Tips for Designing a Dining Room Layout

Your dining room should provide a comfortable and pleasant place to enjoy meals and spend time with family and friends. When you’re building a custom home, it’s important to know how to choose the best layout for this room. A poorly designed dining room could cause you to get much less use out of this room over the years. Consider the following tips when you’re deciding on a layout for your dining room.

Consider the Size of the Room

The ideal layout for your dining room depends on its size. You’ll have more layout options when you have a larger dining room, since you’ll have more space to work with. For a smaller dining room, you’ll need to make careful decisions for an optimal layout that provides enough space for a table, chairs and other furniture, along with room to walk around. Depending on how much space you have, you might have room for additional items, such as a sideboard or hutch, which could affect your layout options.

Plan for Space Around Furniture

You don’t want to end up with a dining room that makes it hard for people to sit down at the table, stand up and walk around. While choosing a dining room layout, keep space and foot traffic in mind. Your dining room should provide room around the table and chairs and clear paths to doorways. Keep in mind that you should have a few feet of space between the chairs and walls for people to move around.

Determine Locations for Doorways

Where should you place doors and windows in your dining room? As you work on the layout for this room, try to have doorways placed in an area that people can easily get to. Depending on your floor plan, you might have a doorway on opposite sides of the room to allow people on both sides of the table to get in and out without having any trouble. If your kitchen is next to the dining room, place a doorway between these rooms if possible. This allows you to carry dishes to and from the dining room without having to walk far.

Add Windows for Light

While most dining rooms have a light fixture over the table area, windows are important for providing natural light. Depending on how bright you want your dining room to be, you might put large windows on more than one wall or a moderate-sized window on one wall. Windows take up wall space, which you should keep in mind if you plan to put sideboards, hutches or similar items along walls.

Think About Storage

Dining rooms don’t always have storage, but it can be helpful to include it in your layout. While you don’t have to leave room for a closet in a dining room, include an area of built-in shelving or a built-in cabinet for storage. You can store plates, place settings, utensils and other items in these for easy access when you need to set the table. Make sure you’ll still have enough room around your table and chairs for people to move around if you’re adding storage.

Tiny Home Decorating: 3 Expert Tips

Living in a small space requires the right habits and mindset. It’s helpful for those in small homes, rooms or apartments, but for those who live in tiny houses it’s essential. If you’re thinking about a tiny house for yourself or already have one you want to decorate, we’ve put together some design tips to help.

Wall Shelving

Tiny house living requires you to use your wall space as efficiently as possible. Even in a house without expansive empty walls you can squeeze a lot of storage—and decor—into a space with the right design strategies. Minimalist floating shelves are ideal for tiny houses because they take up a small amount of space themselves and allow the objects on the shelf to get the most visibility. For storage, you can pair floating shelves with small bins or baskets. You can also attach hooks to the underside of the shelves to hang things like kitchen utensils, potted plants and more. Wall shelves are the best way to get the most usable space out of your tiny home while still showing off your favorite things.

Light Colors

When choosing colors for your tiny home, stick to light colors. The lighter and brighter a space is, the larger it appears. This is most important for walls and large fixtures. Choose white or a light beige that will be easy to complement with other colors and patterns. You can also choose your favorite pale shade of green or blue to add a bit of color while still keeping the space feeling open and airy.

For fabric choices, for texture rather than colorful patterns. Keeping a mostly monochromatic palette but mixing textures will keep the design visually interesting without adding clutter. This doesn’t mean you can’t add some vibrant color here and there, however. Throw pillows or convertible storage furniture like ottomans are perfect choices for mixing in a bolder color choice.

Hidden & Convertible Furniture

Furniture is often the greatest challenge to making space in a tiny house while still liking the design. Luckily there are plenty of options for furniture that you can either use for multiple purposes or hide completely. Sofa beds are a staple of tiny home living and the modern options have excellent features like memory foam and automated mechanisms for quick and easy changes. You can also hide useful surfaces in walls, cabinets or other furniture pieces. You can install a small fold-out desk or even create extra counter space in the kitchen with a countertop on hinges. Many of these clever space-saving solutions are available to purchase from retailers ready-made, but they also make excellent DIY projects for those who want to build something completely custom.

The perfect way to decorate a tiny house will be different for everyone. The right design choices depend on multiple factors, including the number of occupants and the architectural style of the home. While decor is ultimately up to your own preference, these basic tips will help you get started on creating a tiny space you will love to call home.