Now that the leaves have fallen and the skies are gray, the chill of fall is officially here. The autumn months are a great time to redecorate your home with the coziness of the fall season. When you’re entertaining friends and family for holiday gatherings, the dining room is one space you want to feel warm and welcoming—and not just for one day but the entire season. It’s natural to focus our attention toward more heavily used living spaces like bedrooms or family rooms, but a well-decorated dining room makes mealtimes enjoyable for all.
The best part about upgrading your dining room for fall is you can usually spruce up the furniture and decorations you already have without refurbishing the entire house. Maybe you already have a matching dining room set but you never took the time to finish the room. Maybe you filled the room with furniture that suits the space but just isn’t comfortable enough for routine use. Maybe your dining room feels too stuffy and you want to create a more bright and lively eating area. Give your dining space the warm hug it needs by reassessing the colors, furniture design, accessories, and room layout to create an environment that looks warm and inviting for the holiday season.
1. Warm Your Dining Space
The fall season is the best time to warm your dining space during this otherwise cold and windy season. Shades of gold, red, and orange—and dark neutrals like navy, brown, and green can balance the modern elements in your home and create a colorful personality. A large area rug that goes underneath your dining table is a great way to pull in different colors without overpowering the rest of your space.
The size of your dining room furniture can also play a role. For example, a large dining room might sound nice, but if you don’t have the correct furniture to properly fill the room, the dining space can give off a chilly, unwelcoming feel. If you’d like to use color to condense the space and create a cozier environment for guests, shades of brown and other dark hues can bring out the warmth in a rustic-style dining room.
2. Utilize Comfy Seating
If your ideal version of sweater weather is curling up on the couch with a good book, then upholstered pieces are the way to go for those who crave a cozy aesthetic. Use armchairs at the ends of a long table or perch on a cushy couch—just be sure the height of the seat will work with your dining room table.
And if your dining room gets a lot of natural light in the late afternoon, you can even add a comfy cushioned window seat to act as your fall-time reading nook. A window seat can be a great place to watch the leaves drop, catch up on some reading, and create a cozy area for the kids to enjoy after mealtime.
3. Cabinet of Curiosities
Sometimes, adding dining room accessories is the best way to set the tone for the rest of the space. Cabinets and bookcases are great furniture pieces for decoration because they allow you to display all your favorite fall knick-knacks. Think about the mood you want to create before filling in the cabinet with your collection of pumpkins and cornucopias—this way, your cabinet furniture can give off a harvest theme and evoke the emotion you desire.
And don’t worry about how you arrange your decorations—stacking your collections a bit haphazardly will actually loosen up the cabinet space so it doesn’t feel too congested. You can drape a garland from the top of the cabinet and add some festive leaves and decorations to the handles to add to the harvest atmosphere. You can even create a nature-inspired look with stones, moss, and leaves to accent your stacks of dishware.
4. Dinner by the Fire
What could be cozier than sitting by the fire on a cold and rainy day? Fall is one of the most comforting times to curl up next to an open flame with a warm cup of cider (and probably take a nap). If you have an open dining room space, try rotating your furniture to the opposite side of the room to face the fireplace. A fireside dinner can mimic that outdoor campfire feel and create a warmth that attracts each one of our senses.
It can be a nice touch to spark a sense of fall in your home on chilly nights, and it can be an exciting surprise for holiday dinner guests to enjoy a meal in front of a crackling fire. And if nothing else, you can almost guarantee your food will never get cold.
5. Use a Holiday Pinboard
A surprising and unexpected holiday decoration is a seasonal pinboard. It can be used to hold current snapshots from family dinners, artwork your kids made in school, or any other fall decoration such as wreaths and corn husks. The dining room always feels like the most impersonal room in the house, but a fun and festive pinboard will give everyone in your home the chance to show off something they are proud of and contribute to the fall decorating.
When guests arrive for dinner, have them put up their own decoration on the board to add to your fall theme. It will give the entire table something to talk about at dinner and add to the fall spirit.
Autumn is a great time of year to come together with loved ones and enjoy the warmth that the season brings. If you’re ready to “fall” in love with your dining room for your next holiday gathering, give us a call or visit our store to shop our entire collection of dining room furniture.