Dining Room

Colour Inspiration Ideas to Create The Perfect Dining Room

The dining room may not be the most frequented room in the house, but when it is in use, the dining room colours you selected will massively influence the mood of the occasion. Dining rooms are all about entertaining guests or bonding with loved ones, and the colour scheme you’ve chosen for the room’s decor sets the tone.

Which dining room paint colours should you choose? It all depends on your personal preference; there are a few hard and fast rules about dining room colours. The best colours for your dining room are the ones that reflect your personality and help set the general mood of the types of events you like to host.

It’s time to dive into some popular dining room paint ideas that serve as inspiration for your future dining space. Pay attention to the ideas and colours that jump out at you and it’s completely fine to combine a few of these ideas and find the perfect color combination that gives your dining area a completely new look.

What Kind of Dining Room Decor Should I Have?

Dining rooms have more leeway when it comes to the decor you select. People often expect dining rooms to be a little more flashy or bold than the rest of the house. It’s your chance to really let your creativity and imagination run wild by exploring premium paint colours that you might otherwise overlook.

The dining room wall colours play one of the most important roles in setting the mood for the room. Ideally, the rest of the decor, such as light fixtures, dining room chairs, or the colour you choose for the dining room table, will be based on the colour scheme you selected for the walls. This means you should carefully consider the entire decor before settling on the painting for your dining room.

Now, let’s dive into a few popular decor ideas that will help you determine how the painting for dining room walls should look.

Choose a Balanced Style

A balanced style creates a feeling of visual calmness as if everything is in its rightful place. There are two ways that designers create a balanced style: symmetry and asymmetry.

Symmetric design means that you could split the room in half and both sides are essentially the same. This technique is common with bedroom design since the bed is typically in the middle. Since the dining table is typically in the center of the dining room, this technique works well. Typically, those who go for symmetrical style will opt out of an accent wall, since it will disrupt the symmetry.

Balance can also be achieved with asymmetrical design, but it is much more difficult to pull off. You’ll be tasked with still creating balance by choosing different, yet complementary colours and decorations throughout your dining room.

Consider the dining room colour psychology. The exact colours you choose for your dining room wall painting should be neutral, such as beige, ivory, gray, or even black, which tend to create a relaxing atmosphere. This helps create the calmness that’s expected from a balanced style dining room.

Classic Composition

The prevailing interior design trends have changed quite dramatically from the classic composition that many of us know from visiting our grandparents. However, you don’t have to stick with what interior designers like; your dining room can embrace classic composition and revive the design style that was once the go-to style for dining rooms.

Classic composition is based on balanced and harmonic colour schemes, yet it makes use of decorative elements that might seem extreme by today’s standards. Chandeliers are almost a requirement, along with luxurious rugs, silver or gold candle holders, and fine dishware. This design style will certainly make an impression on your guests since it’s largely gone out of style, but it can still be quite visually appealing when done correctly.

Farmhouse Finery

Farmhouse design has inched its way to become one of the most popular design schemes. The goal of a farmhouse design is to create a rustic and casual mood, even though it can certainly entertain guests for fancier occasions.

The hallmarks of a farmhouse design are light colours, typically white or gray, with an emphasis on natural wood throughout. Painting a dining room table with a gray or light brown is almost expected as the table is the focal point of the room and can complement white walls, for example, quite nicely. Cabinets and other storage spaces containing your fine dishware are common, as long as they are also painted a complementary color, such as a darker gray or light brown.

However, you can lean into the farmhouse look and feel by choosing paint for dining room walls that is darker brown or even using wood paneling that has been tastefully stained. Farmhouse design often tends to start looking like minimalist design, so make sure to add a centerpiece and wall decorations that you might expect in a farmhouse. Horseshoes on the wall are an easy way to tie the design together, especially when combined with a milk tin stuffed with hay.

A Minimalistic Look is Timeless

Minimalist design has worked its way into almost every aspect of our lives due to its universal appeal. Achieve a minimalist design by choosing paint colours that are light and crisp, which typically means your favorite shade of white or gray. These are also the perfect small dining room colors, so you may want to explore a minimalist look if you have tight spaces.

Light walls will set the tone for the rest of the decor. Minimalist design, when done right, is focused on natural elements such as wood, metal, and even glass. This means that it might be time to restore your wooden table with some interior wood stain that brings out its natural colour and makes the grain more pronounced. Additionally, you should use a minimal amount of decorations, such as busy centerpieces or art.

Don’t be afraid to have a dark accent wall, which can be a darker gray or even black. This deviates a little from what most people expect from minimalist design and that can create a sense of intrigue.

A Place for Family Gatherings

Your design doesn’t necessarily need to be based on prevalent design trends; you can think about how it will be used and go from there. Are you known for hosting big family gatherings? Then you’ll need to design your room with joyful, happy, bright colours and design elements.

You have plenty of options for wall colours, in fact, nothing is off-limits. Think about the general mood of past family gatherings. Is your family joyful and talkative? Bright colours such as a light yellow with a white accent wall may be in order. Or perhaps your family gatherings are more serious and formal? Then a light gray matched with a black accent wall will help set the mood.

Depending on how much renovation you’re doing, you can take the opportunity to expand seating options so that everyone can eat in the dining room. You may want a long table with benches instead of chairs, or maybe it’s time to add a small bar for backup seating.

The Perfect Room for Intimate Gatherings

Intimate gatherings call for a design that promotes deeper conversation and connection. The dining room table that you pick is crucial for intimate dinner parties and an extendable dining room is typically the best option. Round tables that shrink to seat two, but can also expand to seat six or more, are perfect for an intimate dining room.

The colours you pick for your intimate dining room will vary based on your preferences. If you’re bold enough, you can go for dark colours that you wouldn’t dare use in other rooms. A deep emerald or black set a more intimate mood for two people, whereas brighter tones are ideal for larger intimate gatherings. You’ll need to consider the types of gatherings you will most commonly be hosting to inform your colour selection.

Take Your Time to Pick the Perfect Colours for Your Dining Room

Your dining room is a chance to be bold, but this can often backfire if decisions are made hastily. Take plenty of time to consider the mood of the room that you’d like to impart when hosting your guests. Of course, you and your family will be dining in the same room frequently, so it’s vital to design a dining room that you’ll enjoy every day.

Regardless of which design style you’re going with, you should test paint in small portions to see how it looks in the room. Paint can often look much different based on the room due to lighting and other colours within the room. Buy the paints that you think will be ideal, but do a few test strips before you paint the entire room.

You can design the perfect dining room for your everyday use and for hosting guests with careful forethought. Benjamin Moore has the perfect paint for whichever design style you end up selecting. Browse our selection of quality paints today to start planning your dream dining room.

If you have a busy lifestyle and don't have the time to design your dining room, we offer colour and design consultation services, or we can connect you with the perfect painting contractor in the Vancouver area. Begin your search for a painting contractor in your area.