Can I just take a minute to say that I love interior design SO much? As a lifestyle blogger, I get to dabble in many things I love: fashion, entertaining, travel…but there’s just something about interior design that I love so much.

Seeing a space go from blank and blah to sparkling and ta-da is one of the greatest joys. And this project is personal, as it’s a living room and dining room makeover for one of my dearest friends in the world, my college roommate Melissa.

I can share more in a future post, but let’s just say this feels like a full-circle moment and such a fun project for us to get to do together. It’s really fun because she trusts me and has essentially given me free rein to do whatever I want. And I get the joy of surprising her with a home that I hope she’ll love. Let’s just say, she’s been through a lot, is an amazing person, and deserves this more than anyone I know.

SO! Moving on…

I’m sharing plans for the dining room!

THE DINING ROOM PLANS

But first, perhaps we should start with a peek at the living room. See the moodboard here.

We think we’ve narrowed things down to a beautiful navy blue sectional (I’ll link it once we’re 100% sure).

Right behind the living room is the dining room.

As you can glean from the above right collage, I plan to place a console table behind the sofa that will hold a lamp or two — these beauties are the Blair lamp from Couture Lamps, one in Blush and one in Robins Egg Blue. This table will also act as a desk for Melissa.

DINING TABLE & CHAIRS

Behind that is the heart of the dining room, which you can see in the above left collage. I’m thrilled to say we’ll be using this pineapple dining table! Isn’t it great? While it’s built to be used outdoors, I think it’s going to work so well indoors, especially with these bistro chairs.

I ADORE these chairs. You may remember I used them in Kristen’s office makeover? I love them so much, I’m considering getting them for our dining room. I don’t like dining rooms to feel too stiff or formal personally… I want a relaxed dining environment, and it doesn’t get more relaxed than feeling like you’re at a beautiful outdoor cafe in France…or at The Parker!

Instead of doing all four chairs the same color, we’re doing two of the Capri Blue and two of the Washed Jade. It’s fun to mix things up and will be in line with the palette of the living room (more to come soon!).

RUG

Underfoot, we’ll place this fabulous palms rug from Frontgate (the table and chairs are Frontgate finds too).

LIGHTING

And above the table, I’m planning to use this darling Paige chandelier from Mitzi. Isn’t she cute?

WALLPAPER

You know my love for wallpaper, but the property is a rental. But not to worry, my friends over at Katie Kime make a peel and stick version of this Goddess wallpaper, which I’m hoping to use on the back wall of the dining room. I think it will add just the right amount of color and playfulness without being too overwhelming, plus it’s removeable!

What do you think?