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Common Dining Room Layouts

The dining room is often considered the heart of the home. It is a significant space within a home because it is a place where we come together to enjoy meals, to have conversations, to celebrate milestones, and to experience cherished moments with our family and friends. While many homes these days do not have a formal dining room, if you are lucky enough to have the space for it, we highly recommend taking advantage of that and creating a warm and inviting room that best suits your personal needs and design aesthetic. If the traditional dining room isn’t for you, we’re here to guide you towards some other amazing options. Whether you are moving into a new home, remodeling an existing home, or simply revamping an old space we are here to help!

The first thing you will want to do when planning and thinking of apartment dining room ideas is to think about the floor plan you have to work with. If you have a separate dining room apart from your living room, you are automatically going to have a lot more options when it comes to layout and furnishings. If you are working with a small space like an apartment, you will need to be more strategic on how to layout your space and more creative on furnishing choices. Think about what is most important to you and define your space based on your personal preferences. Is entertaining guests most important to you? Is having a space strictly to eat meals at what matters most? Or do you simply like the overall look of a separated dining space? No matter what your preferences are, there is certainly something out there for you to make your dining experience perfect for your lifestyle. Read on to check out our four favorite examples of dining room styles and layouts for your home.

Formal Dining Room

Although the formal dining room has become more scarce in recent years, if you have the space for it, it can be a really valuable part of the home. The formal dining room is a space to be admired, and generally features elegant furniture pieces. If you have the space for a formal dining room within your home, you are likely able to seat more people and therefore have larger pieces of furniture within your space as well. A formal dining room generally features a large rectangular table, although you can occasionally use an oval or round table as well, depending on the shape of your room. A typical formal dining space often features a matching set of furniture, but if you are looking to modernize it, you can certainly mix and match items to your liking! Design elements in this space will often include hard or sharper lines, elegant artwork, and showcase pieces of furniture. In a formal dining room, we suggest pairing your table with a buffet or sideboard, and also featuring additional cabinetry or storage. Most people prefer to store their special occasion glassware, flatware, and place settings within this space where they will be using it. Check out our sideboard here, which is the perfect addition to any formal dining room!

Open Concept Dining Room

If entertaining, being around family, or having full visibility into other areas of the home is most important to you, having an open style dining room is likely your smartest choice. By having an open concept dining room layout, you can be cooking ferociously in the kitchen, while still having the ability to interact with your family, friends, and guests in the living area or other areas of the home. An open concept dining room layout also allows for you to move more effortlessly from room to room within the home. The open concept dining room will often be attached to the kitchen, living area, outdoor space, or other areas in the home to make the space feel larger and more connected. You can create a designated dining space within your open floor plan from your living room by laying down a rug and placing a light fixture over the dining room table. This will help separate the area but allow for a nice balance between the other conjoining rooms. No matter what table shapes or accessories you consider incorporating, the dining area should reflect the same design aesthetic as the rest of your home. If you are looking to customize your dining experience based on your own personal style and needs, then designing an open plan that is warm, inviting, comfortable and great for entertaining is the right choice for you!

Apartment Dining Room

Whether you have a defined space or are utilizing a makeshift area in the corner of your apartment, having a designated minimalist dining room area in your apartment should be important. Where you lack square footage, you can make up for it with creative design and planning to give yourself a dream dining space within your small apartment. Some suggestions we have for apartment dining spaces are to use your kitchen to double as a unique dining space by adding stools along your countertop. You can also create a separate dining space in a vacant space by adding a small round dining table with chairs and a rug to enjoy your meals. If you have a spare corner, we suggest adding a corner bench, pairing it with a smaller dining table, and storing folding chairs to allow for extra seating, especially if you like to entertain. Just because you are in a small space does not mean that you cannot create a special dining room for you to enjoy with family and friends!

Contemporary Style

In recent years, we have seen a huge increase in the popularity of the contemporary style home and dining space. The contemporary dining style is often more casual and functions as a place to sit down for meals as opposed to being a multi-purpose space. The contemporary style dining area will feature clean lines, smoother surfaces, and muted color tones within the gray, blue, green and tan color families. If you’re going for this style, we recommend using wood tones that highlight the grain of the wood, featuring furniture with softer lines and more rounded edges, and using natural materials such as cotton and linen. You can check out some great fabric options and order free samples for your dining space on our swatch page here!