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Some may call it contentious but we think it’s true; your dining room’s design is just as essential to your home’s overall decor as your living room (and even kitchen) design.
Think about it. In one very important way, it is the heart of your home. It is where you get to eat and spend quality time with your loved ones.
Its status as the locus of the family experience stretches back millennia.
And today it’s quite easy to get dizzied by all the seat paddings, table designs, and lighting fixtures available on the decor market.
We might not all be equally persnickety about aesthetics, but, come dinnertime, we all want to be in a clutter-free room that’s neat and says something about our familial taste.
We’ve brought together 37 pristine dining sets and collated them from top to bottom—noting in each piece one or two cool ideas you might want to recreate—from your ceiling, lighting, and furniture design down to your rugs and flooring!
Ceiling Ideas for Your Dining Room
On a well-calibrated function-luxury spectrum, this first batch of dining sets exemplifies the very best when it comes to ceiling and lighting designs.
As you scroll further down, you might feel the minimalist tone begin to fade as the pieces slowly away from comfort and simplicity, and more towards elegance and flourish.
Lighting Ideas
Solid-Timber offers:
- An artsy chandelier that matches the seat padding
- A varnished floorboard
Matured-Timber offers:
- A high-set rural lighting piece
- Abstract artwork to punctuate the wall’s monotony
Chandelier Ideas
Earnest-Cozy offers:
- A brilliant white-yellow color scheme
- A table vase to mellow out the room’s austere tone
Evening-Classical offers:
- Tautly sown, brown padding on seats
- Black, circular table with thick, solid design
Product peek: Tillary Chandelier
Modern Ideas
Dainty-Minimalist offers:
- A simple dome pendant light placated on the wall
- A plain white wall punctuated by plants and artwork
- A simple three-seat circular design
Serene-Minimalist offers:
- Natural lighting doubling up as scenic view of adjacent palms during the day
- A flat table-seat orientation built into corridor/porch space
Product peek: Office Pendant – Black
Wall Ideas for Your Dining Room
The textbook advice here is to strike the right balance between silent and bold, but really there are no rules set in stone.
It all mostly depends on your inner palate—the rest you can figure out by playing around with the dining placement and lighting (both artificial and natural).
Paint Ideas
Compact-Timber offers:
- Plain white wall with well-lit, cinematic placement
- 4 sturdy seats + a circular table with a tree trunk as a stand
Slanted-Cozy offers:
- A bold and busy multi-color scheme with artsy brick patterning on the walls
- In-lounge placement that’d go well with a green-colored living room
Wallpaper/Decor Ideas
Dizzy-Timber offers:
- A bold, animal-themed wallpaper design
- Pure-timber tribal back-boards on seats
- A bold, dizzying blue-white carpet design
Neat-Minimalist offers:
- Abstract artwork punctuates the wall’s monotony
- Large, theme-appropriate chandelier
Product peek: Helsinki Art Print
Furniture Ideas for Your Dining Room
What kind of dining furniture should you look for?
Answer: Functional, yes, but also comfortable — that’s the idea here.
You don’t just want to be rested on a softly padded seat as you dine. You also want your gaze to meet the rest of the room with ease.
quote from Michael Pollan
The following pieces speak to those who are looking for a breathable dining space with well-designed tables, seats, and storage cabinets.
