My Favorite Decorating Ideas for a Large Dining Room Wall (parts 1 & 2)

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all of the terrific responses to Mel’s large dining room wall dilemma. Today, we’re going to dive into a few options. Some of you hit on exactly what I planned to do. Of course, the options are endless.

I hope you’ll get some new inspiration. Or maybe gain new insight as to what you don’t like. That’s valid too.

If you’re just landing here. Please start the post from the top.

Otherwise, to skip part 1 please click the link below, to read part 2.

 

Part 2 Begins Here

 

Recently, I received a note from a kind reader:

 

Dear Laurel,

Could you do a blog post on how to decorate a large blank wall in a dining room that coordinates with an open kitchen across from it?
Thanks!
Mel

 

Oh, this is a terrific topic. However, it’s not like we haven’t discussed a long drink of wall before.

 

We definitely have, a number of times. So, I asked Mel if she could send me some more information, including images, which she did. And then I asked permission.

 

Before we begin with the large dining room wall, let’s remember that Mel has kindly invited us into her home.

 

I learned that they built this home two years ago in the middle of the Canadian province– Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (say that 10 times fast) — population 300,000.

What? That’s triple the size of Albany, NY and Boca Raton, FL.

Triple.

But, Guys.

Brrrrrrrrr…..

Being the little geographical nerd that I am, I looked it up, and yes, the lowest temperature ever recorded was −50.0 °C (−58.0 °F) on February 1, 1893. But, just as shocking, the highest temp ever recorded was 106.7 on June 6, 1988!

Those, of course, are the two extremes. Still, the winters are long and very cold by anyone’s standards. It is not unheard of for the air temperature to dip down to -40, which is the same in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

MINUS 40 degrees air temperature. Not windchill, or “Real Feal™.”

I’ll let that sink in.

 

It’s a dry, cold, Laurel.

 

Okay, if you say so. Cold is cold!

 

So, Mel lives in this booming, either frozen or boiling, town with her husband and eight children.

 

Laurel, what on earth does the climate have to do with decorating a large dining room wall?

 

Nothing.

I’m just wasting your time.

Please forgive me. I’m a little giddy because the exterminator came and found the tiny little hole under the den baseboard heat where my “pet” mouse was getting in and scaring the crap outta me. So, he no longer has access, and I can sleep now.

 

No, really. The correct answer is Everything. Location is always an important factor, but for now, let’s just store that idea on a nearby shelf.

 

First, let’s look at the photos Mel sent me, and then we can discuss some possibilities.

 

Above is the dining area, which is open to the kitchen. Beyond is the 16-foot-long, empty wall.

 

Above is obviously the kitchen– with a butler’s pantry. This is a beautiful kitchen!

 

Super nice! I love both the range and sink walls. Really well done.

 

On the other side of the dining area is a beautiful living room featuring floor-to-ceiling transom windows!

There’s a wonderful fireplace mantel that suits the architecture very well.

 

That’s a wide opening, but I can see a day when they might need to expand their table (with card tables), and they can bring it out into the living room.

 

And one last image at the large entrance from the living room into the dining area.

 

Okay, let’s take a look at this floor plan.

 

The dining area is in the top right section.

 

Architecturally speaking, the bones are there. The only thing I might suggest would be to add a small crown moulding. There’s one over the sink area, and I’d love to see it run all the way around the dining area and living room.

 

I think that’ll finish it off nicely.

 

What style is this home?

 

I would say it falls under the umbrella of updated traditional.

Now, I didn’t ask Mel if anything is possibly going on. I’m assuming none of the big pieces are going.

 

Now, let’s look at the fixed elements and “givens.” Givens are items we need to work with.

 

• White Traditional kitchen with quartz marble-look backsplash and counters.
• White walls,
• Light Oak floor.
• Two off-white modern sofas, with a pale lavender modern rug.
• The coffee table is an Americanized traditional in a darkish walnut.
• The dining table and chairs coordinate with it.

 

But Mel, darling, what on earth did you do with your eight children? I mean, WHERE are they? Did you chain them to their beds?

 

You know I’m teasing you, but it’s only because I’m incredibly impressed! There isn’t even a hint that there are young children. Of course, all of them might be in high school. I don’t know. Maybe you had two sets of quadruplets. It can happen.

This post is reminding me of the lovely woman who wanted help with her lamps, and I ended up redesigning her entire living room and did a facelift on the kitchen, too. It was in January 2023. There were three posts!

So, this post, too, will be at least two posts. It’s impossible to do it in one gulp.

 

For today, I only want to discuss furnishings– not colors, finishes, paint, or specifics of styling.

