The function that a dining room serves in the home has definitely shifted over the past several decades. No longer are dining spaces meant to be ultra formal and reserved solely for special occasions. Today’s dining rooms are much more approachable and airy, pros say.
Below, three interior designers speak to five different dining room features that they consider to be majorly outdated. Most of them have to do with ornateness and formality, which simply isn’t required in homes today. Keep reading to learn what types of pieces to remove from your dining room ASAP (and what to weave in instead!).
Meet the Experts
A Traditional Matching Dining Set
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Dining rooms that feature a heavy, formal table with a matching set of chairs are going to be seen as outdated, Laura Lubin, the founder of Ellerslie Interiors, explains.
“While once a symbol of luxury, these sets often feel too rigid and less inviting in modern homes,” she says.
Eve Jean, the founder of Style My Space Design, agrees with Lubin’s sentiments. When everything matches perfectly, it can feel like a furniture showroom frozen in time, Jean says. These days, do not feel so locked into one particular look when shopping for your dining room furniture, the designer adds.
“Mixing different styles or opting for relaxed, casual seating encourages conversation and connection, rather than formality,” Jean explains.
Do not forget about bringing in a variety of textures into your dining space, either. Kaylee Pauley, the founder of Kaylee Pauley Interiors, explains how a wood-carved dining table with contemporary upholstered chairs or antique host chairs introduces a richer design narrative.
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Bulky Furniture Sets
Lubin touched on the heaviness of formal dining tables of years past, which is something that Jean is also eager to steer clear of in today’s spaces.
“Bulky wooden sets were great when dining rooms were separate, formal spaces, but in today’s open-concept homes, they just take up precious space,” Jean says.
She recommends opting for sleek, mixed-material tables instead to avoid making their dining room feel like a boring boardroom.
Large, Ornate Chandeliers
Matching dining sets aren’t the only feature that Lubin considers to be too formal for today’s spaces. She also encourages people to skip the oversized, ornate chandeliers that characterized dining rooms of the past.
“These once-commanding fixtures now feel a bit too grand and can dominate the room in a way that doesn’t fit with the current trend of minimalism and simplicity,” she says.
Instead, Lubin encourages people to purchase fixtures that are more subtle in design in order to bring about a cleaner, more relaxed feel.
Formal Window Treatments
Formal window treatments are another more ornate feature that is not necessary in today’s dining spaces, according to Pauley. Big valances and heavy fabric can weigh the room down by blocking natural light, which can make the dining area look old-fashioned, Pauley says.
Instead, try some simple Roman shades (you can even make your own if you’re up for a DIY), or linen panels, the designer suggests, explaining that these options will look stylish and allow natural light to shine into the space as desired.
Wall-to-Wall Carpeting
In the past, some dining rooms featured wall-to-wall carpeting, but Lubin is not a proponent of this design decision for a few different reasons. Lubin explains how it’s hard to maintain and aren’t sleek, easy-to-clean surfaces many homeowners are opting for today.
However, she adds, there are a multitude of flooring options that one can consider instead, ranging from hardwood flooring to tile to area rugs. Of course, as it pertains to area rugs, selecting a washable option is always smart, given that food may be dropped directly from the table onto the floor. These days, many retailers are offering elegant, easy-to-clean rug options that are ideal for dining areas.
Read the original article on The Spruce
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