Designing a dining room: 5 tips and tricks for the dining area

Modern dining room design, furnishing idea

The dining room has a much larger function than just a space where food is consumed. In fact, in many cases the dining area, not the living room, is the center of the home. This is not a new development. The dining room is a gathering point for the family or invited friendshere you sit together, here board games are set up on the large dining table, here you talk, laugh with each other, in short: this is where you live.

But while the living room and bedroom often seem to invite you to redesign them, the dining area usually remains untouched for a long time. The dining room can be designed in the same way, with far-reaching consequences for the atmosphere and coziness. This guide aims to provide an overview of possible design options for your dining areaas well as a few useful tips for great impact with manageable effort.

1. The dining table is the core of the dining room

It’s no surprise that the table is the part of the dining area where the stay is focused. More than any other single element, the dining table shapes the direction of the room. If you want to redesign your dining room in a modern way, it is essential to pay special attention to the table.

1.1. Which form is suitable?

A round table is often used when designing a living room and dining room. It is less suitable for a narrow room.

The choice starts with the shape. Rectangular, round, oval? Your decision should be influenced by several factors. Firstly, of course, whether the table should stand freely or be pushed against a wall or in a corner.

For dining tables that are supposed to be attached to walls, for example For a particularly narrow room, a round table is initially ill-suited. With a free-standing table, the choice depends on the additional use.

Do you like to gather with friends to play cards or do crafts and draw with the family at the big table, where everyone should have equal access to all materials? Then a round table can be particularly practical.

But Danger! If you have a smaller dining area available, an extendable table top can be ideal! You can flexibly increase the table surface and reduce it again when it is no longer in use. With a round table top, these functionality options are no longer available.

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1.2. Which material works particularly well?

If you want to design your dining room in a modern way, a contrast in the materials can have a big impact.

The second big aspect is the material of the table. Solid wood, like one Bodahl dining table, is always in demand and gives a feeling of warmth. This can either be fully embraced as a theme for the dining area, or combined with conflicting materials in interesting ways.

Table legs made of metal, for example, have a cool appearance, and the hard cut between wood and metal can be extremely effective in terms of design. The combination of materials is a particularly effective design element for your dining table.

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1.3. The seating

Similar approaches can be taken when it comes to seating. Here, too, you have the option of choosing chairs that complement the table in terms of design – or you can work with opposites. Here it is relevant whether you attach more importance to your dining area being interesting to the eye or harmonious. Of course, there is a lot of room for averages between the two extremes.

2. Walls and lighting offer great potential

Color and eating behavior

Colors have great subconsciously Influence on our eating behavior. The color of the walls, the lighting, even the color of the dishes can influence how much we eat and what it tastes like.

Modern furniture, exciting decoration – all of this can quickly be lost if the lighting and wall color don’t match. Although there are larger elements to the process of modernizing a dining room, the actual background elements can come to the fore in an unwelcome way.

When designing the walls, you have a lot of freedom to incorporate your individual design preferences, as long as they do not fundamentally destroy the harmony of the room. Here the positive effect of contradictions is less present than with furniture materials. The wall color should be closer to the desired effect contribute. So if your furnishings are Mediterranean, maritime decorated or even country house style, this should continue in the wall design.

room colorEffect
red/orange/yellow
  • warm and sociable, stimulates the appetite
  • However, red in particular can be too dominant as an eye-catcher and may need to be balanced out by pictures, wall design and other decoration
blue
  • harmonious and promotes concentration
  • inhibits appetite
green
  • refreshing and cool
  • Nature reference

 

The color of the walls greatly regulates the atmosphere of the dining room and provides a template for interior design ideas.

Elongated rooms can be visually shortened using darker colors. Lighting, both natural from windows and artificial, plays a major role here, because rooms that are already dark should not be made even darker.

Small rooms should also be painted light, otherwise the wall color will make them appear even smaller. Adjust the color and intensity to suit the size and brightness of your room.

The lighting should be suitable for different desired atmospheres, because sitting together doing crafts or playing requires bright light, while a cozy dinner requires more subtle lighting. Ideally, you can switch between direct light and indirect light.

3. The dining area can become a space-saving alternative

Without any spatial separation from the surroundings, the furnished corner here seems uncomfortable. However, designing a dining area can be done with limited space.

If it is not possible to create your own dining room due to lack of space, a dining area may be suitable for your needs. Due to its compressed functionality, this can even be more comfortable than a dining room.

In this case, spatial separation is crucialso that the corner can develop its own effect. This can be achieved with room dividers, ideally furniture that serves a purpose outside of decoration in order to save space. But separating rooms using color can also be effective.

Even with restrictions on the choice of table, there is still enough scope to individually design a dining area or dining niche. So is a space-saving furnishing idea, a corner bench instead of chairs to insert. This also contributes to the coziness of a dining area.

Ultimately, more space does mean more options, but even if you’re designing a small dining room or breakfast nook, you have the opportunity to make a big impact with just a few key elements.

Image credits: stock.adobe.com/XtravaganT, stock.adobe.com/denisismagilov, stock.adobe.com/slavun, stock.adobe.com/Pixel-Shot, stock.adobe.com/tournee (chronologically or in order sorted by the images used in the buying guide)

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