Some rooms announce themselves the moment you walk through the front door. In this historic Atlanta Victorian, the dining room is one of those spaces: visible, central, and impossible to ignore.
As part of our ongoing series documenting this whole-home transformation, today’s reveal feels particularly significant. This wasn’t just about creating a beautiful dining room. It was about crafting a space that could handle the weight of first impressions while serving as the heart of daily life.
The challenge? Transforming what felt like an awkward passageway into a destination worthy of lingering.
The Design Challenge
The dining room presented unique obstacles from the start. Four small closets anchored each corner of the room, and large double pocket doors faced the front entry. With so many openings, the room risked feeling like little more than a passageway. Add to that the angular architecture, including a recessed ceiling, three south-facing windows, and a wall niche, and the result was a space heavy on rectangles when what we wanted was warmth and flow.
A Collaborative Vision
The homeowners came to this project with a clear sense of how they wanted the dining room to feel. Their goal was to create a space that would actually be used, not just admired. They envisioned an intimate dining area with a round table for six, a shape that breaks up the room’s rigid lines and invites conversation where everyone can engage equally.
They also had a specific palette in mind. With the foyer painted in Sherwin-Williams Windy Blue, the dining room needed harmony without being the same. They selected Storm Cloud for the walls and ceiling and paired it with steel blue Kravet velvet for the dining chairs. The effect is rich and elegant without feeling too formal.
To soften all those straight lines, they introduced curves through a gold Grand Lotus chandelier by Currey & Company, which blooms overhead like a flower, and a custom-cut rug with gently rounded edges.
Drapery as Art and Architecture
This is where we stepped in to help refine the vision and bring softness and craftsmanship to the windows. With this triple window the drapery needed to do more than frame the view. It had to complement the chairs and walls without competing, and it had to add visual interest all on its own.
The clients chose an embroidered silk damask with a blue-gray ground and subtle accents of brown and gold. Its inset diamond motif adds a layer of quiet elegance, a detail you might not notice immediately but exudes elegance. This pattern ties back to a recurring theme in the home’s design (you’ll find echoes of it in the Elizabeth Taylor Suite, among others), one of those thoughtful touches that creates a sense of continuity throughout the spaces.
The beauty of this fabric came with its own challenges. Embroidered silk is notoriously temperamental, shrinking when steamed and unraveling when cut. Combined with the home’s uneven floors, this meant traditional fabrication techniques fell short. After painstaking work in the studio, the only way to achieve the precision we demanded was to finish the hems by hand on-site. Memory stitches were added to prevent flaring, and every inch was carefully tacked so the panels would hang perfectly.
The finished drapery, with its elegant pinch pleats, hangs from English Gold rods by Lundy’s Ironworks, gliding smoothly with matching wands. These panels are practical yet stunning, acting as a piece of art when drawn closed and as an architectural frame when open.
A Dining Room Reimagined
Today, this room feels both gracious and approachable. It is special but never stuffy, a place for dinner parties, lingering conversations, and even overflow entertaining when the chairs are repurposed elsewhere in the home. Most of all, it reflects the collaborative spirit that shaped this entire renovation: a homeowner’s thoughtful vision, brought to life with craftsmanship and care.
Every project teaches us something new about the delicate balance between vision and execution, between honoring a home’s history and creating spaces for modern living. If you’re curious about how custom drapery and thoughtful textile choices could transform your own space, contact us today. We’d love to hear from you.
Pulling Back the Curtain: Inside the Club Lounge
