A-List Dining Room Style on a Budget

Whether it’s a dinner party, Christmas dinner, cocktail party, or a standard Sunday roast, your dining room is made for entertaining. It’s a room many of us love to show off on those special occasions, which means aesthetic is everything.

Tables, chairs, cutlery and crockery come at a cost, but if you think outside the box you can still dine in style, even if you’re on a budget…

Lighting is everything

The right lighting can make or break a dining room, setting the tone on whether you’re having afternoon tea or an intimate meal for two – and simple white fairy lights arranged around the edge of the table or on a wall can really set the scene.

If you’ve a lighting fixture hanging down from the middle of the ceiling, try a pendant lamp to warmly brighten the room, and use a fabric diffuser to soften the light.

Repurpose

If you’ve any old silver bracelets or coloured bangles, you could repurpose them as napkin rings, and complete the look by pinning any matching brooches to the tablecloth or runner to hold name cards in place.

If you’ve any old mismatched crockery – or you fancy raiding the local flea market for some – you could use these as dinner table centrepieces or for serving up a quirky afternoon tea.

If you are moving into your first home, and don’t have anything to repurpose…if you use a bit of imagination, you can pick up some bargains via Facebook groups and second hand furniture shops. Some fundamental wooden furniture like tables and cabinets can give your home a traditional, welcoming feel.

Reupholster

Splashing out on a new dining table and chairs is an extravagance few can easily afford, so breathe new life into your old furniture by reupholstering the chairs – use this as an opportunity to choose a unique design to fit in with the theme of your dining room. This is a cheaper alternative to change the look and feel of your dining room’s centrepiece – you can check out a full range of dining chair covers here.

Repaint

Set the dining room apart from the rest of your house by giving it a lick of paint in a bold, bright colour. You could use a solid colour block on one wall to make it a feature wall, or add splashes of colour to different parts of the room.

For something a little different, paint the walls a neutral colour and go for something bolder on the ceiling.

Recycle

The crockery and cutlery you use can really make a difference to the dinner table.

If you want to get away from reasonably-priced-if-relatively-boring dinner sets available on the high street, check auction sites like eBay, or explore the local thrift stores for vintage tableware.

if you want to set a plain set of serving utensils apart at the dinner table, try painting or dipping the handles in a hue to complement the overall colour scheme of the room or the table.

Refocus

Although the dining table invariably provides the focal point, try to set one feature wall aside to really give the room a unique feel of its own.

You can do this by gathering together a collection of old photos and hanging them all on the one wall. Alternatively, try hanging something like old rustic pans, crockery or even a collection of hats, postcards or pennants – anything to set the room apart and give it a character all of its own.

How have you set your dining room apart on a budget? Let us know your top tips in the comments section below…