Show me your TINY dining rooms!

well you know me....i'm a sucker for open shelving! so i think the holman shelving would look great! i also LOVE the photos you linked of the MDC mama's room! love that character!

let me see what i can find in the way of inspiration pics.

The windows will be covered with sheers and full length curtains (on a double rod), I just haven't found curtains I like yet.

Quote:
But what about storage/display? I have the cobalt Fiesta and want to put it on the shelves. The rug could move, I just don't know where else it would fit, it matches the one in my nook and I love it. I wouldn't mind getting a bigger one for the space (especially if there is no other furniture on the floor), but I am so damn picky. As for artwork, I was thinking of the other wall (the one on the right side).

Quote:
You should see the entire house - gorgeous!

Thanks all!

Quote:

i will have to check out the rest of the photos of that house!

okay, back to your dining room. my ideas are this:

since it's such a small space i would definitely look for a larger rug. does pottery barn still make the rug you have?? if so you may be able to get a larger size. i agree with the sheers/drapery for the windows. as for storage, etc. what i would personally do is to sort of "create" a buffet along that wall with shelving so it visually fills the space, but it doesn't take up valuable floor space.....i'll find some photos of this if i can. this will serve the purpose of displaying dishes/glassware and also giving you some storage space as well.

as for artwork, what we are doing in our dining room (haven't got the photos ready yet) is to take some of our beach photos of the kids, blowing them up to a large poster size and having them printed in black and white. we will then matte/frame them and hang them. i want something personal yet artistic and larger pieces......so i'm creating them myself. of course if you can do whatever for art.....that's the beauty of art.

those are my thoughts thus far.

Quote:
Lovely idea. But, would you hang that in your dining room? Photos, in our house, are kept out of "formal" areas and hung in the family room, stairs, hallways and bedrooms (I even have some in the upstairs bathrooms).

The "make a buffet" is what I'm thinking. The Holman wine glass shelf is 24" long. So, I was going to put 2 together (right next to each other) to make a full 48". Then I was going to put 2 regular Holman shelves (the 48" ones) placed one above the other. So, it would make 3 48" shelves in a row (like this but obviously not those particular shelves). We don't drink wine, so I'm not going to buy any of the wine bottle shelves.

As for the rug, no they don't make it anymore. Maybe I'll put the dining room rug into my entry, though. I'll have to measure... I need one for my living room anyway and I'd like to match that to my dining room so getting a new rug(s) will definitely work. I just need to find one...

Quote:
Yeah, we use ours everyday too. Sad. And I definitely can't make my family room into a dining room, it's 600 sq ft. - not real "cozy", LOL. I could make the living room into a dining room but then you'd have to walk through the dining room to get to the living room, which is awkward.

Quote:
Well, the house was built in the late 70's, so I don't know. Although, tbh, not many people do sit down around the table to eat nowadays. Actually, most newer houses now don't even have dining rooms, especially in our area. That was a deal-breaker for me when it came to buying our new home. I need my "formal" dining room.

* ETA *

I found this pic (just the shelves and I would place them closer together vertically). Maybe I should use the 2" shelves on each side of a piece of art or mirror... ?

Quote:
Good lord! No wonder that dining room seems small to you. Our family of 5 is moving this weekend from a 900 sq ft home to a 1100 sq ft home. (note the jealousy )

Out of curiousity, where do you live and what is your A/C or heating bill?

Ok here is our TINY dining room.....its not really a dining room....more like a kitchen with a a table stuck in it. I guess technically the back room was supposed to be a diningroom, but it was just wasted space. So we turned the back part into a play room and just kinda put a table in there.....it works for us for now

Here is the view from when you walk in the kitchen area

Here is the view from the playroom.

Quote:
yes, but we aren't formal people at all! our dining room isn't very formal as we don't have an eat-in kitchen.....that and we have photographers in our family, so family photos are all over our homes.

here are some examples of what i'm talking about....

love this....only we're thinking 2 large pieces like on the back wall in the photo.

example #1

also love this idea!

example #2

here's our dining room........i put a note on where i'm thinking about putting the photos.

Quote:
Oh your house is soooo pretty!

Quote:

aw, thank you!

Quote:
It's really about 550ish. Our first house (entirely) was almost that size! We live in the PacNW and we don't have AC (in as much as it is not nearly warm enough to warrant it!) but our heating is only $150-200/month and that includes water heater and gas range (and I cook and bake A LOT). In the summer, it's less than $75.

tinyblackdot - I think a play area is very important. nice job.

Here's our eating area in the kitchen (I didn't use the flash, oops) which is used for breakfast and my lunch. DH and I have coffee here too. If we didn't have a dining room, it would work just fine.

vm9799 - Oh, that is nice. Very simple yet pretty! That would look great in your room (I know you like the more contemporary look). And I've seen your dining room before but it's always great to see. I love that buffet your DH built. Oh MAN I wish my DH could do that. He'd be building DD's built-in desk and our laundry sorter...

Quote:
thank you! yeah, i know you've seen it, i just wanted to show where i was going with the photo idea since you were questioning putting family photos in that room. and yes, i do like a more modern look......but i don't think family photos are a modern/contemporary specific thing. i was thinking "photos as art" with more candid shots, rather than the normal posed family pics. just a suggestion.

Quote:
it's "scandinavian sky".......either valspar or olympic. we usually use valspar paint, but the paint chip might have been olympic. hope that helps!

Thanks.