Dining Room Tour: HGTV Green Home 2009

The dining room story begins with the massive 9-foot-long table crafted by carpenter David Brown. He fashioned the tabletop from antique heart-pine flooring, old cedar fence posts standing in as table legs. “The table is so focal in the room,” says interior designer Linda Woodrum, who envisioned a friendly, casual and warm dining space that would echo the overall design scheme of the HGTV Green Home.

Table-height chairs in wicker, a sustainable material — and texture — Woodrum loves, lend an air of elegant informality and provide an unobstructed view of the table as one pans the room. Slipcovered host and hostess chairs by Verellen Home Collection are set on wheels to accommodate impromptu furniture rearrangement. Why wicker and slipcovers? “A lot of dining rooms seem cold, barren and uninviting,” Woodrum explains. “You look at a table and see four legs. Then, if there are 12 chairs, there are 24 more legs. It’s a sea of legs. So I wanted to do something to mix it up.”

A carefully edited collection of tabletop adornments echoes the semi-tropical locale. Blown-glass hurricanes at the head of the table hold large Philodendron leaves while a rattan tray on the opposite end cradles Phalaenopsis orchids planted in terra cotta pots. Three mercury-glass pears provide a solitary shot of sparkle, shine and formality. A brushed–aluminum, double-drum pendant pops against the neutral wall color. Woodrum chose the lighting fixture for its metallic finish and diminutive size. “I always envisioned big tropical leaves and nice big orchids as my finishing touch so I didn’t want a large shiny chandelier hanging down 30 inches off the table.” Woodrum also carefully considered the view from the kitchen to the screened patio when choosing a light fixture that would hug the ceiling.

The room’s conversation piece, a 4-foot-high triptych, makes subtle reference to Florida’s horse-racing heritage and also serves to cleverly conceal a series of switchplates that control lighting in the front of house. The segmented prints, entitled Lord Denver's Prize Horse Aditoc, prove an ideal pick. “Something had to be really bold and really catch your eye because that wall is the farthest distance away from the front entrance. It had to have a lot of strength, and the horse was perfect. That print is so graphic. You really notice it.”