders.

But how do families turn the dining room from a stiff backdrop for elaborate Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations into a warmer and more approachable space?

“Dining rooms sometimes give people the chills with memories of their parents’ dining rooms filled with brown furniture,” Washington designer Josh Hildreth said. “If you want to bring a room like this back, you have to make it useful and fun.”

Lots of memorable moments occur in the dining room, yet it’s a space that’s often at the bottom of the list for refreshing or redecorating. We asked designers to share some of their strategies on making this somewhat formal room, often full of inherited furniture, come alive.

Go for drama: A dining room is a good place to do something dramatic, if that’s your style. “If a client said, ‘I want glazed turquoise walls,’ I’d say we probably should not do that in a room you’re in all the time,” Hildreth said. “If you want to be wild or crazy, a dining room or powder room is a good place to do it.”

Break up your dining room set: Many dining rooms have too much furniture. Why not put your buffet or server in a different room? Hildreth moved his sideboard to the living room to use when entertaining. He arranges appetizers on it before dinner, then serves dessert and coffee on it afterward. “It’s nice not to be tethered to your dining room table and to move into another room after dinner to talk with other guests,” Hildreth said. “And now my sideboard has found a new life.”

Soften it up: New York designer Katie Ridder said window treatments and carpets are important in a dining room: “There are usually brown tables, chairs and sideboards. That’s a lot of hardwood surfaces, so it’s nice to soften it with carpeting, curtains and maybe a wallpaper.”

Pay attention to light fixture height: Chandeliers are often hung too high in dining rooms. Washington designer Thomas Pheasant said he likes lighting 30 to 36 inches above the table: “You want to sit across the table and not have the fixture in the way, but you want to bring the light and attention down to everyone’s faces.”

Install sturdy seat covers: On traditional dining chairs, it pays to use indoor/outdoor fabrics. Burns said she often uses Sunbrella or Perennials for young families. “There are so many great options now that are soft and don’t feel like the slippery outdoor fabric of days past,” she said. Additionally, you can take any fabric and get stain treatment applied before upholstering chairs.

Up your chair count: If your dining room is small but you want additional matching chairs available, you can display the chairs in other rooms. Ridder said: “Buy extra chairs and if you want, do different seat covers for them so you can use them for the living room, family room or bedroom yet still bring them in for a large dinner around your table.”

Liven up brown furniture: Hildreth updated the traditional mahogany china cabinet at his mom’s house by lining the back with a neutral grass cloth that has a bit of coral in it. “It lightened the whole look up,” he said. Because china cabinets are going for very affordable prices in auctions and vintage markets, he suggested buying one and lacquering it with a bold paint color.

Supplement lighting: Ridder said she advises clients who are renovating a dining room to add down-lights around the chandelier. “It’s nice to have light pointing down on the table as well as chandelier light and candlelight,” she said.

Mix it up: Don’t be so matchy-matchy. A different look for the host chairs at either end of the table can make a statement., Burns suggested. Instead of the usual chandelier over the center of the table, try two pendants.

Make it pull double duty: Urban clients like having separate dining rooms but are sometimes short on space, Pheasant said. “What do we do if someone will only use their dining room two or three times a month?” Pheasant said. “We might create a library there using a center table and lining shelves with books and photographs.”

Rethink your china: If you have a glass china cabinet or hutch crammed with porcelain and crystal, separate what you really use from what you might want to de-accession. Display only a few special pieces; it will give the room a cleaner look and feel more modern. And don’t be afraid to set a nice table with your best china and cloth napkins, even if it’s just for a weeknight family dinner. Pheasant said, “Use your good stuff and enjoy it.”

http://www.telegram.com/zz/homes/20180315/why-dining-room-is-due-for-revival

We love this article from www.thespruce.com . Our staff can help you avoid these common pitfalls:

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Sofa

BY ABE ABBAS

Updated 01/17/18

There are some mistakes that people often make when buying a sofa. These are small things in themselves, and so are easily overlooked. But all sofa-buying mistakes featured here do end up having a big impact on your satisfaction with your sofa purchase.

• 01of 05

Buying a Sofa That Is Too Big or Too Small

This may be the most common mistake of them all. This happens when you don't measure your space or the sofa or sometimes neglect both. Don't go by how big the sofa looks in the store. A sofa might look deceptively small in a showroom but could end up being too big for your room, so not measuring your space or your sofa can create many problems.

Other than measuring the size of your space, pay attention to the scale. Your sofa should be the same scale as your other furniture so it doesn’t...MORE

• 02of 05

Buying a Sofa Without Trying It Out

Just as your sofa shouldn’t be too big or too small for your space, it shouldn’t be too big or too small for you, either. If you are tall, make sure that the seat is deep enough to allow you to sit in comfort. If you are not very tall or have bad knees, look for a shallow seat that lets you rise out of it easily.

