10 Clever Ways to Make the Most of a Small Dining Room

Plus, check out our 60 best dining room ideas ever  and amazing dining room color ideas.

The Glitter Guide
Pair a Round Table With a Banquette
This classic combo is a highly efficient use of space. Together, they transform a bare corner into an elegant eating space.

Kelly Stuart
Flip Out
Apartment living generally devotes little more than a wall to eating. To make a dining room appear magically before her eyes, this homeowner installed a a sleek table that easily folds out at mealtimes.

Apartment Therapy
Use Walls Wisely
Often considered a design no-no in other rooms, placing furniture against the wall frees up space for walking in this narrow dining area. Folding chairs stored neatly on the opposite wall can easily be grabbed when company arrives.

The Woodgrain Cottage
Choose Shelves Instead of a Cabinet
China cabinets or sideboards are lovely, but their bulk can dominate a room and uses space inefficiently. Floating shelves, on the other hand, can be customized to fit your needs (fill the whole wall with them, if you like!) and offer more flexible storage than standalone pieces.




Young House Love
Build in Seating and Shelves
Both built-in bookcases and banquettes are meant to be directly next to the wall, offering as much seating, storage, and open floor space as possible — so when combined, they're a like small dining room superhero.




Little Yellow Couch
Choose Dual-Purpose Furniture
If you had to sacrfice part of your dining room to your workspace, get the best of both worlds with a pretty desk. For parties, this blogger clears off this stately oak piece to use as a buffet.

Amanda Medlin
Get a Bench
Unlike chairs, a bench can seat more than one person (a handful of kids, if you're lucky!) and tucks completely out of the way when not in use.

Made by Girl
Invest in a Mirror
Employ this bit of visual trickery to make any small room seem bigger: A mirror's reflection is great at faking extra space, and bounces light around the room to make it seem airier.

Shanty 2 Chic
Collect Matching Dinnerware
Open shelves are often the best storage option in a tight space, but you have to fill them wisely. Coordinating plates and serveware, like this pretty creamy collection, add a decorative element with a culinary tilt.




Dear Lillie
Create a Booth
Two banquettes are better than one! This clever set-up makes room for an entire family in a tight corner — and offers hidden storage under the seats.




Next
17 Unexpected Ways to Make the Most of Any Space in Your House

By Lauren Piro

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Super-Creative Things to Do With Peppermint Bark

Image
Eating it straight out of the package is fine, but these ideas are even better. Erika LaPresto Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip Cookies You could probably bribe your way off the naughty list if you left a batch of these treats out for Santa, which taste like a glorious mashup of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies and Thin Mints. Just crush up half a cup of peppermint bark and fold it into your favorite cookie dough, then bake it as you normally would. (Tip for the time-starved: Store-bought dough works well too!) Erika LaPresto Peppermint Bark Reindeer Chow If you've ever seen the Santa Clause series, you know reindeer have awful breath. This minty snack mix cures that ... for the reindeer in your life, and any close-talking friends at your holiday party, of course. Get the recipe on Delish. Erika LaPresto Peppermint Bark No-Churn Ice Cream If you have an electric mixer, a freezer and half an hour to kill, you can make this super-simple ice cream. Crushed miniature candy cane...
Read more

Making Wallpaper in the '60s Was More Complicated Than You Think

Image
Wallpaper  in the 1960s was what  pastel kitchens  were in the 1950s — ubiquitous. And according to this archival footage of a wallpaper factory in England, new technology was a major reason why. The video takes us behind the scenes of the "science fiction-ish procedure" used to craft these decidedly over-the-top — at least by today's standards — wall decor. As the narrator points out, some hand-blocking was still used during those "machine mad days," but modern inventions were heavily relied upon in order to crank out thousands of sheets a day. The "whirling world of wallpaper" included machines that transferred color and pattern onto the paper, as well as machines that helped dry the sheets and separate them. There were even machines that helped create curtains that perfectly matched your wallpaper (aka the height of style during the '60s). And although wallpaper hasn't been quite as popular as it w...
Read more

11 Things You Should Never Put in the Microwave

Image
This appliance is super-handy — but it can't handle everything . Getty Dry Sponges If you like to zap the bacteria that lingers on your kitchen sponge in the microwave, you need to make sure the sponge saturated with water first. Here's why: Microwaves are attracted to water. "They work by making water or fat molecules move and heat by friction," explains Sharon Franke, director of the Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. "If sponges are dry, there's no water to attract energy and the sponges themselves will attract energy and can catch on fire." Getty Food Containers With Metal Stop before you heat up last night's Chinese food leftovers if the containers have metal handles, to be specific. You see, metal is more solid than food, so as the microwave heats up, molecules in the material start to vibrate, but don't have anywhere to go — which could start a fire. Just move your rice and veggies to a plate to av...
Read more