With my wedding drawing very close, (ahem Sunday 26th July) I want to focus my mind on something other than weddings and start planning on finally investing the pennies on making this house our home.
I was introduced to an app and a website called Homify by a friend which is purely inspiration for, well, living and home decoration. For example you know when you buy a specific 'home' magazine for ideas of how to redecorate, this is that but instantly at your fingertips. It saves the money you'd spend on buying copious amounts of magazines and with 40,000+ ideas you're not going to get bored or run out of options.
As I have been using Homify I wanted to share some of my personal ideas on how to revamp your dining room. The subtle cheap ways to do it are endless but things such as investing in one statement piece, creating a minimalistic area or even having a spring clean to de-clutter... the list is pretty endless. For me I've taken a look around my dining room and cringed. Weeks of using my over sized pine dining table as dumping ground for washing and wedding bits, my poor dining area is less for eating and more for collecting... it needs to change! Admittedly it won't always be like this but it did make me realize perhaps I do need to shake things up a bit.
Make a statement
We currently have a lounge/diner at the moment but we have plans to separate them again, so we're looking at a smallish space to play with. One thing that will go is this six seater dining room table as it is far too big for what we need, (only two of us) so it will hopefully open the space up a lot more when that is gone. For making a statement I took inspiration from this Homify picture and immediately fixated on the over sized clock. A huge clock would look spectacular, I've seen numerous in TK Maxx and The Range that I'm eyeing up but the one above is my ultimate lust.
Give it Personality
I love a good sideboard as they're perfect for storage and style but I think having some kind of bar area would be great too. My mom and Dad have a fold away bar from Thailand which is amazing, it is hand carved and folds away neatly but opens up to be a very dramatic piece. We want a wall completely dedicated to a book shelf, we've even considered making part of our lounge/diner split with a book shelf too. We have two book shelves in the lounge at present so with these gone it'll open up that room as well.
Alongside furniture just by adding colourful or patterned accessories as well can really make a room, plus you honestly don't need to spend the earth either.
Work with what you have
The dining room is often the most neglected room of the house with many of us simply eating meals in the kitchen or in front of the TV. I only realised how much I don't take advantage of my own space, so just having some inspiration from these pictures on Homify has really helped steer me in the right direction. Obviously I know some of them would be way out of my league and look daft in my 3 bedroom semi, but that's the whole point of inspiration... it's to guide us to the ultimate goal. Check it and have fun!
*This post was written in collaboration with Homify - all opinions are my own*