Dining Room Delights: How to Make the Most of Your Dining Space
Whether you host cosy dinner parties or like to have friends round to eat, making the most of your dining space is key to having enjoyable social gatherings! We've put together our top tips to help you take your dining room to the next level.
Make the space flexible
We don't all have the luxury of a dedicated dining room so it's important to think what other funtions the space might be used for and choose your furniture appropriately. Perhaps you work from home during the day and have family meals in the evening. In which case choose a dining table that will allow you to work comfortably and make sure you plan enough storage so you can tidy your work away at the end of the day before dinner.
If you have children, the dining space might double up as a play room. An extendable or folding dining table is a great way to create a bit of extra floor space. Again - have a think about storage and where toys could be neatly tidied away to. A storage box or bench is a great way to bring some storage to the room.
Shop Extendable Dining TablesMake a small dining space work for you
No space? No problem! A small dining room can still serve an important function in the home - it just needs a bit of careful planning.
Bold colours can be great if you want to make a small space intimate and cosy. But if you really want to make a small space appear light and airy, we'd reccomend using pale, neutral colours.
Adding a feature mirror is a fantastic way to make a room feel larger than it is - especially if the space is long and narrow (place on the long wall the create the illusion of width).
An extending dining table is a fantastic way to maximise space - fold it away when you don't need to extra seating space and make the most of the room.
A dining bench can be a brilliant way to add some extra seats to the dining room without taking up too much space - perfect if you've got little mouths to feed. They're also much easier to tuck out of the way along a wall when they're not in use than chairs are.
Shop Dining BenchesMake the space feel cosy with natural wood
Ok, we're a little biased here but we really love the feeling of warmth that natual wood brings to the room! You can opt for a traditional oak dining table if that's the mood of your space or something more modern, but a wooden dining table is a great adddition to the dining room and one which will add a timeless feel to the space.
Shop Oak Dining TablesThink about the shape of your dining table
Round tables are great for intimate gatherings and are really good for getting the conversation going. An added bonus is that they offer a lot of flexibility in terms of how many people they can seat. So if you frequently find yourself with unexpected dinner guests, they can be the perfect option. A downside of a round dining table is that it can't be pushed against a wall so might not be the ideal solution if space is tight.
A rectangular or square dining table offers the flexibilty that it can be tucked into a corner to make the most of the space - perfect if only two or three people regulalry eat. It can then be moved away from the wall if you're havintg a larger gatheirng. The number of people a rectangular table can seat is slightly less flexible than a circular table though.
Find Out How to Choose a Dining TableThink about lighting
Lighting makes all the difference to any space but it's crucial in the dining room. Think about how you might need different types of lighting for the various functions of the dining space. A dimmer switch is a great way to adjust the lighting to create different moods. You might also want to think about a pendant light fitting above the table to create a real statement.
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