Christmas Decorating Ideas for the Dining Room

A major space on Christmas day is the dining area! From pulling crackers with your loved ones and carving the turkey (or the nut roast), through to lighting up the Christmas pud, passing round the After Eights, and getting frustrated when nobody can guess the thing you’re miming in Charades.

Let’s look at some ways you can get the dining room fighting fit for the festive period and beyond…

Go Scandi

If a feature wall isn’t for you, and you’d like a calmer scheme in your dining room, ready for those festive wintertime guests, then how about adopting a soothing Scandinavian approach in your home?

Scandinavian interior design has captivated the UK for some time now. The Scandi style has a particular focus on light and space, which is great if you’re tired of eating in a dark, dingy, cluttered dining area.

Above, Scintilla Olive Green Star Pattern Tiles

Light wood effect tiles are a great way of mastering this look in your home! You’ll find some in the Vintage Wood Plank Tile collection (shown above). Add colour with flowers, accessories and chair throws!

Add a feature wall

A quick way of injecting a bold new look into a dining area is to create a feature wall. This is where one wall out of the four is covered top to bottom in a striking or interesting design. When your guests come into the dining room, ready for their turkey and Christmas pudding, they will be captivated by the new statement wall!

Above: Reclaimed Wood Split Face Tiles

Patterned tiles, which are a huge trend right now and will be for the foreseeable future, are a great option when looking for feature wall ideas. However, textured tiles, such as split face tiles, also offer some room-stealing, eye-catching charm, and they will certainly act as a good talking point throughout your festive feast, and at dinner parties in the years ahead!

For more dining room ideas, check out our blog: Small Dining Room Ideas: How To Optimise Your Space.

Extendable table

If you only have lots of guests over once or twice a year, invest in an extendable table! That way, you can increase the surface area at your leisure. More room for the brussel sprouts!

Candle happy

Candles are perfect for creating a cosy, festive ambience at the dinner table. However, it’s not a great idea to have open, unshielded flames in case granny’s napkin catches alight. That’s why we love lanterns. They look wonderful with the warm glow of a candle inside, and they’ll certainly make your Christmas spread that bit more special.

Alcoholic crackers

Crackers are an age-old tradition when it comes to Christmas dinner. It used to be that all you’d get in your cracker is a paper party hat, a cheesy joke, and a badly-made plastic kazoo. Times have changed. These crackers from Whitley Neil contain miniature bottles of gin!

Make it: Santa place mat

Now you’ve got some ideas for the decor of your dining room, here’s a quick make that’ll keep the kids amused for a little bit! The dining room is where lots of parents and children leave Santa and his reindeer some treats on Christmas Eve. We’ve created a step by step guide for making a Santa place mat – something fun to with the kids in the lead up to Christmas.

Click here for the guide: How to make a Santa placemat.