The year 2020 has been spent by everyone at home, leading to an increase in spending on furniture and home decor. Dining room, being a major space in everyone’s homes, serves simply to eat. But with some tweaking, the hurried-up eating space could serve as a relaxing atmosphere that could take your home a notch classier. Below is the list of 10 Dining Room ideas worth investing in:

1. Minimalist dining | Dining Room Ideas

Minimalism is on the rise in recent years, thanks to influencers and people who opt for a frugal living. If you want a “Less is More” dining, minimalism is the way to go. It provides clean furniture, spacious dining area without clutter.

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Minimalist dining ©Light locations

While minimalism is generalised as ‘all-white’ rooms, it just means utilising the elements of decor that adds value to the room. If you have a décor item that you are sceptical about, use the Marie Kondo method. If the item has a memory quotient or is used often, preserve it. Else, toss it. 

While this is not a design technique, getting rid of useless garbage brings back the focus to space rather than the pile of rubbish one wishes to hide from the guest.

2. Add a rug

A simple addition of a rug or carpet around the dining space highlights it off the floor while keeping your feet warm and creating a visual sense of enclosure. A rug adds texture, colour and introduces contrast to the room. It should preferably match the dining table shape and contrast the floor while going along with the wall to create a unifying colour palette. The size of the rug also matters as the chairs should not slip out of the rug when pulled out.

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Aqua theme rug juxtaposes the wooden floor while relating to the curtain ©sonya winner.com

3. Blessings from the sky, through the windows

Natural lighting is the best way to decorate and improve a person’s mood. The thumb rule to make a small room seem large is to have a large fenestration and a light-coloured wall. While one cannot add a window to a pre-existing room, openings should be introduced during design. The height and location of the opening alter the spatial feel of the dining room.

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A serene dining ambience ©Alyssa Rosenheck

Windows that face the north (south for the northern hemisphere), bring in the needed diffused light. Courtyards or vegetation which faces the room helps one slow down and savour the moment when hot food lands on the tongue. If you are lucky enough to be on the topmost floor or most likely have a low-rise structure with the opportunity to add a skylight, there cannot be a better way to make the dining area better. While leaving the walls untouched, it opens up to the fluffy white clouds or starry skies.

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A skylight that animates the dining room with an ever-changing pattern ©Joe Fletcher Photography

4. Planting the way along

Indoor plants can liven up the dining room while acting as a natural air purifier. Vegetation can make the room everchanging and prevent the stagnancy of elements. Flowering plants are a bonus, the blooms can make a contrasting and independent decor element.

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Green colour palette amplified by the plants ©Perfect.homess

5. POP that wall | Dining Room Ideas

Dining room aesthetics can be improved by breaking the monotonous wall through a pattern or wallpaper. Going for a style that matches the rug or the furniture interweaves the various elements of the room into a singular colour palette. If the walls of the room are a simple white, adding a bright colour introduces liveliness to space. The coloured wall should face the diners, visually accessible by everyone eating. Cooler colours calm down the user, making he or she eat slowly while warm colours speed up the process(thus suit a fast food restaurant more than your dining room). 

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A dining that stands out ©Dulux

While simply painting the wall does the trick, patterns go a step further, creating interest in the wall plane. The pattern can also be matched to the rug. Stripes, being the most famous pattern should be used cleverly. Vertical stripes make a room seem larger, while horizontal ones make it look shorter, diagonal ones create a sense of fluidity. 

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The bold blue wall opposes the neutral colour scheme ©Ira Gosalia

6. Accessorize and beautify

Dining rooms are sometimes full on its own, just a tiny tweak completes the picture. Accessorizing the table is a wallet-friendly way to make your dining area stand out. Add a fruit bowl that goes with the colour and material palette of the room. Buy a vertical lamp that throws some light to the ceiling. Get a chandelier that floats above the dining table. 

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Wicker pendant ©Zephyr and stone

Oversized pendants are all the craze now, a simple light invites and directs the guest to the dining room. Add cabinets that go with the dining set. Perhaps a bookshelf could create lines of colour within the room, the space could also be tweaked into a reading nook. 

7. The wall of fame

Arguably the cheapest way to improve the aesthetics in a dining room is to add a few photo frames and accolades and create a gallery wall. It could become an interesting conversation opener while filling the dining room with nostalgia. The frames could be memories, work-related accomplishments, or ever simple quotes and decorative illustrations.

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An opportunity to showcase your personality ©Anne Romedahl

8. Match your outdoors

Decorating your house can never be easier. If there is an existing colour scheme that dominates your exteriors, invite them indoors! Greens and browns could imitate a forest, yellows and oranges for a desert and blues for the ocean. It weaves the interiors and the exteriors together, making the user feel at home. 

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Pastel seas and chairs ©HGTV

9. Texture madness to create interest

A bland texture less dining room makes the user lose interest. Introduce texture through the furniture, flooring and if possible, through the walls. Jute mats, paint finished furniture are all some budget-friendly options. The beauty of textures is it creates interest in the dining room even if the colour scheme is monochromatic. The stark contrast, the play of light and soft shadows differentiates between the surfaces and thus, helps in making the room better. 

Make your dining a playground of textures ©Mobilia

10.Remove the disturbing wall | Dining Room Ideas

Dining rooms in urban areas are generally small and cramped. Sometimes, not constructing a non-load-bearing partition could open up the hall or the kitchen to the dining, improving visual connectivity and functionality. However, the walls of completely built residences should not be removed without consulting a structural engineer to maintain structural integrity. Unlike other ideas, removing a wall will burn a hole in your pocket. In rare cases, it is the best way to improve the spatiality of the dining room.  

Removal of one non-load-bearing wall has changed the outlook of the whole floor ©Josephlanza.com

References:

https://homeworlddesign.com/malcolm-davis-architecture-an-architects-vision-for-california-living/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/decorating-ideas/g1730/decor-ideas-dining-room/?slide=18

https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/dining-room-ideas

https://teamhaberkorn.com/16-modern-and-cool-dining-room-design-ideas/

https://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/room-ideas/g26112750/minimalist-dining-rooms/?slide=4

https://diyjoy.com/diy-dining-room-decor-ideas/

https://www.thespruce.com/modern-dining-room-ideas-4147451

https://in.pinterest.com/vesakkinathan/dining-room/

Author

Vignesh Esakkinathan is a final year architecture student from chennai. He blogs about climate change and productivity with the hopes to become an architectural journalist. When he's not playing cricket, you can see him philosophising life at his rooftop.