Designing the Dining Room of My Dreams with Matter Brothers Furniture & Design
After renting our sweet little St. Pete home for seven years, Mike and I finally purchased it, and for the first time, it really felt like ours and there was one room I knew needed love first: the dining room.
For years, we sat at the same flea market table we bought in college when we were dating. It held memories, sure, but it never quite held our new story in our new city. We rarely ate there and it didn’t feel elevated or like the kind of space you want to gather in with friends over wine and long conversations.
It started with a visit to Matter Brothers Furniture & Design for the Coastal Living x Universal Furniture “Oasis” Collection launch. Hearing Jessica Thuston, Editor of Coastal Living, speak about breezy elegance and intentional design genuinely sparked something in me.
Mike and I looked at each other mid-event and basically said, “Okay… it’s time.” The Oasis Collection felt like the perfect reflection of how we want our home to feel — light, coastal, modern, organic, but still refined.
Enter: Design Expert ,Ralph (and a Whole Lot of Intention)
Working with Ralph, our design expert at Matter Brothers, completely transformed the process. This wasn’t just picking a table off a showroom floor.
He came to our home. He re-measured the space. We reviewed AI renderings of multiple table sizes and layouts. We talked through how we actually use the room (or didn’t).
After considering several dining sets from the Oasis Collection, we landed on the Dockside 80” Oval Dining Table. And she is a statement piece!
The white glass-reinforced concrete oval top with a textured edge paired with warm sandblasted oak legs strikes the perfect balance between organic and polished. It feels airy but grounded. Substantial but not heavy.
We paired it with four Shoreline Dining Chairs and two Mainsail Side Chairs upholstered in Nomad Snow fabric, complete with flange welt detailing and hidden casters (which I didn’t know I needed until I had them — game changer for hosting).
Suddenly, our dining room had presence. Ralph helped us think holistically about the room. Ralph even guided us on the exact shade of white to paint the walls so everything felt cohesive instead of pieced together. That detail alone changed everything.
We added the Dockside Bar Cabinet — crafted in sandblasted oak with a white quartz top, which instantly made the space feel like it was meant for entertaining. Wine storage, glass racks, hidden compartments… it’s functional but beautiful, which is exactly my love language.
Delivery Day = Main Character Energy
When the furniture arrived, it genuinely felt like a reveal moment. And having Ralph return to style the space, placing accessories, adjusting art, perfecting the flow, brought the entire vision to life.
For the first time, this room feels like a place we want to sit. To host. To linger. To celebrate milestones. It’s breezy, modern, coastal. It’s refined but warm and it finally feels like us.
Originally, we leaned brighter and more colorful. But after sitting with the space, we pivoted toward a moodier, richer palette while keeping the palm-forward artwork — just in a more elevated tone that made the entire room feel layered and intentional. We adjusted artwork. We re-evaluated color.
This dining room marks the beginning of taking ownership of our home and I can’t wait to continue sharing how we layer in the final accessories and styling touches with Matter Brothers Furniture & Design.
When you design with intention, you don’t just change a room — you change how you live in it. We can’t wait to redesign our next room with Matter Brothers! Which space do you think we should reimagine with them next?