Dining Room Renovations: Subtraction Often Beats Addition

Dining rooms are the most over-furnished and under-used spaces in many homes, and the renovation that fixes that is usually addition by subtraction. The chandelier is the single highest-leverage element: it sets the formality of the room, the height of every other fixture, and the visual center of gravity. A statement chandelier under five hundred dollars changes the room more than a new table will.

Wainscoting on the lower half of the walls reads as built-in carpentry but is a one-weekend DIY project with a miter saw. The table itself should anchor the room; an extending table with leaves handles ordinary dinners and large gatherings without requiring you to dedicate floor space to entertaining you do four times a year. Buffets and china cabinets often crowd the floor; mounted shelves or a single console under a mirror leaves more breathing room. The chandelier should hang thirty to thirty-six inches above the table surface, not above the floor.