Dining Room

Does your dining room set alone and unused except on holidays?  Do you pile books on the table and then have to find a place to store them when you have company?  You are not alone. There are others out there like you.   What can you do to bring this room back in to the family fold?   Try some budget decorating ideas to warm up the space and make it more inviting.  You’ll soon find that you actually like that extra room of yours.

A dining room doesn’t have to be formal to be a dining room.  Most of us have the dark wood dining table from Grandma, and the china cabinet that held her delicate dishes.  What do you do?  Lighten up - literally.  Don’t paint it if it’s mahogany for goodness sakes, you’ll just ruin it for any future generation you want to give it to. 

Try some budget makeover tips for your dining room to make it more user-friendly:

Use a Tablecloth

It doesn’t have to be a formal white lace tablecloth.  Make the room more casual and friendly with an inviting cotton printed tablecloth – it’s better for hiding stains as well.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Use ‘blind’ storage in addition to a glass china cabinet.  I’ve always loved sideboards in a dining room.  They’re not only perfect for setting out a buffet or showing off a tea set, but they have drawers and cabinets where you can hide A LOT of stuff - including all those things that you had piled on the table.

Make it More Comfortable

If you have straight backed wooden chairs with just a tiny bit of padding to sit on – try adding some comfy cushions to lighten up the room and make the seating more comfortable.  If you'r chairs are really ugly from top to bottom, there are covers that can take care of that for a really inexpensive dining room makeover.  They come in all shapes, sizes and colors, so you can really have some fun with them.

Wall Color

If you still have those plain white walls, it's no wonder you don't want to spend time in your dining room!  Warm the place up with some color.  One of the most popular colors for a bold dining room choice is red.  It not only livens up the room, but can liven up the conversation as well, since red it known to be the most stimulating color on the charts that can increase vitality, make you more alert and even help stimulate the appetite.

Smoke and Mirror Tricks

A large mirror strategically placed in the dining room can brighten it up and serve as the focal point of the room.  Placing a large, showy mirror over a sideboard and adding a candle sconce on either side makes a great look.  The candlelight will bounce off the mirror and make the room seem cozier at night.  By day, mirrors can make a dining room seem larger as well.

So, throw open that dining room door, clear that table off and start using it!