Designing the dining room in a modern way: ideas, inspiration & tips
Too often, the dining room is treated rather neglected. The table and chairs must be enough. But the eye eats and people want to feel comfortable in their dining environment. Make the dining room modern and cozy!
Designing the dining room in a modern way: ideas, inspiration & tips
Designing the dining room in a modern way: everything around makes the difference
You and your family will surely need a table and chairs to take your meals. But that’s not all, because if you want to feel good while eating, you also need a pleasant environment. This in turn is achieved by the lighting and by a beautiful wall decoration. The food tastes much better and the dining room becomes a meeting place. The family meets here to talk to each other about the day and to eat.
Friends also meet here and have more or less in-depth discussions about the world or current problems. It is therefore important to give the dining room an atmosphere in which you and the family feel comfortable, but in which guests also feel that they are welcome. Incidentally, this does not necessarily require designer chairs and the latest table from Designer xy, rather it requires creativity and a sense for subtleties.
When designing the wall, consider whether the table will be in the center of the room or whether it is a seating group that should find its place in the corner. (# 01)
Tips for designing the dining room
The dining room looks particularly beautiful if you give it a personal touch. Pictures and photos of great life events are particularly suitable for this. Snapshots of the wedding, with friends or from vacation. These life hacks prove that you don’t even have to unpack the hammer and nail for this.
Make the walls in the modern dining room
Not everyone has their own dining room, often the dining area is only part of the large kitchen. However, it is worthwhile to make a delimited area recognizable here, which is very easy with the wall design. The walls should be kept modern and above all light. Dark colors would favor a depressed mood and nobody wants to have it when eating! So that everything is comfortable and pleasant, wall colors and wallpapers should be coordinated, but still offer a contrast to the rest of the room. If the dining room is a separate room, you can work with colors even more freely.
When designing the wall, consider whether the table will be in the center of the room or whether it is a seating group that should find its place in the corner. Tip: If there are still small children in the house, the wallpaper or colors on the walls should be washable at least in the immediate area around the dining table or at least be wiped off with a damp cloth. Otherwise, flying yogurts, mugs full of tea and cocoa, or spinach that has escaped from the fork quickly destroy the effort of a great dining room.
There should be a chandelier or lamp directly above the table that provides soft light but still ensures sufficient brightness. (# 02)
Modern design: brightness in the dining room
With a little luck, your dining room will be right next to a window or maybe even integrated into the winter garden. For all people who are less lucky and whose dining room is rather dark, it is imperative that they help out with artificial light. Design the walls in bright colors, these make the room appear larger and friendlier. Be sure to take advantage of natural light and place sideboards or shelves so that the light hits them. Light furniture reflects the incoming light rays and the room seems to become brighter.
There should be a chandelier or lamp directly above the table that provides soft light but still ensures sufficient brightness. Pendant lights that can be adjusted in height are particularly popular. The dimmability should not be underestimated either: If you sit at the table in the evening and review the day, you certainly want it to be brighter than the couple who are still sitting together on a glass of red wine. If your dining room is very large, you can make it modern, but use an opulent chandelier as a contrast. However, this is not effective in small rooms and is therefore only an option for “dining rooms”. Additional floor lamps provide the necessary light and provide comfort.
Some will now ask themselves which furniture should still be in the dining room: A sufficient number of tables and chairs is enough! Depending on the size of the room and the available space, a sideboard and a display case are useful. (# 03)
Designing the dining room in a modern way: it depends on the furniture
Some will now ask themselves which furniture should still be in the dining room: A sufficient number of tables and chairs is enough! Depending on the size of the room and the available space, a sideboard and a display case are useful. The required crockery can be stored here and is therefore always within reach from the same room. The showcase serves as a decoration and holds collectibles, for example.
They give the dining room its very own charm when you set up an old buffet (or one that is decorated in this style). If it is closed in the lower area, it offers the wonderful possibility of stacking the dishes. The upper area is mostly behind glass and thus combines the advantages of the display case and the sideboard.
Old and new furniture can be combined with each other, but you should not place them side by side indiscriminately. The furniture should follow a style or include a conscious break in style. You can also pick up different shapes and colors from each other, but it should always be recognizable that this combination of furniture was deliberately chosen in this way.
