If you’re fortunate enough to have a separate dining room or area, the goal is to keep it at least mostly dedicated to, well, dining. Ideally, this is a space free of most other distractions, where you can focus on enjoying meals with family or friends. Maybe you use this room regularly, and it provides a break from the possible chaos of the typical day. Or, you might want this space to be reserved for special occasions — in either case, a dining room should feel elegant and sophisticated, no matter what aesthetic you choose to decorate it in, and it should be relaxing and uncluttered. On her show “Tough Love with Hilary Farr,” designer and host Farr made clear one important rule for achieving this: Less is more when it comes to furniture.
This refers to the dining room table and chairs, as well as other possible room-fillers like storage pieces. Too many pieces of furniture, and furniture that is too large for a space, will instantly make the room feel small and cramped. It literally blocks open pathways around the room and also inhibits the light filling the room, which contributes to the cluttered feel. Farr recommends sticking to the table and chairs. Pieces like hutches and breakfronts should only be added if the room is truly spacious enough; otherwise, there might be better places for them, like the living room or a wall outside your kitchen.
A minimalist dining room is a happy dining room
Light and space are the keys to a serene and stylish dining room. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your aesthetic. Vintage dining room chairs are a great thing to thrift, for example, for eclectic coziness. But when furniture-shopping, avoid oversized or clunky pieces. Chairs and tables with slimmer legs keep the space open. If it’s on the bigger side, your dining room can be a great place to extend kitchen organization — but skip this if the area is smaller. For anything you want to store and display in the dining room, use floating shelves and hang things whenever possible, rather than adding a bulky piece of furniture like a china cabinet. When you’re in need of organizational space, always consider any organizational mistakes you may be making in the kitchen first. You may be able to get more efficient storage in that room, so you don’t have to use the dining room.
Once you have your furniture picked and your storage solutions in place, the last step to creating a beautifully spacious dining room — even if it is in fact compact — is decor. Per Farr’s advice, limit sentimental or personal touches to a few statement pieces around the room. Make sure your lighting can be bright but warm, and that your fixtures are impactful but also not too big for your space. A couple of well-placed plants can open up the room, too, with singular pops of color.