 

Please do not pick the place apart. It’s a lovely home. However, I can’t advise on what to put on that wall without addressing some other things first.

 

Below are some possible options for the large dining room wall.

 

The most obvious and definitely the most expensive option would be to do a built-in. However, I feel in this case, it might begin to feel like that is a continuation of the kitchen, not a separate space.

Therefore, it could be a built-in cabinet.

 

Another option would be a large breakfront, even larger than the one above; however, I think that will feel a bit heavy and again, too much like the kitchen. I would not do another dark-stained piece.

 

This one’s pretty cool, from Sarreid; however, it’s out of stock. It’s 122″ long! This wall is 192″, so 122″ is perfect.

There are also some ideas in this post about cheap living room furniture.

And also cheap bedroom furniture.

 

So then, I love the idea of a long, eight-foot minimum buffet or sideboard.

 

We could do an expansive art wall and flank the buffet with chairs. I love plants, but these feel a bit ad-hoc. It’s a lot like when you get picture frames as a wedding present, and they’re all different styles and don’t look good together.

One option would be to do a big mirror and sconces over the sideboard, and then two pieces of large art flanking the sideboard.

Another idea I love is to do some kind of wallpaper or mural on the entire big blank wall, and then there can still be a mirror and maybe some art.

I found this cool image on Pottery Barn today.

 

This is masterful decorating at its finest. Bravo PB!!! Alas, that shell mirror was discontinued.

One last conceptual idea, and that would be a faux or gas fireplace. There’s already a gas fireplace in the living room, so it would need to match. There’s certainly plenty of room. Then, I would put two smaller buffets or chests flanking the fireplace, with art and mirrors.

I have so many ideas!

However, this is where I will end for today.

Except for this.

 

I am thinking of one of two color palettes.

 

Mostly neutral, like the one above, maybe with a little blue and green.

 

Or another tone-on-tone neutral like the Serena & Lily Searose rug in Sepia

Or, much more colorful, maybe with a Persian rug with rusty reds, blue, gold, etc. Something like the one below.

Or, something else?

I’ll look forward to reading your comments.

xo,

*********************************************************

Part 2 Begins Here

 

Sunday December 14, 2025

Hi Everyone,

In typical fashion, I spent hours doing the artwork, and now it’s late. However, I don’t need to say too much about the large dining room wall across from the lovely kitchen.

Mel sent me an email and didn’t give any indication of color preference. I didn’t ask, so I kept it to muted neutral colors.

Here is what she said:

 

In case you might be wondering, here is some more information:

 

• The carpet in the living room is a good size, but I would prefer something else.
• I spent a lot on the dining room chairs and can’t change them, but I realize upholstered chairs would have been more suitable(but not for kids), maybe we could get upholstered chairs for the ends of the table.
• I would like to replace the kitchen island stools at some point with dark coloured ones.
• I have cream coloured drapes for the front living room window to be installed later this week.
• The chandelier above the dining table is one I saw recommended on one of your blog posts on coordinating kitchen and dining area lighting, and it is dimmable.
• The paint on the walls and cabinetry is White Dove and does look warmer in the daytime.

 

That all sounds terrific.

This was such an interesting exercise. But there’s one point that I think you’ll see by the end of this post.

It is unfair to judge any elements of a space until you’ve seen the entire plan.

 

The first thing I want to say before I jump in is about a mirror over a sideboard or fireplace mantel.

 

For a mantel, unless you’re well over six feet tall, you are not going to see yourself or the back of someone’s head. For a sideboard, some are on the lower side, and you might see the top of your head. In that case,  you can put a lovely cachepot filled with a plant, real or faux, or a soup tureen and maybe some candlesticks. There are lots of things that can be used to style the sideboard.

But no. I tested it out in my living room and had to sit on three pillows before I could see most of my face. The mirror begins at 44″ above the floor, for a 38″ high sideboard is about where a mirror will start.

 

Below is the dining area from our old New York townhouse in 2011.

 

While I didn’t sit in front of the mirror very often, I don’t recall being able to see myself when I did.

Ahhh… this is where this blog/website got its start. Right there, on that laptop and that chair. And yeah, that’s my old Rolodex!

The digital version is on sale for only two more weeks!

 

As for reflecting the kitchen, yes, it will reflect a small portion. I am not thinking of a wide mirror. But a tall mirror no more than 3 feet wide or so.

In regard to the fireplace, I was figuring it might need to be decorative. That could work. If the mantel is four feet wide or a little more, then there could be two 60″ buffets or chests on either side.

 

Sorry, I didn’t do that design.

