{design & decor} the dining nook wall

Waaaaaay back in August I was trying to figure out what oh what to put on our dining nook wall…

Here’s a pic, pre-paint, pre-cleaning, rotated table arrangement, etc.:

: what to do, what to do?!

My conundrum with what to do was the scale of the wall and the room’s 12-foot ceilings! The frontrunner idea was some sort of black botanical print collage, but then y’all wowed me with some amazing ideas, like…botanical tryptichs…vintage handbags in shadowboxes…a grid mosaic…a collage of plates…a big mirror…putting moulding on the wall to scale it down…a picture rail to hang pictures at different lengths…prints from the Civil War… I mean, y’all killed it! My head was spinning with ideas!

Admittedly, I may have gone a bit “boring” given all of the fantastic suggestions I had to work with, but really like how the dining nook wall turned out.

: ta-da!

I was in an antique store in Vicksburg and saw that old mirror leaning up against the wall and marked down from $150 to $75. It’s hard to tell the scale, but the thing is almost 4-1/2′ wide and almost as tall! So $75 for a mirror this size in general was a steal. $75 for an OLD mirror like this one was awesome. I was so excited to find it! [Sidenote: I bought the mirror from the antique store where that scene from Borat was filmed where he knocks down and breaks a gazillion antiques - and then offers to pay for it using something nasty]

: de-silvering on the mirror

I was immediately drawn to the splotches of de-silvered mirror and knew I had to get it! Sold!

: i also love the old, beat up gold frame

Flanking the mirror is a pair of vintage wheat tole sconces I bought on eBay for $30. Yes, another score! I have no idea if they’re fancyschmancy or run of the mill, but they do have a “Made in Italy” tag on them.

aren't those sconces the coolest?

The candles in the sconces provide the perfect dinner ambiance with the flame bouncing off the mirror. I do think the scale of the sconces is a little off with the mirror and wall (I lost out on an auction for some much larger ones), but I can live with it.

So what do you think?! Does the arrangement solve some of the scale dilemma? I think one day I might add some transferware plates or something above and to the sides, but this totally works for me now.