The dining room is such an interesting part of the House. It has undergone a number of transformations over the years. It first served as a sign of wealth and distinguished families who could afford the extra square meters to devote an entire room to food alone. Then it fell out of favor. As dinner time because it was less of a formal affair, many families turned to informal dining areas such as breakfast corners (or even the sofa in front of the TV) as the primary place to dine. Today there are too many dining rooms that are sad and empty.
It’s time to reclaim this space! Since the dining room is not used as much as, for example, the kitchen or bedroom, it is an exciting design opportunity. You can take perils and make bold choices. When you do, you turn the space into something visually interesting that could entice your family to make more use of the room.
At Freshome, we love the idea of doing something extra fun with dining rooms. We have come up with a number of ways to help you breathe life into yourself. Whether you have a large formal dining room or work with a compact corner of a room, these are the things you need – according to our Freshome team – to create a dining room you’ll love.
Set out seating
A good dining room needs a place where people can dine. If you have the space, set up a table that offers at least eight seats. Hosting friends and family has become so much easier! We love a large, sturdy dining table like Wayfair’s 96″ Sydney dining table-as a way to establish your dining room. If you’re tight on space, a smaller table might work just as well.
Extendable dining tables can help you find a middle ground between space when the space is not in use and functionality when you have a handful of people coming to eat. Either way, find a table you love and you can build from there.
Once you’ve picked your table, it’s time for more fun shopping. Your dining chairs set the tone for the room. Think of your dining table as the sofa in your living room and your dining room chairs as the accent cushions. This is a place to have some fun! You may want to go traditional, like the Hayes Tufted chairs from Pottery Barn, or mod, like the Mid-century chairs from Target. When it comes to dining room chairs, your options are virtually endless. As proof, we’ve rounded up some great dining chair options for you.
Build your bar cart
If you’re the kind of family that gets together for dinner every night, your dining room will be used more than most. However, if you mainly gather around the table when you are entertaining, you still need a dining area that meets your needs. Building a bar cart will get you ready for whatever the night has in store.
Like your dining chairs, your bar cart is a design opportunity. Don’t be afraid to choose something nice. We love West Elm’s Mid-Century Bar Cart, but you can also go slim with an all-Chrome cart, find a real vintage piece at your local antique store, or add wheels to a small bookcase for a DIY solution. If you’re ready to live that lavish life, we’ve got a list of fantastic bar carts – and they’re all under $300.
Work on your walls
As we said, Since your dining room is used less than other spaces in your home, it is a place to go big with your design. If you’ve ever wanted to try a bold wallpaper, a bright accent wall, or a large work of art on the wall, this is the place. We love making a big statement with your dining room walls.
You can choose a unique paint color (why not black?) or eye-catching wallpaper (we like the Gournay’s options). An accent wall covered with CB2 Palm wallpaper or hung with some large-scale, eye-catching art is just the thing to transform your dining room. Do you know those design ideas that you’ve pinned on Pinterest for years but never had the guts to try? This is the place to finally put them into practice.
Setting up storage
When you invite people to dinner, the last thing you want is to run around in the evening. Adding convenient storage to your dining area will make the whole evening easier, from the moment you start setting the table to tidying up the dessert dishes.
Create a space in your dining area where you can store dishes, salt and pepper shakers, and anything else you run to the kitchen during a meal. A few of our Freshome picks are a vintage hutch sourced from your local antique shop or a dresser with lots of drawers, such as this Beaufort Farmhouse dresser. However, if you have the space to add built-in ins, go for it. Again, this is an opportunity to expand the design of your dining room. Feel free to go bold and choose a piece of furniture that you really love.