Storage Ideas
Noir-Cozy offers:
- Storage cabinets super-imposed on the lower walls
- A deliberately dark seat tone that contrasts well with the bright wall and table
Delicate-Minimalist offers:
- Small storage platforms spanning the room’s width
- Dainty chair legs which exemplify the minimalism
Cabinet Ideas
Modern-Rustic offers:
- A perfect infusion of modern sensibility in an awe-inspiring rural design
- Low-set cabinets with a cubed design
Italian-Majestic offers:
- A silver cabinet that boasts mafia-like ostentation
- A large, glossy table of anti-minimalist orientation
- A royal noir color scheme with subtle hints of orange
Shelf Ideas
Soft-Rustic offers:
- Dainty seat design with an hour-glass shaped table
- Multi-functional space: a dining-library blend perfect for the polymath
Economical-Timber offers:
- Deliberately artsy and breathable room design
- Thin, downwards-curved back-boards on seats
Product peek: Very Good & Proper Bookcase – Natural Oak
Table Decor Ideas
Conversational-Classical offers:
- An interrogative design; perfect for an austere homeowner
Feathery-Cozy offers:
- Translucent lace curtaining
- Feathery seats padding
- Disco-shaped chandelier
Tables Centerpiece Ideas
Autumn-Timber offers:
- Wonderful concentric patterning on seats
- Wall-adjacent placement with a white-brown color scheme
Lignite-Timber offers:
- A compact table-seat design perfect for smaller rooms
- 100% timber design
Flooring Ideas for Your Dining Room
A good rug isn’t just a soft placemat to place your dining set (or feet) on. It serves as a functional backdrop which, if chosen well, sets the perfect tone for your dining room.
For your flooring, you want to pay most attention to:
- High-traffic zones: what spots are walked on the most?
- Aesthetics: does the color and patterning gel well with the rest of your dining set?
- Shape & symmetry: what’s the most suitable rug/carpet placement given your floor’s dimension?
Plain Rug Ideas
Symmetrical-Minimalist offers:
- An obsessively symmetrical orientation
- Office-like seats with a unique rhombic leg design
Product peek: Himapata Snow Jute Rug
Area Rugs Ideas
Graceful-Cozy offers:
- A striped rug that perfectly gels with the table-chair color scheme
- A solid table perfect for extra-dining team use: games, drawing, etc
“Rustic” Ideas for Your Dining Room
For the rustic theme, we gathered homely, simple yet adorned dining pieces.
Squint your eyes and you will spot it—The silent wooden spirals; the svelte finish that verges on the rural.
Plump-Majestic offers:
- Luxurious seats with perforated padding
- Thick, glass table with solid, black stand
Sicilian-Rustic offers:
- A luxuriously exotic wooden finish on the dining table
- A homogenous table varnish with accompanying glass pipe ornaments
“Modern Farmhouse” Ideas for Your Dining Room
The sensibility in these two pieces will appeal most to those raised in the countryside.
Conservative-Classical offers:
- Hammock-like seat design
- A leather leg stand in case you want to put your feet up
Slender-Rustic offers:
- Curved wood-framed seats
- An open wall design overlooking a gorgeous view of the nearby fauna
“Coastal” Ideas for Your Dining Room
Are you the sort of person who likes to “knock on wood?” Or maybe you’re the kind to sport all-denim at a picnic?
If yes, then these smooth timber selections are for you.
Fibrous-Timber offers:
- A 100% timber infusion on the coastal table with spiral design
- Handmade reed design on seat blackboards
Delightful-Rustic offers:
- Uniquely designed seat blackboards
- Majestic flower centerpiece
Wondering Who Curated All These Pieces?
Yep, us: HD Buttercup.
For decades now, we have traveled the world in search of auteur designers.
We’ve forged relationships with manufacturers from Vietnam to Australia to Italy, all of whom have brought their ideas stateside and developed pieces together.
We eat, sleep, and breathe furniture. But you don’t have to take it from us. Here are some testimonials:
“Very happy with the help from the HD team, and had a great experience with Frank and Eddie especially.” — Frankie T.
“My boyfriend, John, and are looking for a velvet loveseat to furnish our new apartment on Miracle Mile.” — Diane L.
“Amazing furniture with super steep prices, BUT this place is a great source of inspiration and one of a kind pieces.” — Carling H.
“Love this space. Obsessed with your sofas 😍” — @rachelkathleenhome
HD Buttercup’s auteur, Evan Cole, created our iconic furniture emporium in LA, and it is in this sanctuary that we have carved out our most cherished pieces and worked with world-renowned furniture brands (Timothy Oulton, Interlude, Coco Republic, etc).
Today is a new day at HD Buttercup, this new virtual home you are visiting, is a place where we tell the stories of our products and the people who designed and made them. We step into the present, both with intention and the values which we hold dear.