Never buy a sofa without first trying it out. Sit on it, lie on it, try it out the way you would use it at home. If you like napping on your sofa, make sure that the arms are the right...MORE

• 03of 05

Buying the Wrong Style Sofa

Your sofa should coordinate with the style of the rest of your furniture. It should be one that you are comfortable with, not just aesthetically, but also how that particular style functions for you. The way the sofa functions can be determined by trying it out, but look carefully at the design to prevent buying something that is completely out of place in your home.

Each home has a predominant style, and if you buy a sofa that doesn’t go along with it, it could be a major eye sore unless you are...MORE

• 04of 05

Selecting the Wrong Fabric or Color for Your Sofa

Selecting the wrong fabric for your sofa can be an expensive mistake. Make your fabric selection based on how the sofa will be used, and where you will be placing it. If you are buying your sofa for an area of your home that is heavily used, a delicate fabric or color would be destroyed even before you’ve had a chance to enjoy it.

Selecting the wrong color for your fabric can also be a serious mistake. It is always a good idea to bring a swatch home to look at it in relation to all your other furnishings, wall color, and light.

Always choose a color you like and can live with. Don't pick colors based on trends or just a whim. You will have to live with that color choice for years.

Continue to 5 of 5 below.

• 05of 05

Buying a Poor Quality Sofa

There are always budget considerations to be sure, but buying a good quality sofa ensures that you don’t have to replace it within a couple of years.

Buying a good quality sofa saves you money in the long run. Buy the best quality you can afford as buying a poor quality sofa means that it will lose its shape, looks and comfort factor pretty quickly, sometimes within a matter of months. A poor quality frame can also cause it to break, and you will have arms that jiggle and legs that aren't steady.

 

Happy New Year! The holidays are behind us; the guests are gone, you’ve vacuumed the last pine needle and packed up the rest of the decorations. It’s time to to see your home as a blank canvas. Does it need a little updating? A splash of color? New Year’s is a great time to start fresh with your home décor.

We love Pantone’s new color of the year (https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2018) but there is a whole spectrum of beautiful hues that will enliven your home. On the other hand, shades of grey and taupe are still very popular for their calm, spa-like feel.

YOU decide what 2018 will bring for you and your home: Better quality, optimal comfort, great style, Made in USA…

Bring your ideas into any one of our 3 showrooms to discuss the vision with our staff (we are always happy to help!) or just stop by to be inspired by our beautiful displays!

For some Halloween fun, we gave some of our staff a little challenge: Each was given a "Haunted House" to design an interior for.  Here are their idea boards...

We love autumn in New England and enjoy taking time to appreciate the majestic rolling hills of color that surround our location.  The scenery is fresh and everchanging just like our selections of beautifully custom-made upholstery, dining rooms, bedrooms and fine accessories. Take a leisurely drive down Dresser Hill Road to visit our gorgeous showrooms during the month of October: it will provide you with nothing but treats for your senses!   You don’t get tricks when you walk through our doors, but you will have fun with our creative staff, designing exceptional American-made furniture especially for your home!

As the kids go off to school and our beloved New England Fall returns, you may find yourself spending more time at the family dining table helping with homework, preparing meals, or even doing some early gift wrapping!  The most hardworking piece of furniture in your home can be equally as stunning!  Our unique dining sets will summon the legacy of our country’s master craftsmen.  We represent artisans who “Still make em’ like they used to” producing heirloom quality American works of art that you can pass down through your family’s generations!

Here in New England, early spring can be a bit gloomy.  Our “April Showers” can feel cold and dank until later in the month when the warmer weather sets in.  As much as we love grey as a modern neutral, we crave color! Now is a great season to liven up your décor with a big splash (or small accent) of fresh color.  Here are some of our favorite examples…

Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.

Greenery is nature’s neutral. The more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world. This shift is reflected by the proliferation of all things expressive of Greenery in daily lives through urban planning, architecture, lifestyle and design choices globally. A constant on the periphery, Greenery is now being pulled to the forefront - it is an omnipresent hue around the world.

A life-affirming shade, Greenery is also emblematic of the pursuit of personal passions and vitality.

– from www.pantone.com

See their beautiful video here:

https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2017

And come and see it here at Charlton Furniture...

 

 

Everyone loves a great Christmas movie and “Home Alone” is one of our favorites!  As adorable as the story is, we can’t stop thinking about that beautiful house!  Learn more about it on our blog today!

Learn more here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/ct-biz-home-alone-house-may5-photogallery.html

"It took almost a year, but a new owner paid $1.585 million in 2012 for the right to slide down the foyer stairs of the red-brick Winnetka Georgian immortalized in 'Home Alone.' Here are some images of the house as it was seen in 'Home Alone' and "Home Alone 2," as well as what the house looks like today."