Family dining rooms need to accommodate many different ages and eating habits. While dining rooms with luxury and style in mind won’t always be suitable for growing families, that doesn’t mean you cannot have a stylish dining room when you have children. You need to approach the styling and products you use in your dining room differently to make the space work for you.
Flooring
When you have younger children especially, you should opt for hard flooring options and remove all carpets. Dropped food can become ground into carpets and leave stains and lingering smells, making it harder to clean up. Hard flooring such as laminate, vinyl, tiles, etc., are easier to clean and can make post meal time clean up much better for you. There is no ground in stains to worry about. You can clean up, and you are done.
Room Usage
In addition to being a gathering place for the family, your dining room is often required to be a functional and adaptable space in your home.
You should think about whether you’ll be using the dining room solely for eating, or whether it will also serve as a space for the kids to do their homework or even a place where you’ll be able to do work from home. If you live in a smaller house or have an open-plan kitchen and dining room, think about how you can make the most of your available space. The transition between your kitchen and dining room areas must be simple to encourage frequent use.
Dining Table
You need to pick a dining table that can easily accommodate the whole family comfortably. This will encourage everyone to sit together to eat and promote healthier mealtimes. The table shape should be based on how you navigate the room and the size of the space you have. It makes sense to opt for rounded tables for younger children to reduce sharp corners. Wooden tables are more practical too and easy to keep clean.
You can dress up your dining table with tablecloths and placemats to hide any marks or stains and make it more appealing, primarily when it isn’t being used. Think function and practicality over style and looks when you have a family to ensure that it meets the needs of yourself and your children and doesn’t become an exercise ornament no one uses.
Chairs
The chairs you use for your dining table are essential. Adjustable high chairs that convert easily for rowing children can be optimal to ensure they are sitting correctly at the table and reach their food quickly. It might also be an idea to avoid heavily fabricated chairs for younger children to avoid spills ruining the fabric, or you can use chair covers to protect the chair until your children are grown.
A popular style for family dining tables includes one-sided benches and chairs on the other side. Also, velvet knocker chairs are popular and add a touch of comfort and sophistication to dining rooms. Remember, your children won’t be small for long, so it might be the best thinking of the future when choosing good quality dining chairs and using temporary fixes such as covers to ensure they don’t become damaged during mealtimes.
Rugs
A stylish rug can bring a whole room together and elevate the space, but they are also extremely practical, especially when it comes to making a room child-friendly and welcoming. Choose a large woven rug for maximum practicality, as it will have to withstand the constant pounding of little feet as they run around the room. When placed directly under the dining table, a rug will also catch all of the crumbs that younger children are sure to leave behind after every meal they consume. Shake it out or vacuum it; keep in mind to choose a tightly woven rug to avoid spillages between the weaves.
Consider Melamine
Everybody has those fancy plates that they keep for special occasions but never use in reality because they are too expensive. After putting in a lot of effort into your new dining room, you might decide that it’s finally time to bring out the fancy plates to put the finishing touch on your home’s makeover.
If you want one of them to be dropped within 5 minutes of arriving at the table, that’s a great idea. Leave the fine china plates for those rare evenings when the kids aren’t around and invest in some melamine plates for everyday use. Melamine is an excellent material because it is durable and will not shatter if dropped on its side. It’s also incredibly inexpensive to purchase, and there are so many fantastic printed plates available that it still looks awesome.
Sideboard
If you have young children using the dining frequently, the last thing you want is to include delicate decorative items that can be easily damaged. That does not imply that the room should be uninspiring and uninteresting. Instead, opt for an elegant side cabinet that serves as a functional storage solution while also providing the opportunity for additional decoration. Complement your cookbook collection with extra dining ware or even board games for entertaining guests at home. According to the experts, more valuable items should be kept in higher-up cabinets and out of the way of curious hands, such as glasses and unique ornaments.
Personalise It
By including some personal finishing touches, your dining room will feel more like a gathering place for the entire family. Encourage your children to participate in selecting items such as a centrepiece, tablecloths, place settings, or even some prints for the walls to add some colour to your dining room’s decor. Allowing them to participate in your dining room design will assist you in creating a space that they will enjoy.
Overall, you should consider the practicality and functionality of your dining room while also incorporating your personal touches into it. You can create the ideal family dining room if you follow these suggestions, in which everyone can sit together and enjoy a nutritious meal together.