The right color choices make a small dining room more livable.
Decorating small rooms is always a challenge. Making decor choices for a small dining room can be especially difficult, since homeowners typically use the space for entertaining and want it to feel expansive and welcoming, rather than cramped and uncomfortable even when its original dimensions are not commodious. Wall color has enormous potential to help a dining area become more visually appealing.
White
White helps brighten a small dining room.
White walls may seem like a monotonous or obvious choice, but in the case of a small room, limiting the number of colors used helps the space feel open. White paint comes in a surprising range of subtly different choices. Some offer a barely perceptible blue undertone, while others tend toward yellow. Choose a white for the walls that feels more warm than cold. , whitewashed or white-upholstered furnishings as well. Glass table tops or clear polycarbonate chairs add a note of modernity and allow light to pass through them, creating an illusion of more space. Add notes of brown or blue to help ground the space and make it feel more homey than discomfiting or sterile.
Off-White
Off-white colors tend to either beige or yellow.
Off-white colors include cream or antique white--which tend to offer a yellow undertone--as well as bone, bisque and oyster--which typically include beige notes. Study the full range of paint chips and try samples before committing. Settle on a shade that makes you feel comfortable--it will have the same effect on guests. Off-white wall colors have the added benefit of blending nicely with nearly any furnishing color or material. To promote design unity, choose furniture or window covering colors that bring out the undertones in the paint. Notes of brown in tabletop decor or flooring also help stabilize the look of the space subliminally.
Yellow
Pale yellow is universally associated with good cheer.
Yellows also come in a wide range of shades. Bold antique gold may prove overpowering in a very small space, but lemon, custard or pale yellow enhance a feeling of spaciousness. Yellow is an ideal complement to dark woods such as mahogany or cherry. It can also be paired with other elements of a monochromatic scheme such as oak furniture and flooring. Deep beige tablecloths and upholstery help anchor this color and add dimension.
Two-Tone
Paint the lower two-thirds of the dining room's walls in a light color such as cream and the upper third of the wall and the ceiling in a slightly darker matching hue from the same paint family, such as warm beige. This technique helps the ceiling seem higher. Many paint chips come in strips of four or five related colors for this very purpose. Upholster your dining chairs in the same two tones and place a table with a creamy beige marble or granite top in the room's center to create a stunning focal point and lend your dining room a sense of elegant comfort.
Tags: dining room, small dining room, Choose white, Off-white colors, paint chips, small dining