Elevated Dining in this Favorite Neutral
As a designer, I find it entertaining to place certain colors into a box when it comes to neutrals.
Scores of writers and designers in this space will often comment “x is the new neutral”. For me, neutral colors often take the backdrop and serve as a tool to pull a space together. In our home, neutral is often inspired by nature. We have taupes, greens, creams, browns, even blues and various metal finishes that each play a role in setting a foundation.
One interesting perspective of colors inspired by nature is that such colors are often anything except whites, grays, and creams. The neutral of my choice is often a subdued version of a color I might find in my garden, for example. And it is here that we draw inspiration to bring the outdoors inside.
This past spring we have finally found the capacity with our quickly growing children to finally expand upon our gardens at home. Our dining room faces our summer porch, which overlooks what is now Arcadian Revival’s main garden.
As the spring months approached and I eagerly awaited the ground to thaw, I drew inspiration from the soft color palette of our gardens and chose to begin inside.
The soft petals of early spring and a desire to create a summer warmth around the breakfast table and a candlelight glow into the late hours of the evening with friends around the table all led me take our dining room in one direction: pink.
I had been holding the Setting Plaster color swatch against the antique hutch that I had refinished in black to tie together with our Williams Sonoma Side Chairs when a set of bowls I ordered for the kids from Anthropologie arrived in the mail in “peach”. This was a small way to partake in the “Peach Fuzz” color of the year with minimum investment.
These ceramic bowls are lovely, and in various color ways have been collected since my first Manhattan apartment years ago. They’re affordable, are a fun way to experiment with color at a table setting, and a wonderful way to teach children how to properly use glass from young age. To my surprise, the swatch of paint I had been contemplating was a perfect match to the bowls. That was the moment that I knew I had the right shade.
Subtle enough that my husband hardly noticed, but warm enough that I am content with how finished the space finally looks, this shade of pink was the perfect color for this space during this chapter. The historic nature of the name Setting Plaster harkens back to a time that this trade skill was more commonly used, and one that we’re passionate about integrating into our designs.
We added new art prints from Bond and Grace with antique frames that I restored and hand-painted, curated a few whimsical books from our library, hung the first pressed floral art piece, Arcadian Revival No. 1 Narcissus, and set a garden table to view in the summer porch with potted plants atop of an antique farm tables dressed with a vintage floral quilt.
Perhaps one day not too far into the future we will endeavor to take this space to another level. For now, it feels inviting, elevated, and appropropriate for our Greek Revival style home.
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