In the first part of our home design series, we covered how to decorate your living room with style and ease. Here we’ll cover two more well-used spaces in the house; the kitchen and dining room. Since these rooms serve even more specific purposes, we’ll cover how to incorporate decor while still allowing for function.
The kitchen represents a personal space in your home. Even with a gorgeous family or dining room in your house, people often end up gathering in the kitchen by default. Between snacking, food preparation, and sit-down meals, a lot of life happens in the kitchen.
Making the space even more gatherable can add to the coziness and appeal of the kitchen. If you have an island, incorporating barstools can be an impactful addition. There are a number of styles to choose from, ranging from the more modern and generic:
To more padded, relaxed stools:
With the kitchen comes plenty of counter space. Consider creating focal pieces on your countertops, such as flowers, a tray with items of various heights, or decorative bowls filled with items. This type of kitchen decor will draw the eye in, and provide beauty in a traditionally functional space.
Consider the light fixtures you have in your kitchen. You may have pendants hanging over the island or the sink. While sometimes it’s instinctual to just leave these fixtures as they were, there is an abundance of fun and innovative alternatives, should you choose to switch things up. Right now, for instance, natural materials are trending for light fixtures. Many buyers are loving the look of rattan and jute due to their ability to make a space feel more breezy and relaxed. Replacing old, silver or gold pendants in your kitchen for alternative fixtures can change the entire look of the room for the better.
Those same fixtures also look great over a dining room table. We have loved experimenting with dining room light pendants in our models like the fixture you see here at one of our previous model homes. Lighting is truly a way to up the ante with your dining room decor.
Another aspect of the dining room to consider is the table and chair set. Here you’ll want to determine how you’re wanting to fill the room out – be it with a small round table, a square table, or perhaps an elongated rectangular table.
Aside from shapes, keep in mind the design style you’re going for in the room since the table will be a main part of that room. For example, a glass table works great for a contemporary dining room, while a wood table might go better with a farmhouse style.
Seating may vary depending on which table you choose – and from there you’ll have the option to mix and match the table and chairs, mix and match the chairs themselves, or stick with a set. Another option is to opt for a bench in lieu of chairs on one or both sides of the dining table.
On top of the table you may want to add a runner, or below it a rug. We’ve mentioned in our furniture blogs many times just how transformative a rug can be to any room – and the dining room is no exception. Since this area of the house is almost guaranteed to not be carpeted, it’s a great area to show off a rug.
Though we’ve covered many aspects of kitchen and dining room decor, we’re only skimming the surface. There are still a variety of ways to decorate both of these spaces. Often the aesthetic of a room can be defined or altered even in the surprisingly small details.
By adding finishing touches that take your home from simple to luxurious, you can round out any room in the house. If you feel stumped, try browsing our single family kitchen gallery or our Pinterest for inspiration. We’ll cover more areas of the house in this series, so stay tuned!
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