A dining room re-do challenge: Q&A with Nicole Regan of Cedar & Rush and Jan Jessup of Calico

Windy City resident, wife, mom and blogger Nicole Regan has a lot on her plate keeping up with toddler Penelope and writing for Cedar & Rush (A Chicago Blog: the intersection where style meets entertaining). Somehow, she found time to transform a plain vanilla dining room to this distinctive space for hosting friends and family—with a little help from interior designer Melissa Mahoney and Linda Dire, Manager of the Calico design shop in Hinsdale, Illinois.

Nicole writes about the dining room reveal here and goes into detail about the distinctive host chairs she created from cast-offs here. These are beautifully documented posts—but we wanted to know more about how Nicole navigated the process of design. So we called her to chat!

Q: Nicole, now that you have lived with your new dining room for a few months, how does it feel? Is it working for you as you expected?

N: We just love it! Every time I look at this room, it looks like this little jewel box—so happy and cheerful, so well put together. I never dreamed I would have such a beautiful space.

Q: You said that you use the dining room on a daily basis. Is there anything that you would have done differently?

N: Honestly, no. We have lived in this house for four or five years, so I knew exactly how we would use this room going into this project. One of the amazing things about Calico and our designer, Melissa, is that the room plan was so well thought out—for both the functional needs as well as the aesthetics of the space.

Q: Your interior designer found 40 possible wallpapers and fabrics on the Calico website to re-do this room. To expedite the selection process, the Calico Store Manager pulled those samples together before you came to the store. How did you and Melissa narrow down the selection?

N: Well, it wasn’t easy! It was a lot of back and forth—kind of like putting together a puzzle. Linda had also referenced the fabrics used in our nearby breakfast nook—so it was easier to narrow down the selection by seeing how the dining room fabrics would complement those in the nook.

With touches of blue in the white bistro chairs and in the Chinoiserie accessories, we knew everything had to marry with that combo. Orange is a complementary color [opposite blue on the color wheel], and that always adds energy to a space.

Close-ups of Nicole’s draperies of Jaipur in Persimmon with navy tassel trim along the leading edge. This is a heavy fabric, so two-prong fan pleats are more suited to the weight of Jaipur. Beneath the draperies are pleated Roman shades in a blue/white stripe. “We lower them every evening since the sun shines directly in our eyes,” notes Nicole. “These shades are fabulous!”

Q: I always advise customers to start with a fabric that you love—it’s the more emotional decision. Then it’s easier to find paint, wallpaper or carpets that work with the fabric than vice-versa. Did you do that with the dining room?

N: Yes, we fell in love with the Jaipur drapery fabric and then things began to fall into place—like the neutral wallpaper. I didn’t realize how many little details add to the personality of the room—the curtain tassel trim, the rod, the rings, type of pleats, and the welting on the host chairs.

I feel like Calico’s selection has gotten super fresh—it’s appealing to my generation and not just my Mom’s generation!

Q: Did you borrow the fabric and wallpaper samples and live with them at home for a few days?

N: Yes, I taped everything to the dining room wall and lived with it—in that light, next to the furniture. We had several several options to choose from and it really helped me visualize the scale of the patterns and how it would all look in the room.

Some of the elements of the dining room décor (L to R): performance fabric Larch in Camel plus Fauna in Navy for the host chairs; wallpaper from Magnolia Home MK1158; tassel trim for the drapery panels of Jaipur in Persimmon; and a bit of Kiki Boucle in Persimmon for welting on the arm pads of the host chairs.

Q: Tell me about the decision to add the host chairs and where you found them.

N: To redo our dining room, Melissa [our designer] told us that we didn’t need six new chairs. Adding two host chairs would be an easy way to zhuzh it up without blowing our entire budget. Since we already had four white bistro chairs, Melissa said to go with something unique and fun. I found these two Louis-style chairs with arm pads and carved frames on Facebook Marketplace.

Q: It was interesting to see photos of the newly painted host chairs at the upholsterer’s workshop. These images show how a great craftsman (or woman!) will strip a frame down to the bones and rebuild it from the inside out: new hand-tied springs, new batting and cushioning materials. When it’s all done, you have the equivalent of a new chair!

N: Yes—and I didn’t even know how extensive the “surgery” would be. It’s just not replacing the fabric cover. These chairs are going to be comfortable and last a long time!

An upholsterer will strip old padding, horsehair and other materials from an antique chair frame. After painting or refinishing, he will replace springs (if needed), hand-tie them eight ways, add batting and cushioning materials and voila: stunning new chairs!

Q: How did you decide on the combination of several different patterns on the chairs?

N: These chairs are the first thing you see entering the room—they really make a statement! With the chair seats, backs and arm pads, there was plenty of opportunity for Melissa to mix prints and patterns. For the seat and inside back, we knew it had to be a performance fabric that could be easily cleaned—and slightly larger in scale. For the outside back, we could go wild—and pick up the blue in the room. This print was repeated on the arm pads and in the seat/back welting. The final touch was to repeat the orange color in a tiny stripe on bias welting around the arm pads.

The frames are painted the same white as the trim in the dining room—the white frames really make the details pop! We have touches of brown in the table, butler’s tray bar and the carpet—the white just freshens it up.

Nicole notes that the white paint makes all the intricate details of the wood stand out. “And I just LIVE for the double welting—the orange ties in with the drapes!” Before purchasing the jacquard performance fabric for the chair seat and back, Nicole put her sample swatch to the test with ketchup and highlighter—“and I could not believe how easily they came out!”

Q: You had the benefit of going through the design process with two experts—Melissa Mahoney, your interior designer, and Linda Dire, the Calico Store Manager. Did they give you the confidence to take a bit of a design leap?

N: Yes, absolutely! It was fun to mix the fabrics, the layers, the different textures—it delights me every time I see this space. Melissa pushed me a little bit beyond my comfort zone with the Dana Gibson orange patterned drapery—it adds a lot of personality to the room. Linda gave suggestions and pointed out things to consider if you make this or that choice.

I never want a room to look as if everything came from one source. I like having a well-curated, edited room. It’s fun to add unexpected elements to a space. My dining room is one of a kind—I just love it!

Q: With all the decisions you had to make, was it an enjoyable process?

N: Installation day was exciting and magical. Calico never disappoints... you are efficient and precise. I was so excited to entertain our family and friends in this room. One of them even told me, “Your house just makes me want to decorate!”