How Renters Are Miraculously Creating Chic Dining Rooms In Impossible Spaces

When you think about chic dining room layouts, aspects like long dining tables with matching chairs, elaborate centerpieces, and designer lighting fixtures likely come to mind. But squeezing all that into a small apartment feels nearly impossible. Still, many renters manage to find savvy ideas to maximize a small dining room and turn it into a chic space, perfect for entertaining. By carving out a defined dining area using carefully placed furniture and area rugs, and utilizing benches on blank walls, you can create a stylish and functional dining room in what used to feel like an unworkable space. 

The best part about these dining room makeover ideas is that they utilize things you likely already own or could source for cheap such as rugs, bookshelves, art, and couches. These ideas also open up plenty of DIY opportunities. For example, you could DIY a cute bench for a cozy corner in your kitchen to create a seating option that's comfortable and won't disrupt traffic in your apartment. In addition to offering easy, out-of-the-way seating, benches can double as storage for items like extra towels, blankets, fancy dishes, and more.

When working with a small dining room, perhaps one that bleeds into your living room, one of the best things you can do is clearly define the space. Without walls, this can seem hard, but actually it's quite simple. Items like area rugs, sofas, shelves, and folding screens can be used to create boundaries and separate one space from the other. Shelves and sofas serve as great half-walls between your living and dining rooms, while rugs help create an obvious border on the floor. Curtains are another great way to create the illusion of walls and can be easily tucked away when you need to open the room back up. Utilizing painting techniques such as color drenching and accent walls is also a fun, easy, and stylish way to define your open concept dining area.

Another great way to make the most of your dining room area is to swap out the traditional table and chairs set up for a bench. Whether you have a blank wall or a cozy corner, pairing bench seating with a small round table and only one to two chairs is an easy and cute way to save space. You can up the chic factor here by decorating your bench with nice fabrics and cute throw pillows that highlight your decor style. To give this mixed seating option a cohesive look, try carrying one theme color throughout the chairs, bench cushions, rug, light fixture, and placemats. If you can, try finding cute chairs that can be put away or dispersed around the house when not in use to make the dining area look less cluttered.