Dining Room or Office? Office or Dining Room?

In my last house, we had a great dining room....

...that we hardly ever used. 

In fact, we wrote an entire blog post about the Dining Room Dilemma.

I spent gobs of time & money on furnishing and accenting the room because it was the first thing you saw when you walked in our home. 

When we moved this summer, I was determined not to have a room that wasn't used. Since we downsized some, that wasn't really an option anyway. 

Here's the layout for our first floor:

As you can see, the "dining room" is again the first thing you see.

I was so inspired by this picture from Duo Ventures.

How perfecto is this space??? The paint, the credenza, THE SHELF STYLING!!!! 

I love it all.I don't have a ton of black furniture so I wasn't thinking about using gray as my neutral. I've always loved NAVY so I decided to go for it. At the front door no less! 

Here's the blank canvas:

And, I mean B-L-A-N-K!

Here's what Jacki whipped up as a guide:

I love the emerald accents but I'll tell you, for the Pantone of the Year 2013, it sure was difficult to find any in home decor.

It all starts with a little paint, Sherwin Williams for Pottery Barn, Naval.

Here's how it turned out:

This room gets a lot of light and has white wainscot so the dark paint was not overpowering.

Still working on the shelf styling but I love these Ikea Vittsjo Shelves that I painted silver:

How cute is this guy? 

For the "foyer" side of the room, I found this buffet on Craigslist. It is perfectly accented by lamps & a mirror I already had.

It is a great place for a seasonal display:

I'm still looking for a rug, some curtains and a piece of art for over the credenza behind the desk. Maybe a lamp too. But, I couldn't wait to share the progress with all of you. 

What do you think so far?