Last year I shared my small living room inspiration and while we’ve been slowly, very very slowly, working on the living room, we actually have made much more progress on our dining area.
I’ve mentioned this before but we don’t have a ton of space. Our home is 1,200 square feet but the living part of the house is really just about 1,000 sq. ft. So when I say dining room, it’s more like a dining nook and it is open and visible to the rest of our floor plan.
First, you can see some of my inspiration for this space. Then I’ll share the items we’ve already purchased or are planning on purchasing for this space.
Small Dining Space Inspiration
Our Small Dining Space (So Far)
Andrew and I could never build a home together. Our taste in home decor are on opposite ends of the spectrum. While I tend to lean towards traditional East coast decor and furniture, Andrew likes modern or at least mid-century styles. We’ve learned to meet in the middle sometimes and that is the case for the dining area.
Our original dining set was a hand-me-down from Andrew’s parents. It’s a perfectly fine set however, all the chairs started breaking last year. It’s like they all reached their max usage within six months of each other. So long story short, we started with six chairs and now have two. Yup, two fully functional chairs. (There is a third but it is broken, we just haven’t gotten rid of it yet.)
I started by getting this dining bench from Wayfair last year around Way Day. As seating was the first and immediate need, it seemed like a wise and cost-effective choice. I love this bench and after initial doubts, Andrew likes it too. I was able to assemble it myself without resorting to foul language and it’s also fairly easy to clean.
I bought this sailboat print (ours is 32 x 24) on Black Friday last year. AllPosters.com is a decent place to get prints. I had this one from them in the past. It’s generally cheaper to get a big print and then frame it yourself with a simple frame from Ikea or the thrift store but their framing isn’t too expensive.
We’ve also decided on this dining table that we actually found for a cheaper price at a local Seattle store. It has a butterfly leaf, which means that the leaves of the table are stored under the main tabletop and pop up into place automatically when you release them. This will free up storage space as we currently have to store our current dining table leaves in a closet.
Which just leaves the chairs. I’d like to see how the dining table looks in the space before moving forward with chairs. I have been back and forth on what I want and what I think will look cohesive in the space. I’m currently thinking about these chairs in brown “leather”. I think Andrew would like the more modern look. I also love these chairs from Pottery Barn but they are more than I really want to pay for dining chairs when we have a messy toddler running around.
And that’s about where we’ve landed. It’s almost done which is exciting. If you’re got any ideas or suggestions just let me know. I’ve always got my ears open when it comes to home decor
xo – Ana Luiza
