Dining room style on a budget

Dining room style on a budget

Create a modern country dining room with soft cream walls, practical storage, simple pattern and colourful accessories for just £272.30.

For more ways to update your home on a budget see our ideas for bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms.

By Maxine Brady, photographs, Graeme Ainscough

Before the makeover

Before

Although this busy dining area functioned perfectly well, it lacked character and colour. The blank windows and walls left the room feeling cold and stark.

Raspberry and cream

After

A simple colour scheme of raspberry and cream gave this room a bright new look. The tongue-and-groove walls and ceiling were painted a neutral shade and splashes of colour were added with a table runner, smart curtains and inexpensive accessories.

Use subtle colour

Create contrast against pale cream walls by painting wooden dining furniture in a slightly deeper shade.

Chairs painted in Basswood acrylic eggshell, £11.95 for 750ml, Fired Earth. Runner made up in Irving stripe fabric, £18 a metre, Laura Ashley

Colourful accessories

Hang a shelf above eye-level to store smaller pieces of china. Then replace a messy pinboard with family snaps hung in neat frames.

Forhoja kitchen trolley, £69.90; Forhoja wall shelf, £5.99; both Ikea. Picture frames, £9.99 each, Habitat

Hang a striking shade

Replace old light fittings with a pendant shade that will cast a soft light over your table.

Septim pendant lamp, £10.49, Ikea. Curtains made up in Folk leaves fabric, £18 a metre, John Lewis

Top table

This design is available in four paint colours and two wood finishes.

Bastide table in Chalk White, £1395, Fired Earth

Classic style

Perfect for every day, this dining table has a smart oak veneer top.

Halkham table, £499, Marks and Spencer

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