You know what’s irritating? When a home has a kitchen, a living room, and some empty space, but somehow no actual place to eat. So dinner turns into plates on laps, drinks balanced on the coffee table, someone sitting sideways on the sofa, standing in the kitchen, or worse, having to pull up a bar stool and eat at the countertop/kitchen island. Not that it’s bad, but at the same time, you saved so much money for a house deposit (or even a deposit for a rental), and yet you don’t even have a “real” space for dining.
Please note – this post is a guest blog, and was not written by Daisarella.
And okay, yes, nobody needs a formal dining room to survive. Plenty of homes don’t have one. But it does get old when every meal feels like it’s happening in the wrong spot. But chances are, there might actually be some room. Well, maybe it needs a bit of claiming, basically. So, where do you begin?.
Start with the Spot that’s Already Doing Nothing
Most homes have one area that’s just sort of sitting there. A blank wall near the kitchen. A window corner with one sad plant. That bit behind the sofa that collects bags, toys, mail, and all the other stuff that doesn’t have a home. That’s usually the spot to look at first, because it’s already wasted space. Trying to force a dining table into the busiest walkway is just asking for everyone to hate it within a week.
So, keep in mind here that an awkward corner can actually work really well if it has enough room for a small table and chairs. It doesn’t have to be centred, as you might see in magazines, Pinterest, or other people’s homes. Like, really, here, it doesn’t have to look grand. It just has to make sense when someone walks through the room.
It’s All About the Furniture
This is where people can go too tiny, too flimsy, or too temporary-looking because they’re scared of taking up space. Now, it clearly depends on the space of your home; if you’re living in a studio, then yeah, you can’t have a grand dining set, and you will have to settle for something smaller. It’s honestly about scale here; that’s the thing when it comes to furniture, especially in small spaces.
But if you have enough space, like you have an open plan, for example, you could honestly consider marble dining tables, dining sets, an area rug for the dining area, things like that. You can have intention; you can have a settled look. But it technically depends on the furniture’s size and how much space you have (which also ties into scale).
Don’t Let the Kitchen Counter Win by Default
And that goes for the kitchen island, too! So, the kitchen counter gets treated like the answer to everything, and yeah, sure, it’s useful. Like coffee, toast, and a quick lunch, fine. But using it as the main dining space can start to feel a bit sad, especially if the stools are uncomfortable or everyone is lined up facing the same direction, like they’re waiting at an airport café. You don’t want that unless you have a tiny space; then you should skip it.
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