Dining areas don’t have to be used literally just for dining. Yes, you can certainly enjoy the occasional posh dinner in them; however, they can also make great socialising spaces and even makeshift workspaces, as the COVID-19 pandemic could have led you to discover.
Still, space can be at a premium in many dining areas — especially those that come with apartments and modern new-build homes. So, if your own dining area gives you relatively little space to play with, how can you effectively optimise what you do have?
Let the light in — or at least let it bounce
Keeping small spaces nicely illuminated can be quite a challenge. After all, they don’t always offer a huge amount of room for electric light fixtures.
One idea could be to install the largest windows possible in your compact dining space, allowing it to make good use of natural light.
If it isn’t practically possible for you to go that far, you could still use light colours extensively in this space so that light can more easily bounce around it.
Blend the dining space into the kitchen
The dining space and kitchen might already together form a cohesive, open-plan space — especially if you live in an apartment. However, if you have a separate dining room nonetheless adjoining the kitchen, you might be able to knock down the wall separating them.
“One of the important things to consider when designing a scheme like this is the availability and use of natural light — a generous window or skylight is a great way of extending the illusion of space,” interior designer Maurizio Pellizzoni has told Homes & Gardens.
Make your own glass-topped table
“A glass-topped table will brighten even the darkest of rooms,” Real Homes editor Kaitlin Madden has enthused. “Not only are they easy to clean, but their translucent tops make tiny dining rooms appear bigger and brighter.”
As many readymade dining room tables could be larger than what your particular space can easily accommodate, it would be advisable for you to make your own table. It’s possible to online-order a visually appealing table frame suitable for a table measuring even just 60cm in width.
Use light and decor to ‘zone’ the dining area
Of course, it’s not always a good thing for a dining area to be essentially part of the same room as the kitchen. For a start, you could sometimes struggle to discern where the kitchen ends and the dining area starts.
To prevent this kind of confusion, you could give the dining part its own visual theme, such as by adding lighting fixtures and chairs that coordinate with each other.
Draw attention upwards
If your dining area has a high ceiling, you could take advantage of that by affixing particularly eye-catching features either on or close to it.
When it comes to lighting, a grandiose chandelier can be useful, while some artworks could be hung up at high points of the walls. These strategies can draw eyes upwards and consequently make the overall space feel bigger.