Now we come to the individual pieces of furniture, which may offer you suggestions for the dining room:
For large groups, rectangular tables are the better choice, especially since such tables can usually be enlarged with extension pieces. (# 04)
The dining table
If you want to make the modern dining room, you should sit on a round table. However, this needs more floor space than a rectangular or square table. The advantage of a round table: everyone sits equally far apart and can have a good conversation. Nobody has to twist to speak to another person at the table. A table with a diameter of one meter is enough for four people. If the family is larger and there should be space for six people, the diameter should be around 1.20 m.
For large groups, rectangular tables are the better choice, especially since such tables can usually be enlarged with extension pieces. Square tables take up a lot of space because they look very bulky and visually block the room.
Wood is the classic material for a table in the dining room and is as modern today as it used to be. The reason: it looks warm and pleasant, while a plastic table reminds a little of the canteen in the hospital. When choosing the wooden table, make sure that it is made of solid wood and particularly hard wood.
Soft types of wood such as alder are particularly unsuitable in children’s households, because wonderful patterns can be pressed in with a fork. Whether you want it that way is doubtful. Better is ash or oak, both are hard woods and therefore extremely robust. If the surface is not painted, even small damaged areas can be touched up. A solid wood panel can even be sanded and renewed, but must be cared for with wax or oil.
Important to know: Glass can also be damaged, even if it is significantly heavier than wood. A glass table is extremely sensitive to this when it comes to intensive contact with heavy objects. In addition, grease stains can be seen quickly on it.
Depending on the number of people at the dining table, you need different sizes of the table:
- one person: 70 cm
- two people: 140 cm long, 40 cm deep
- 100 cm for a rectangular dining table for two to four people
When choosing the table, keep in mind that bowls and terrines should also be in the middle. All too often, tables can be seen that are completely full and where the people sitting on them only have as much space as their plate is wide.
You have no space for a large table but want to entertain guests? Then choose a table that can be extended. Most of the tables are equipped with a mechanism that enables the table to be “extended”.
With wooden tables, it is important that the extension plates are stowed in the table, as this means that they cannot warp in the same way as the rest of the table. This is a common problem with wooden furniture, but is at least taken into account here uniformly.
If you want to design the dining room in a modern way, you should also consider the choice of chairs carefully. (# 05)
The chairs
If you want to make the modern dining room, you should also consider the choice of chairs carefully. These must fit the table and the style of your dining room, should be comfortable and should not be tortured even for long hours. For some models, the seat and backrest can be adjusted so that the seating furniture can always be moved to new positions. Choose for yourself whether you want to sit on classic wooden chairs with a seat cover or on a cantilever chair that can relieve the back by rocking. Should the chairs even have armrests? When designing the dining room, there are no limits, at least thanks to the furniture designers, and you can design the dining room as the center of your house or apartment.
How do you find the right chair? You absolutely have to try it out, because this is the only way to find out whether the advertised convenience is such or whether it was just an advertising fake.
Also consider your family situation: If there are children in the house, stains can be expected. Therefore, do not invest in the good upholstered chairs, which will soon show the first signs of abuse. Wooden chairs are a better choice because their varnish makes it easy to wipe away dirty food. Stacking chairs are modern and also a good idea, because they can be put aside to save space and wait for guests there.
It doesn’t always have to be chairs: a dining bench can also look modern and helps you to design the dining room individually. You can combine such benches wonderfully with chairs, cushion them with cushions and turn them into comfortable seating. Many such benches have storage space inside and accommodate pillows or blankets. Very practical in a room that should always appear neat and tidy at best!
If you want to make the modern dining room, that doesn’t mean that you have to do without decoration. (# 06)
Great decoration in the dining room: modern and personal
If you want to make the modern dining room, that doesn’t mean that you have to do without decoration. The only thing that really matters is the amount of decorative items. Under no circumstances should there be too many, so that the room appears overloaded. This would destroy the entire effect and there is no longer any feeling of well-being.
Decorate in a modern way with murals and flower vases, with unusual objects or with a small carpet. For cleaning reasons, this should of course not be under the table.
You can also decorate and design the table yourself, which is easily possible with damask or linen tablecloths. But these are more for guests. In everyday life, cotton tablecloths are sufficient and are easier to clean.
Decorate with candlesticks and flowers that you put directly on the table. With flowers in particular, it is important that they are always fresh, because who likes to look at a depressing bouquet of faded flowers while eating? Despite the additional effort, choose real flowers rather than artificial plants, this is more stylish and cozy.
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Photo credits: © Shutterstock – Cover picture: Photographee.eu- # 01: Photographee.eu, – # 02: Artazum, – # 03: tangyan, – # 04: ben bryant, – # 05: terng99, – # 06: Domenic Gareri
