Whether you use your dining room for entertaining friends and colleagues or simply congregate there to enjoy meals with your family, this room should reflect your personality and style. Here are ten DIY decorating ideas for your dining room. Fortunately, there are several ways to imbue your dining room with the panache that makes it your favorite gathering place in the house.
1. Decide on a Theme
Before you undertake a dining room overhaul, determine the tone you want to set. Do you long for a place where you can have elegant candlelight suppers of gourmet food or would you prefer a casual atmosphere that encourages family and friends to relax and enjoy your country cooking? Let your vision of the room determine your DIY decorating ideas for your dining room.
2. Assess the Furniture
Assess your dining room furniture and decide if it meets your needs. If you find yourself setting up extra tables and scrounging lawn chairs from the garage to seat everyone, it’s time for table that seats more people. On the other hand, if you find your family of four spread out at a table for ten, you may want to downsize to something smaller.
3. Add Accent Furnishings
While a table and chairs are requisite furniture for the dining room, decorating the room with additional pieces makes sense. Opt for a hutch with glass panels in the doors where you can display that pretty set of dishes you picked up at the flea market or the fine china your mother gave you for your wedding.
4. Opt for New Flooring
Consider tiling the dining room floor for a clean look that stands up to spills. If tile feels too cold, consider installing hardwood, bamboo or laminate flooring made to look like wood. Since options are available in every price range, you’ll easily be able to find an affordable selection that suits your style.
6. Add Rugs
Rugs add a feeling of warmth to the dining room. Instead of carpeting the entire room, add floor runners along one or more sides of the table to increase color and create a cozy feel. Consider placing a large oriental rug in the middle of the room and situating the table in the center of it.
7. Deck the Walls
While you’ve probably heard of decking the halls, now it’s time to deck the walls. Determine what type of cover you want for your dining room walls. It can be something as simple as an exciting new paint color or something as elaborate as installing wainscoting, paneling or wallpaper to create a fresh, new look.
8. Look at Your Lighting
Assess the lighting that’s currently in your dining room. If it doesn’t fit in with your new décor, replace it with something that does. Look for a chandelier that sets an opulent tone or a hanging lamp with colored glass to perpetuate a barroom theme, whichever you prefer.
9. Add Greenery
Plants soften a dining room and bring a touch of the outdoors inside. Position a ficus tree in the corner of the room, place a fern atop a small table near the doorway and situate a trailing vine atop a hutch to display greenery in the dining room to its best advantage.
10. Dress the Windows
Just as our eyes are the windows to the world, your dining room windows provide a view of the great outdoors. Install shutters on the windows that you can throw open on a sunny day or hang floral drapes to add a touch of whimsy and style to the dining room windows.
+ Bonus Tip: Add the Finishing Touches
A dining room without décor is as boring as eating the same dish for dinner every night. Jazz up the dining room by locating items that perpetuate your new theme. Vases of fresh flowers, a display of German beer steins or an elaborate candelabra that would do Liberace proud are all options that add style to your new dining room.
No matter what palette your current dining room presents, you can change it yourself to create the dining room of your dreams. Simply decide what you want and then take action to create a space that invites you to enjoy every meal there with those who mean the most to you.
