Modern Italian Dining Room

Inspiration Room: $87,000

The Inspiration Room
Host Brooke Channon introduces designer Yvonne Lane, who created a spectacular contemporary dining room using imported Italian furniture, bold artwork and colorful accessories. The eye-catching checkerboard silk rug, which cost $18,000, was a custom design based on a painting re-created into a rug. A blue blown-glass light fixture adds color and style. Half the chairs are upholstered in red suede, the other half in a soft green suede. Glass, steel, wood and leather combine for a playful and unforgettable room.

Makeover Room, before

Transforming the Makeover Room
Designer Yvonne Lane guided the makeover of a bland dining room full of rented and borrowed furniture into a stylish, contemporary space full of sleek furniture and colorful artwork by taking the following steps:

• Replaced a dated brass chandelier with a contemporary fixture featuring cut brushed steel and glass suspended from metal cables.
  
• Painted the walls a soft cream color (Benjamin Moore: Rich Cream).
  
• Placed a plant in each corner by the windows.
  
• Spray-painted red squares onto a cream area rug to create a checkerboard pattern, then sprayed tan paint over the entire rug to antique it. An alternative to the checkerboard pattern rug, which was time-consuming to make, would be a contemporary style rug with a bold geometric pattern that avoids circular shapes.
  
• Placed a frosted glass dining table with chrome-like finish painted black in the center of the room and added chairs with black vinyl backs and seats reupholstered in red and green ultrasuede; shiny chrome chair legs were painted black.
  
• Dressed the table with reed placemats, silver finish chargers, white dinnerware with a platinum rim, two-tone silverware, cut glass goblets and sage green linen napkins.
  
• Used a vivid red flower arrangement, flanked by crystal candlesticks, in the center of the table.
  
• Painted a dresser black and topped it with a piece of thick clear plastic supported by eight plastic silver rods.
  
• Hung a Picasso print framed in black over the buffet. It was chosen for its large size, contemporary style and bold color.
  
• Left the three windows in the bay covered only with blinds, for a crisp look.

The Bottom Line
To see where the savings are, take a look at this direct cost comparison of some Inspiration Room items and the creatively comparable ones used in the makeover room:

Blue glass chandelier, $6,960 / Steel and glass pendant, $99.99

Leather and suede dining chairs, $400 / Vinyl and ultrasuede chair, $60

Silver and crystal place setting, $400 / Sensible Chic place setting, $50

Wood and glass buffet, $2,000 / Wood dresser painted black, $380

pendant lamp — Lamps Plus
cream area rug — Home Depot
crystal candleholders — Michaels
sage linen napkins, leather place mats — Cost Plus
silver chargers, white dinner plates and salad plates — Mikasa
flatware, water goblets, wineglasses, champagne flutes, glass vase — Ross
credenza — Levitz
contemporary artwork — Expo Design Center