The kitchen and dining room in your home likely see more traffic than any other part of your house. Food equals fellowship in many cultures, making the kitchen and dining area of a house far more valuable than the materials used to build it.

Investing time and thought into the interior design choices for your kitchen and dining area is part of what’s going to truly make your house a home. Take a moment to read through a few useful design ideas for your kitchen/dining area, and get to work on your new look today.

Observe how your household uses the spaces

Before you ever get started on the physical changes to your spaces, take the time to truly observe how you and your family utilize the kitchen and dining room. The furniture you choose for your dining room and kitchen should mirror the functionality your family needs to support their way of life.

If you and your family love to have big dinner gatherings, you’ll need a sizable dining table in your space. Consider a rough layout of how you want the spaces to work before you go into more specific detail.

Make plenty of room for storage

A fully functional kitchen and dining room have a bunch of things that go along with them. You’ll need plenty of storage space, so your areas don’t look messy or cluttered.

A kitchen that is easily managed is always a perk. Make furniture choices that enhance your storage options. For instance, you could have bench seating at the table with storage underneath.

Declutter your kitchen and dining room

The storage you plan to provide within the design will help to achieve this next point. Clutter adds confusion to a space, and it makes it harder to function fluently.

Designate a place for everything, and put everything in its place. Organization will make for easier cooking, cleaning, and dining.

Lighting is a key feature in any space

Lighting choices should be a conscious decision. The lighting you choose for your spaces will set the mood. Natural lighting is great, but your evening lighting should make a statement as well.

Make sure to have a warm light to highlight the dining table in your eating area. You want to be able to see each other while you enjoy a meal together. A drum pendant light is a popular choice of lighting over a dining table.

Don’t forget to enhance the walls

When you’re working out the design details for your kitchen and dining room spaces, don’t forget about the walls. Some wall-hanging decor can really go a long way to personalize the space. In the dining room area, you’d obviously want family photos or welcoming art. In the kitchen, you could go for some novelty utensils or perhaps even a neon sign that reflects your own ideas (everyone loves a “live, laugh, love” type sign!). There was once a person who hung a lobster shell in their kitchen and made it the talk of their home so there’s little reason to conform to old ideas on how to enhance one’s wall space.

As for painting the walls, the color choices you make for the walls, the floors, and the ceilings should all flow well together. Make a statement with a bold color on an accent wall, or find a wallpaper design that will take your aesthetic to the next level.