Today, I’m thrilled to unveil our dining room in partnership with Ballard Designs! We had a blast designing this room concept with their Designs Solutions team along with our interior designer, Amelia Canham Eaton. From the very first meeting, I had in mind more of a grandmillennial style dining room. Thankfully, everyone was on board!
What is Grandmillennial Style?
New to the term “grandmillennial?” According to designer, Ariel Lokin, “A ‘grandmillennial’ is really a ‘New Traditionalist’ – someone who has an appreciation of the past.”
Typically, grandmillennials are twenty and thirty-somethings who are opting for updated versions of classic décor element like chintz, needlepoint, botanical fabrics, wicker, and chinoiserie. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t Granny style. It’s a reinterpreted take on classics with a wink.
For the past few years, I’ve felt my own style evolving from bold and colorful to slightly more feminine and classic. Granted, I still adore a bold hue and the mixing of pattern, but in my day-to-day, softening the tone has been an important step. Since purchasing our home last year, I’ve wanted our home to incorporate many elements of grandmillennial style. The new dining room is the most recent example!
Designing a Grandmillennial Style Dining Room
Are you looking to incorporate a grandmillennial vibe in your home? There are so many amazing examples of how to do so throughout the internet. Pinterest and Houzz are my go-to resources for home ideas. I’m an absolute Pinterest fanatic! Seriously, I love pinning. Most weekends, I’m exploring the channel for countless interior design ideas. In fact, Amelia and I have several secret boards where we share home décor and design concepts. Simply search “grandmillennial style dining room” to gather inspiration for your design!
Early on, I knew the dining room would err on the side of traditional. I’m sure that’s not a surprise when you see our living room and kitchen, lol! Moreover, our living and dining rooms share the same space, so we needed to create a cohesive look between the two.
Dining Room Table and Chairs
Where did we start? Wallpaper, of course! At the end of last year, Amelia brought over dozens of options to consider, and I spent time with the samples and taped a few to the walls to see how it might feel.
In the end, we chose Cole & Son’s hummingbird wallpaper. I’d argue the it’s the ultimate grandmillennial print! I’ve come to discover that it’s one of the company’s most beloved and popular patterns. To really bring the walls to life, I decided to match our wallpaper to the backs of the dining room chairs. Thankfully, Ballard Designs has 400+ fabrics that can be customized using more than 550 frames. Additionally, they allow customers to provide their own fabric. Therefore, we purchased a few yards of the matching hummingbird fabric for Ballard to use on the backs of the chairs.
After exploring all of their options, we chose Ballard’s Square Back Louis XVI Side Chair in washed walnut finish to compliment the floors. The chairs come with optional nailheads, which was chose to forego. From there, we selected Ballard’s lush velvet mist fabric for the front back and seat of the chair, along with our supplied Cole & Son hummingbird fabric on the back.
For the dining table, we considered at a ton of different options. Thankfully, Amelia and the Ballard Designs Solutions team pointed us in the perfect direction with their Saratoga Extension Dining Table. The table can seat up to 8 people, and it comes with a self-contained 20″ leaf that can added or removed to suit any gathering.
Plus, Amelia pointed out that Saratoga’s color (off white) would complement our vintage mantel in the living room from House of Hipsters. As always, she was right! I loved it from the moment we placed the dining room table in the space.
Layered Tabletop Pieces
In addition to the beautiful furniture, we collaborated with Ballard to personalize our tabletop pieces for the dining room. You guys, be sure to checkout their kitchen and tabletop options. They constantly update the offerings each season, and I constantly find myself admiring their décor and accessories.
For our summer tabletop, we opted for the Bunny Williams leaf accent plates (green) and Bee Glassware, which I styled with my parents’ fine china that was gifted to me when I got older. Nothing better than mixing new exciting items with your classic, cherished pieces.
In terms of table linens, we opted for Ballard Designs’ stunning Tulum Scalloped Woven Placemats, which add texture and warmth to the display. I also fell in love with these perfect pink gingham napkins that come in a set of four.
Statement Light Fixtures
As many of you know, I’m obsessed with light fixtures. Bob would admit that I’ve spent hours upon hours pouring over new options for our home. We worked with one of my all-time favorite brands, Mitzi, to select these stunning Serena chandeliers.
They literally put the metal to the pedal, lol. I can’t get over the statement coil motif. Overall, the chandeliers add a dash of modernity to the space. Amelia taught us early-on about the importance of mixing textures and styles for a more complete looks to any space. I’ve always found that the right lighting has a way of tying everything together, and I can’t thank the team at Mitzi enough for gifting us these pieces.
Custom Art
Since day one, colorful art has been a part of my blog. I’d argue art is like the co-host of this site – an important backdrop for Style Charade. As such, selecting art for the space was definitely stressful! Although I love SO many artists, Jenn Thatcher Art was my top choice.
Jenn is a Dallas-based artist who creates the most phenomenal pieces for any home. We worked with her to personalize several framed canvases, and let me tell you – she’s been an amazing partner! Throughout the process, she’d send us previews of how things were coming along. For one piece in particular, I asked for a few changes and she didn’t hesitate to make use of my feedback. Come on! How awesome is that?
I also highly recommend her framing options. We chose the lucite frame for the dining room, and it looks like it’s just floating on the wall. Be sure to shop her entire collection and follow her on Instagram.
In Closing
What do you think of the final result? I’m head over heels excited to utilize our dining room in the months and years ahead. For now, our dinner parties and small group cocktail hours are on hold until the pandemic calms down. However, I’m already stocking up on Grandmillennial dining room tablescape and serveware pieces for future parties!
Entertaining is one of my greatest passions, and I can’t thank Ballard Designs, the Design Solutions team, and Amelia for helping us pull everything together. Be sure to take a moment to see how we styled our living room with the help of Ballard Designs!