BALANCING ACT: I love antiques, however I also have an appreciation for modern art and décor. In all of my rooms, the goal has been to find a good balance between the two, and I think we have done this in the dining room as well.

CHANGE IS GOOD: We love hosting dinner for family and friends so we started the room redo with a larger dining room table and went from there.

TIPS FROM THE PROS: Liz [Dickson of Millbrook Circle Interior Design] has been a family friend and has helped me decorate almost every room in the house. She encouraged me to try something new and told me that lightening the walls would make the room feel much larger. We started with wallpapers and found the gray textured paper that I thought was so modern and fun.

A PERFECT PAIRING: The old chandelier and sconces were brass and so obviously were not going to work with décor that was a bit more modern or our new color scheme. We thought chrome looked modern with the gray fabrics and wallpaper, and we liked the contrast of the shiny chrome with the matte of the paper.

SOFT SURROUNDINGS: The table came from Cornerstone Antiques, as did the six Federal-style side chairs. The end chairs are custom upholstered Parsons chairs. I wanted a more substantial chair to anchor the ends of the table and something upholstered to add softness in the room.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: The pewter on the shelves was my grandmother’s—she collected pewter and clocks. The china is very new. I waited until much later in life to buy china and now have something I will like for many years.