Dining Room

Special design touches in this dining room makes it a traditional setting for family gatherings, parties and formal dinners — without being stuffy or unapproachable.

The only thing missing from the redesigned dining room is the elegantly dressed dinner guests. Other than that, it seems no detail was overlooked by the room’s designers, Teddy Karl and Melissa Hummel, both Allied ASID, of The Great Cover-Up, who have created the ideal traditional setting to enjoy a special autumn feast.

“This warm wood tones and beautiful light in the room made us think of Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner,” says Karl, principal designer of The Great Cover-Up, who created the room with senior designer Hummel. “We saw this room as a traditional setting for family gatherings, parties and formal dinners. We definitely felt that it was to be a very formal room, but we didn’t want it to seem stuffy and unapproachable.”

The room’s impressive architectural features include deep crown mouldings, Georgian-style over-door pediments, floor-to-ceiling sash windows with built-in shutters and picture frame mouldings above and below the chair rail. The focal point in the room is the elegant fireplace with marble surround centered between two large windows.

If there were any sort of challenge in designing the space, it was the scale: Small furnishings would easily be dwarfed by the room’s tall ceilings and ample proportions. “We solved that by selecting a larger rug, larger table and more chairs,” Karl says.

An impressive 12-by-15-foot hand-knotted brown, beige and gold Persian carpet established the room’s warm autumnal palette. The designers chose to use mahogany furniture in the Chippendale style, which is especially appropriate given the period woodwork in the room. The large dining table is detailed with flame-like mahogany veneers and inlaid with satinwood banding and sits on two pedestal bases. Side and arm chairs, as well as a sideboard, are from the same collection. Suspended overhead is a large-scale glass chandelier from Visual Comfort.

On the walls, within the picture frame mouldings, the designers used a Thibaut wallcovering called Beaufort Damask in the mocha colorway with subtle metallic accents. Window treatments feature a textured silk fabric from Kravet with a plaid silk contrast fabric from Catania Silks and luscious tassel fringe from Brimar. The dining chairs are upholstered in a transitional geometric fabric from Clarence House. As is so often the case, it’s the accessories that really bring the redesigned dining room to life. The designers set the table for a traditional Thanksgiving celebration, with Spode’s Woodland pattern dinnerware, Lunt’s Portico flatware and hand-embroidered napkins from Henry Handwork. Other noteworthy accessories include Audubon reproduction framed prints, a gold-leaf framed mirror and a pair of large Chinese vases.