 

 

In real life, I might spend 40-60 hours working on a design for adjoining spaces. I don’t have anywhere near that much time, so I kept it to the one long sideboard, the one we looked at from Sarreid. Sarreid copies actual antiques, and their finishes are quite nice. There are 8 shelves inside, one for each child, haha. And two drawers, one for Mom and one for Dad. I’m only kidding.

 

Let’s look at the big dining room wall – phase one.

 

I did not add a crown moulding, but I still think it would look terrific.

I did add wainscoting. Even though a lot of it will be covered, you’ll see it on the ends and on the short walls. In this case, if one wants to do a cheat, I’m okay with just the chair rail, and then I would paint the entire wainscoting area a shinier paint.

 

Laurel, how did you get the wainscoting behind the table?

 

I removed the background. That’s how. :]

In addition to the wainscoting, I added a ceiling beam to the left of the sliding doors going towards the living room.

Why?

 

I did it to break up the large expanse of the ceiling. It’s not necessary, but it will make a difference.

 

 

Now, you can see the Sarreid sideboard flanked by two vintage chairs I used for a board or two in the Laurel Home Paint and Palette Collection. There are a few vintage chairs, and I enjoy changing the color of them to suit the rest of the decor.

There are some vintage prints in the manner of Claude Lorrain.

Two Chinoiserie lamps and a seagrass rug.

In front of the mirror, you can see the planter that is in my holiday decor widget, lol. Alas, someone bought it! I hope it was one of you. As you can see, I added some faux paper whites. While I love paper whites, their smell is noxious. So, some good faux paper whites for me.

 

While I think this is good, it could be better.

 

What would make the white walls work better would be a big piece of art, or some white slipcovered chairs. But, they’re not, so I really feel that a deeper wall color is in order.

 

 

I tried Apollo Blue, but it wasn’t wowing me.

 

So, I tried the tried and true Cleveland Green!

Both of these, and actually all of the paint colors mentioned today, are in the Laurel Home Essential Paint and Palette Collection that’s currently on sale for only two more weeks.

 

However, the sideboard looks better in a deeper color. This looks a lot like Knoxville Gray, the color in my downstairs entry. But, I like this toasty, warm color so much better!

 

Time prevented me from adding the wainscoting, but I would still do it and paint it and the baseboard in the Cleveland Green.

 

Okay, it’s time to hang onto your hats, guys. There are two versions of my favorite choice for the large dining room wall.

 

 

Yes, I put up the House of Hackney Plantasia in the sage colorway. I think the Claude Lorrain prints look amazing. It’s like trees on top of trees.

And yes, those are my yellow lamps, except you can’t have them. ;]

 

Now, I realize that some of you will love this and some won’t.

 

However, this room is ideal for Plantasia. There’s only one significant wall, and so it won’t be at all overwhelming. It’s a wonderful balance for all of the beautiful cabinetry in the kitchen.

 

I did one more iteration, and it’s my favorite one of this former big empty dining room wall.

 

This time, we painted the wainscoting Benjamin Moore Windsor Green. Oh, I think this looks so rich. And all of the leaves and trees suit the chairs beautifully, too.

 

 

Laurel, don’t you think with eight kids a seagrass rug will be impractical in the dining room?

 

Any other rug, yes, but seagrass is the most forgiving material. It repels stains as it has a waxy coating. I’m sure I’ve mentioned the client with four kids and two dogs ad nauseum. But, if you haven’t seen it, she had a huge seagrass rug in her playroom where the kids painted and did all sorts of stuff. She loved it. But everyone did. I frequently put seagrass rugs in dining rooms.

 

Of course, there are a zillion possibilities for this lovely dining space.

 

I have some ideas for the living room, too.

Would you like to see them?

I could also do a budget version of this room. That would be fun. (Hopefully!)

 

But here’s another important point.

 

They already have everything they need, so once they have a plan, all of this could be implemented over time.

This is why having a plan makes everything so much easier.

Even if the specifics change, it’s helpful to avoid making costly mistakes.

Well, that’s all for now.

Which one of these do you like the best?

xo,

 

***Please check out the big sale going on of my rockin’ interior design PDF guides. They are all 20% off (bundles are even more!) The sale is ending December 28, 2025, at 11:59 PM

 

Prices increase on January 1st. If one of these guides has been on your wish list, now is a good time to order. They make great gifts, too!

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Clicking on the links in gray will send you to the pages to learn more about each guide.

 

 

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All of my design guides are on sale through December 28th.
 Prices increase on January 1st.

 

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Thank you so much for your wonderful support this year — I appreciate every one of you.

xo,