Personal Spaces: Small Dining Rooms With Style to Spare

Dining spaces (of any size) are all too often overly formal or infrequently used. But when designed with care, they can provide a warm and inviting place to gather with family and friends. From pocket-size dining nooks to petite formal dining rooms, these 10 creative homeowners have packed their small spaces with personal style.

Downsizing in Austin

Who lives here: Amity and Philip Courtois; their son, Cosmo, age 9; and their cat, Purrl
Location: Austin, Texas

After moving from a 3,000-square-foot home to a 1,055-square-foot bungalow, this couple set to work making the most of their cozy new space. In the dining room, they transformed a closet into a home office, replacing the standard doors with glass-paned pocket doors for a space-saving, elegant look. The pedestal dining table is a budget find from Ikea, and the bentwood chairs are vintage. Soft gray paint sets a serene mood, while a colorful rug, tall houseplant and repainted chandelier add character.

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Wanderlust in Salt Lake City

Who lives here: Erik and Lisa Craighead and their cat, Cha Cha
Location: Downtown Salt Lake City

For this travel-loving couple, home provides the perfect canvas to display favorite treasures from around the world. In the dining space, a chunky wood table is paired with chairs covered in nubby textiles and topped with an ornate silver lamp for a layered look. World maps and framed artifacts on the walls, and a vintage trunk on the floor, hint at the couple’s adventures around the globe.

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Eclectic Style in Seattle

Who lives here: Todd Garrett and Abbey Cwiek-Garrett and their cat, Mimi
Location: Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle

Abbey (an interior designer) and Todd (an architect) used their good design sense to update their Seattle rental on a budget, starting with the dining table. Using 1950s hairpin legs found on Craigslist and a maple veneer ApplePly top fabricated by Todd, the couple were able to craft their own one-of-a-kind table for a fraction of the price of a store-bought version. To complete the space, a simple but well-styled white shelving unit from CB2 pops against rich green walls adorned with art made by friends.

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Color and Creativity in Washington

Who lives here: Flip Breskin, cofounder of Puget Sound Guitar Workshop; Zeke Hoskin, a songwriter; and their cat, Vortex
Location: Columbia neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington

The creative spirit is evident in every detail of the dining space of this home owned by two musicians, from the rainbow of colored glassware showcased in the custom-designed bump-out windows to the live-edge wood slab table and textile-draped seats. The niche tucked off the kitchen provides a cozy spot to dine while getting a close-up view of Breskin’s treasured glass collection.

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Clean and Simple in Brooklyn

Who lives here: Sean Tice, Kristy Hadeka and their dog, Garp
Location: Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York

Book-lined custom shelves and artwork painted by Tice’s mother warm up this simple, modern dining space in the couple’s rental. The dining table was a DIY project, using a lightly stained birch plywood top and hairpin legs sourced from Etsy. Hadeka simply added a few antlers to the existing overhead light fixture for a quick update.

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Eclectic Color in Austin

Who lives here: Merrilee and Pittman McGehee; their children, Finnegan and Clementine; and cats Levon and Willie
Location: Brykerwoods neighborhood of Austin, Texas

Color and fun are themes that run through this 1948 bungalow. In the kitchen breakfast nook, pink upholstered chairs, an eclectic gallery wall and comfy banquette make for a cozy spot to gather — the arabesque wall cutout was a custom touch. The formal dining room gets a big hit of color from above with a sunny yellow ceiling and yellow curtains.

Ceiling paint: Showtime, Benjamin Moore

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DIY Details in the Netherlands

Who lives here: Mirjam Vetter, assistant supervisor at lifestyle and interior store Sissy-Boy; her boyfriend, Bram Floris; and her 7-year-old son, Noah Joe
Location: Hoorn, the Netherlands

DIY touches are everywhere in this budget-friendly Dutch abode — Vetter painted the dining chairs with white and yellow chalk paint and personalized the space with fresh flowers and artwork. The folding table takes up very little space but can be fully extended to accommodate larger groups for dinner.

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Parisian-Inspired in Seattle

Who lives here: Kristen and Michael Parker
Location: Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle

Vintage 1920s-era bentwood chairs and a marble-topped table form the center of this petite dining area, but the real star of the show is the lush foliage.

“I’ve seen a lot of Parisian sunrooms that were full of plants and fell in love with the idea of a plant room,” Kristen says. “It turns out our dining room is where we get the most light, so it’s the perfect place to keep them.”

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Industrial Lines in Chicago

Who lives here: Garrett and Courtney Anderson and their 2-year-old son, Rowan
Location: Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago

When the couple, both professional dancers, moved back to the U.S. after three years in Antwerp, Belgium, dancing for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, they brought a European design sense home with them. Their 1888 Chicago Victorian was refreshed with a clean black and white palette and warmed up with vintage furniture collected on their travels.

The couple scooped up the wood and black pleather chairs in the dining room when they lived in Belgium. “A local coffee shop owner was taking a refurbishing class and was selling his class-project chairs,” Courtney says.

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Bright and Beachy in Florida

Who lives here: Virginia Devlin, president of Current Lifestyle Marketing; Kurt Baldassari, vice president at Shotfarm; and their daughter, Ava Devlin Baldassari, 9
Location: Hypoluxo Island, Florida

This vacation home is all about the light — a bank of stackable sliding glass doors lets the natural light flood into the dining area. Crisp white walls and polished terrazzo floors keep the look and feel light and cool, while a vintage glass-top table and bright yellow chairs add cheer.

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All original photos from My Houzz, a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.

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