Living rooms get a lot of attention, but a dining room that fits your style and fits your needs can make every day a little richer. So why not give yours a little additional love? In case you haven’t been using your dining room, it could be that setting this up correctly will motivate you to dine there more often. And if sit-down dinners don’t match up with your lifestyle, there are lots of methods to design your room around another passion so that it will see daily use.
Assessing the five questions below should help spark ideas for the ultimate dining room layout. Let us begin.
Corynne Pless
1. How much flexibility do you want? Consider how many people that you want to chair for dinner every day and just how many do you like to be able to squeeze in occasionally. Should you have to adapt to different-size audiences often, it’s important to look for furniture that could stand up to the job. Consider dining tables with extension leaves, and benches that can tuck against the wall until desired.
Should you serve a big crowd only one or two times per year, you may prefer to decide on a bigger table for everyday use — just pull out a couple of folding card tables for holiday parties as needed.
McGill Design Group Inc..
Hint: Keep an eye on your thoughts with an ideabook or a style file. Be certain about what you love about every photograph, and pay particular attention when the same attribute comes up more than once. Maintain a short list of these crucial pieces useful in this procedure. For example: modern pedestal table, natural fiber carpet, glossy black trimming.
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Visible Proof
2. How do you envision using your space? A formal dining room that gets little use could be reimagined to combine characteristics of a spacious home office, library or craft center. On the other hand, perhaps you would like to amuse — in that case, consider adding a well-stocked bar cart or a buffet, adjustable lighting and comfortable chairs.
Let yourself daydream about how you would really like to use your dining room, then write down five specific things you would have to make it a fact.
Caitlin Moran Interiors
Hint: Work the walls. Put that wall space around your dining table to work! Should you need extra chairs, sip a seat beneath a console. If craft space is everything you need, transplant a cupboard against the wall and fill it with pretty baskets of craft supplies. Or, even if a library impact is exactly what you want, heap books up on the buffet or line one wall with bookcases.
Crisp Architects
3. What level of formality would you crave? This doesn’t necessarily depend on how or how often you use the room — it’s more about personal style. You can take a dining room used for special dinner parties that nevertheless manages to feel relaxed and casual … or a fancy room the whole family uses constantly.
If you’ve got your heart set on a formal dining room but don’t need to constantly worry about damage, don’t despair. It’s possible to hang a fancy chandelier, place wallpaper above the chair rail and hang artwork, and not one will soon be within reach of little ones or furry pals.
Find your dining table style
Tom Stringer Design Partners
Steal this style: With symmetrically arranged lamps and chandeliers, a grid of artwork and a pair of Chinese Chippendale chairs, this chamber is a wonderful illustration of how to work formal details into a livable space.
Create a few concessions to practicality with a desk that will not show every scratch and cloths that could stand up to a tiny abuse — washable all-natural fibers, stain-resistant cloths and outdoor fabrics would all hold up exceptionally well.
Caitlin Moran Interiors
4. You captivate? Are you drawn to bright, clear colors? Deep, shiny and glamorous ones? Soothing neutrals? Color transcends styles, so you might discover you prefer conventional furniture combined with bold colors and patterns.
If you’re getting hung up on which colors to select, proceed through your preferred tear sheets or photos focusing specifically on color. Which colors are employed in your favourite rooms? One great photo could be all you want to spark an whole color scheme.
guides to choosing paint colors
Andrea Schumacher Interiors
Hint: Stay organized. Record the overall measurements of your room as well as the length of walls between doors and windows. Keep this information on you constantly — you never know when you may spot the ideal piece.
Roughan Interior Design
5. What is your time frame? Think about what could make the greatest difference to you personally and tackle that first — I would begin with wall color and a great table, but you might feel differently.
Dennison and Dampier Interior Design
Budget tip: Learn how to work with everything you’ve got. Is there anything you’ve got that can be revamped and used in your new strategy? Or keep as a placeholder before you’re able to get exactly what you have your heart set on? Consider painting furniture, swapping hardware out, which makes slipcovers for chairs or spray painting a light fixture.
Do not forget to shop your home — the perfect piece for the dining room may be hiding in plain sight.
Inform us What can you envision for your dining room?
More: 8 Ways to Rethink the Dining Room