For years the separate dining room looked endangered, swallowed by the march of open-plan living and the kitchen island. Lately it has staged a quiet and very welcome comeback.
After a long spell of knocking everything into one big multi-purpose space, people have rediscovered the pleasure of a proper room set aside for eating, talking and lingering over a bottle of wine, a room that exists to be an occasion. And an occasion deserves a setting with some drama.
The dining room has one great decorating advantage over every other room in the house: you use it mostly in the evening. That single fact changes everything, and it points firmly towards the rich, the deep and the atmospheric. Even a quiet choice reads differently here, as Brushed Texture and Streamline Texture show, both from Wall Textures by Galerie.
"The dining room is used mostly after dark, and that single fact changes everything."
Brushed Texture, Blue / Bronze by Galerie
Streamline Texture, Brown by Galerie
Stripe Geometric, Blue / Black by Galerie
Azahar, Musgo by Coordonné
Decorating for Lamplight
Because a dining room comes alive at night, it is the natural home for the boldest, moodiest wallpaper you dare to choose. Deep, saturated colours and dramatic patterns that might feel overwhelming in a bright morning room look magnificent by candlelight, when the shadows deepen and a metallic or a dark floral seems to glow. This is the room to embrace darkness and drama without hesitation: Raj in Topaz scatters gilded animals across near black, Strawberry Thief Fibrous turns a Morris classic into a copper and charcoal damask, and The Curiosity Shop Stripe in aubergine is practically made for an amber pendant.
A scenic or patterned design does something sociable, too. It gives the eye somewhere to wander and the conversation somewhere to turn, which is exactly what you want in a room built for lingering. Ikat Stripe in Red by Joules does it in a warmer register, deep enough for the evening and cheerful enough for a long lunch.
"Deep colours and dramatic patterns that might overwhelm by day look magnificent by candlelight."
Raj, Topaz by Mallion & Knowles
Strawberry Thief Fibrous by William Morris at Home
The Curiosity Shop Stripe, Aubergine
Ikat Stripe, Red by Joules
How and Where to Use It
The dining room rewards commitment more than almost any other room. Rather than a single feature wall, consider papering the whole room, even the ceiling, to create a fully enveloping space that wraps your guests in atmosphere. A rich colour taken over the walls and woodwork together, the colour-drenched approach, makes a small dining room feel like an intimate jewel box and a larger one feel gloriously grand. Tours Damask by Zoffany is shown doing exactly that, run above green panelling, and The Secret Garden Chinoiserie by Rockett St George carries a whole room on its own.
Scenic murals are a particular joy here, turning the walls into a talking point before the first course has arrived: Alcazar in Ocre, from Coordonné's Sevilla collection, opens a wall onto a sunlit garden. Wild Chervil in mustard and pewter is the gentler way to the same end, warm by day and glowing by lamplight.
Alcazar, Ocre by Coordonné
The Secret Garden Chinoiserie, Ivory
Tours Damask by Zoffany
Wild Chervil, Mustard & Pewter
Mind the lighting above all: candles, a dimmed pendant and a lamp or two will flatter both the wallpaper and the faces around the table far better than a single bright bulb. Order a sample and, crucially, look at it in the evening by the light you will actually dine under, since that is when a dining room paper does its real work. Treat the room as the occasion it is, and it will repay you every time you pull out a chair.
