Before
After
The homeowners of this Central Florida home came to us with a dining area that felt incomplete. The room had good proportions and existing crown molding, but the flat grey walls, beige travertine tile flooring, and a dated brushed nickel drum chandelier left the space feeling generic. There was no furniture, no accent detail, and no visual anchor. They wanted a dining room redesign that would give the room architectural character before they even placed a table in it.
Marilou Stones built the design around three-layered changes that each added a different kind of texture to the room. The centerpiece is a full-height geometric panel molding accent wall — an overlapping grid of square and rectangular molding profiles painted in a clean white, creating depth and shadow without adding color. It gives the room a focal point that works whether the space is used for dining, entertaining, or both.
On the ceiling, we installed warm-toned decorative wood beams that run across the width of the room, introducing organic warmth against the otherwise white palette. The beige travertine tile was removed and replaced with medium-toned hardwood flooring, which ties directly to the beam colour and grounds the space. The old brushed nickel drum pendant was replaced with a black metal halo chandelier featuring rough-cut crystal spikes — a fixture that reads as modern and sculptural without competing with the panel wall below it. The overall palette shifted from grey and beige to white, warm wood, and black metal accents.
The dining room now has the architectural identity it was missing. The geometric panel wall gives guests something to look now they enter, and the wood beams overhead make the ceiling feel deliberate rather than flat. With the hardwood flooring connecting the room to the rest of the home, the space flows naturally and feels grounded. This is the kind of interior design work in Central Florida where material and detail choices do the heavy lifting, so the room has presence long before it is furnished. To see more of how Marilou approaches feature walls and dining spaces, explore the Stones Design portfolio.
Geometric panel molding uses overlapping rectangular and square profiles to create a three-dimensional grid pattern on the wall. Unlike traditional wainscoting, which typically covers the lower portion of a wall in uniform panels, geometric molding runs floor-to-ceiling and creates visual depth through layered shapes and shadow lines. We use it as an architectural focal point, especially in dining rooms and entryways.
A project of this scope — accent wall installation, ceiling beam addition, flooring replacement, and new lighting — typically takes four to six weeks from design approval to completion. Material lead times for custom molding and fixtures can affect the schedule. We manage sourcing and contractor coordination, so the homeowner has a single point of contact throughout.
Yes. The beams in this project are decorative and installed onto the existing ceiling structure. They are typically hollow or lightweight timber wraps that give the appearance of structural beams without requiring any changes to the roof framing. Marilou selects beam stain and scale based on the room’s proportions and the overall color palette.
Engineered hardwood is a strong option for Central Florida homes because it handles humidity fluctuations better than solid hardwood. We recommend engineered products for most of our flooring projects in the region. The key is proper acclimatization before installation and choosing a product rated for the local climate.
We typically add the room’s length and width in feet and convert that number to inches — that gives a starting diameter for the fixture. In this project, we chose a round halo chandelier that sits proportionally under the wood beams without overwhelming the panel wall. Marilou considers ceiling height, beam placement, and the scale of other elements in the room before specifying a fixture.
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Marilou Stones is an award-winning, licensed interior designer and ASID member serving Winter Garden and Central Florida for over 40 years.
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