Our Small Eat In Kitchen, Dining Room Updates

My official first blog post for 2022! I have a ‘House Goals Project List coming later this week.’ We had a built-in banquette from Home Depot installed in our small eat-in kitchen dining room! This addition was a huge game-changer, giving our small dining room wall-to-wall seating, plus drawers below that provided much-needed storage. Read more about the project here.

As much as I loved the update to our dining room and all the storage, something felt a bit off. Our vintage dining room table no longer felt like it fit. Everything felt too white and the shape of the table didn’t feel good. I’ve very big on how a room makes me feel when I walk into it.

Several months ago, I started searching for a new dining room table and chairs that would feel and look better in our dining room with the addition of our banquette seating. Our dining room is small and directly across from our kitchen, they essentially share the same space. Check out a roundup of small dining room table and chairs idea here.

My goal for my dining room is to have the perfect balance of casual meets elegant. I want my space to feel cozy and inviting, but be able to dial up the style when we have guests over. It might shock you but this small space can actually seat six people! Our banquette seating is wall to wall and comfortably seats 2-3 people.

When I started looking for a dining room table, I knew I wanted the table to lean mid-century modern and feel perfect for everyday use and be beautiful for evenings when all dressed up. Since our space is small, it took months to narrow down my table selections. Plus I wanted a table that was budget-friendly and life-friendly, thankfully I was up for the challenge! Here’s our new dining room table and walnut woven chairs. I love how well they fit into our dining room. Our dining room table is from Edloe Finch, unfortunately they no longer carry the table, but I found almost the exact same Mid Century Modern dining room table here.

Katrina Blair banquette small dining room
Katrina Blair Small Dining Room

Dining Room Chairs

Here’s a closer look at our Mid Century Modern Dining Room Chairs.

Mid Century Modern Woven Dining Room Chairs
Mid Century Modern dining chairs, wood and woven seat

MCM Wood and Woven Dining Room Chairs

Stone and Bean Walnut Chairs

New Hardware for Banquette

Another recent update in our dining room is upgrading the hardware. Originally, I installed gold squared handles that were affordable, but very poor quality. I upgraded to beautiful matte brass gold hardware. I consider hardware to be like jewelry, the right hardware helps to complete

Brass Gold Pulls CB2

Matte Brass Gold Pulls

Modern brass gold hardware pulls

Let’s Talk About Pillows

Let’s chat about pillows, basically pillows are stuffed animals for adults, I saw that in a meme on Instagram and it made me laugh. Pillows to me an essential, they provide comfort + style, plus on our long banquette having a enough to fill up on the long wall was essential.

I love our wall-to-wall banquette seating, the cushion was custom made by Calico, using their design services I was able to select the fabric, cushion style and piping the cushions. Over the last few months, I’ve added a bunch of pretty pillows to the bench. I have seven pillows o my banquette, they really help pull together the entire vibe for my dining room.

designer handmade pillow from Esty

Teal Blue Ikat Pillow

These pillows add the perfect neutral punch of color on my banquette.

crate and barrel velvet pillow

Velvet Teal Pillow

Super soft rich velvet pillow cover, available with and without a down pillow insert

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

My Dining Room Before & Now

Here’s a quick reminder of my dining room looked like before and how it currently looks. I love how it feels when I walk in to the space.

katrina blair small dining room

What’s Next for My Dining Room

I love how my dining room is coming together. Next in my project to do list, is finding artwork that that fits the space better. I’m leaning towards abstract artwork or bringing in family photos. I also want to update the lighting to fit the style of the table better. I’m a firm believer in taking your time to decorate your home to reflect your style.

Small Home Style: Dining Room Tables and Chair Pairing Ideas

One of my favorite series on my blog is Small Home Style, a blog series dedicated to sharing small space ideas to help maximize small spaces. For new readers out there, I started the series to celebrate small homes. As a small home dweller myself, I have a soft spot for sharing creative ways to help my fellow #SmallHomeDwellers.  

Today on Small Home Style, I’m sharing a roundup of dining room tables and chair pairing ideas for small spaces. A few months ago, we replaced our freestanding banquette with a built-in banquette in our small dining room, read more about the update here

I love the update, it gives so much extra storage and fit the small space perfectly, making our eat-in kitchen dining room feel more spacious. Once the built-in banquette was finished, it didn’t feel quite right paired with our vintage dining room table and blue velvet chairs. What was missing was the warmth of wood tones and I can tell more streamlined chairs will work better in the space now. I gathered a few inspirational photos, to help guide me in the direction I plan on going with our small eat-in dining room

Banquette Dining Room Inspiration

image via: Ideal Home

image via: Ideal Home

Image Via: Charish

Image Via: Charish

Image Via: Apartment Therapy
Image Via: Studio Mcgee

Image Via: Studio Mcgee

Image Via: Amber Interiors

Image Via: Amber Interiors

Here’s how my dining room currently looks, I’m excited to bring in a wood rectangle table paired with more streamlined wood chairs. The cushion on the banquette was custom made from Calico, as were the pillows. I love the combination and think they’ll shine even more once I find the perfect dining room table and chairs.

My Dining Room

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Below is a roundup of dining room tables and chair pairings, for my dining room I’m leaning towards either a mid century modern dining room table or modern farmhouse table that leans a little mid century.

DiningRoomTables-and-Chairs.png

Putting this dining table and chair roundup together has helped me narrow down the selections of my small dining room! Now time to measure and re-measure! I’m looking forward to my dining room evolving over time. What are your favorite dining room and chairs from the above?