From winter get-togethers to spring showers; from hardy pot roasts to summer gazpachos, when you consider the sheer Ying and Yang of events that the average dining room hosts, it’s clear that a room with year-round appeal is essential. Teeing up a room with year-round appeal doesn’t have to mean settling for a room awash with blah beiges and basics, either. Here, we’re sharing seven ways you can outfit your room with year-round appeal without sacrificing one smidge of style.
Set a neutral scene
Of course, there’s no denying a neutral dining room will be easiest for hosting events any time of year. To prevent a basic dining room from looking characterless, opt for basic dining room furniture that showcases eye-catching design.
Thanks to its sculptural prowess and chameleon-like versatility, you’ll see designers of virtually every rank and stylistic persuasion using an Eero Saarinen pedestal table from time to time. When outfitted in basic white (or a white base with a Carrara marble top) and paired with a set of neutral (but similarly striking) chairs like Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs, you have a canvas that can be easily dolled up any way that you please. For a more rustic alternative, try an unpainted farmhouse table and matching chairs. While a traditional mahogany dining table can be styled for year-round appeal, they naturally edge more winter-centric and will require a good deal of decor to ease them into spring-summer mode.
Embrace year-round colors
Rhode Island-based designer Alison Hammatt likes to rely on a color palette that can play nice with both sides of the seasonal spectrum. “A classic color combination like red and blue looks deep and moody in colder months and vibrant and almost whimsical in warmer ones,” says Alison. A few other combos to try? Eggplant and turquoise produce a similar color story as blue and red. So do pale pink and chocolate brown. For a combo requiring a lower commitment threshold, black and white can be cozied up during the holiday season with pops of green and red, and freshened by pastel flourishes like pink, sage, or yellow in the spring.
Mix motifs and textures
Playing opposites when it comes to motifs and textures is another way to give your dining room both warm and cool weather energy. Leila Kharem of KHI Design Group in Nyack, New York is a fan of paying homage to spring with botanical themes while simultaneously courting the moodier winter months with a rich color palette and cozy materials like velvet. Use Leila’s blueprint of botanicals and velvet, or achieve a similar effect by contrasting a Chinoiserie or light-colored toile wallpaper with richly-colored velvet dining chairs or a dark, traditional dining table.
Let natural light in
Whether it’s golden autumn light or pure-as-can-be mid-summer sunshine, natural light can effectively transform your dining room’s mood from season to season. With this in mind, opt for window coverings that don’t obscure too much of your windows. Avoid heavy drapes (which can feel the exact antithesis of spring or summer cheer), and instead, opt for roman shades which can be retracted entirely out of the way to maximize light flow any time of year.
Make your lighting dimmable
Different seasons can call for different ambiances. Whereas low light might feel befitting for a holiday cocktail party, a mid-Summer Sunday dinner is likely to warrant less dramatic lighting. To keep your lighting on point no matter what time of year it is, consider installing a dimmer on your main overhead light. Doing so will make it easy to tailor your lighting to every dining room happening throughout the year. Also keep in mind that some overhead fixtures, such as chandeliers with tiny flame bulbs, won’t emit much light no matter how aggressive you get with light bulb wattage, so you may want to adjust your lighting game accordingly.
Choose changeable cushions
If you’re big on seasonal color swaps, you might want to consider opting for tie-on dining chair cushions. Short of a tablecloth, chair cushions are probably one of the easiest pieces to change out with regularity — and if you have wood-seat dining chairs, they’re functional to boot. Seek out cushions fashioned from dark green or maroon velvet to cozy things up in the winter months, and linen or seersucker stripes for summertime. Want one set of cushions that instills year-round neutrality? Consider a marigold, lavender, or Tiffany blue velvet, as designer Summer Thornton did in the dining room above.
Work a rug
Similar to chair cushions, a rug can be swapped out as needed to keep your dining room pieces feeling on-point for the season. A traditional Persian rug in a classic red color-way will instantly make a room feel warmer in winter (both literally and figuratively), while a natural fiber rug can usher in that laidback summer splendor. While most designers will advise you against laying down a high pile rug like a Beni Ourain under a dining table, moving one in for a few weeks during the winter entertaining season can procure an instant winter wonderland aura.
Lead photo design by Summer Thornton Design, Inc. / Photo by Josh Thornton
