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When my boyfriend and I go out to a restaurant, we’ll almost always opt to sit at the bar over a table or booth. Mostly, we like that it brings us closer together, but the easy access to the bartender doesn’t hurt, and when there’s a clear view of the kitchen, it feels like we’re getting dinner and a show. Back at our studio apartment, it’s a different story. I dream of having a proper dining table that we can dress up with colorful linens and where we can spread out when friends come over.
Right now, we eat at our two-person, bar-height peninsula because I’ve yet to figure out how to squeeze a dining table into our adjacent living area, which already feels crowded with a sectional, coffee table, dresser, and desk. But the one empty corner closest to the kitchen still gives me hope that I can transform it into a dining nook. Needing to visualize how a living-dining combo would actually play out in our small space, I started saving images of other people’s clever layouts, including Georgie Stogdon’s cozy London home (pictured above). Here are all the other rooms I looked at in my search and what I learned along the way.
Lesson One: Aim for a Corner
No one sticks Baby in a corner, but I’d most certainly have to situate our future dining table as close to the walls as possible in order to maximize the rest of our space. My fear has always been that it would look like we just shoved everything there on move-in day and never got around to changing it, but L.A.-based screenwriter Alexandra Cadena reminded me that this setup can appear thoughtful if you frame the area with large art.
Lesson Two: Define It With a Rug
One way to make a dining setup in a wide-open living room feel like its own space? A perfectly sized rug. After seeing this taupe-tinged apartment, designed by Shapeless Studio, I started seriously contemplating downsizing our current 8-by-11-foot area rug for a smaller rectangle so I can place a circular one under our future entertaining zone.
Lesson Three: Define It With a Light
I haven’t run the measurements just yet, but if a second rug isn’t in the cards for our space, plan B involves an extra-large articulating wall sconce that doubles as a divider.
Lesson Four: Take Away a Chair
Brett Williams’s tiny NYC apartment has been a constant source of inspiration. While not ideal for hosting double dates, his arrangement of a petite bistro table with three Era chairs seems like the most realistic option for us. The curved arms automatically make it feel a bit more tucked away.
Lesson Five: Become a Minimalist
For Barefoot Living author Natalia Swarz, being a minimalist doesn’t just mean not having piles of paper clutter lying around, it also involves owning a few pieces of furniture—and making sure each one works hard in her 700-square-foot space. If she and her family ever want to move their dining table a bit closer to the living area to make room for guests to gather at the kitchen island, they can: The Vetsak sofa breaks into individual pieces that can be easily shifted around.
Lesson Six: Push the Boundaries
Probably the most crucial tip I’ve taken away from all of these spaces is that you can get a lot closer to your living room rug than you’d think. There’s less than a foot of floor space between Gabriella Picone and Daniel Marion’s six-person table and their seating area, but the arrangement totally works. A similar setup might mean sacrificing a view of the TV, but that’s fine by me.
Lesson Seven: Carve a Tighter Path
One reason I didn’t think it would be possible for us to have a dining area is because it would cut off part of the hallway leading into the room (not enough for it to be a hazard, but I assumed it was a flow no-no). Then I saw this Augusta Hoffman–designed space and once again realized that if you want to make the most of a small space, you need to measure in centimeters, not inches.