Five common dining room clichés to steer clear of

As dining room ideas change, evolve, and become more multi-functional spaces, there are a few features and design decisions widely considered clichés as they are out of style and outdated. The dining room might not be the highest-traffic space in your home, but it gets plenty of stage time during the hosting season, and you want it to feel and look modern.

So here are a few dining room clichés that make your space look dated.

Oversized chandeliers

In the past, no formal dining room was complete without a beautiful lighting fixture, and that was usually the grand chandelier. It created a sense of decadence and status that made the dining room feel more formal. But it’s a look that more new homeowners are looking past. The days of having a chandelier with dripping crystals to create a very formal feel are over. Homeowners are opting for something more unexpected and contemporary in style that can create a beautiful design feature that feels far from dated. Everyone is now into more subtle and soft lighting.

Dining benches

Although they can be great space-savers, especially if you don’t have unlimited space. They can make the room feel less fresh and modern. While they seem practical for squeezing in a crowd, they can be uncomfortable for long meals and lack the refinement most dining spaces deserve.

Matching dining chair sets

Formal dining rooms with perfectly matched chair sets are falling out of favour. Instantly, in their place, there are intimate, banquette-style nooks that feel softer, cosier, and far more conducive to lingering over long, elegant meals. A banquette is a chic choice in an open-plan space, but in more formal dining rooms, chairs are still a favoured choice.

Silver centrepieces

For anyone who has gotten stuck polishing silver, there’s good news. Dramatic silver centrepieces are on their way out. It is time to finally put away those multi-piece silver tea sets that have been displayed for years and, instead, embrace something with low maintenance.

Heavy draping

Those velvet drapes, brocade curtains and tablecloths are out of style. They have once set the stage for a formal dining room, but now they tend to make the space feel dark and heavy. Lighter linen panels or woven shades let the sunlight pour in and frame the table in a way that feels easy, welcoming, and refined.