My timeless farmhouse dining room update is ready to be shared! I’ve been working at refreshing this favorite little room of mine over the last few months and today I get to show you all the changes I’ve made.
Pictured Above: Chandelier (36″ Diameter) | White Ginger Jars: Large and Small | White Velvet Curtains | Ready-to-Frame Equestrian Print | Gold Buffet Lamp with Black Shade | Plate Wall: Dinner Plates, Oval Platter, Gravy Boat
I decided that the dining room needed a little refresh earlier this spring to bring it more in line with my goals of creating a timeless farm house home, full of design choices that will stand the test of time. My aim is always to choose items that won’t start to feel outdated within a few years, and that I won’t quickly tire of. I just love that feeling when I realize that a design choice I made almost ten years ago is still something that I’m happy with in my home today. It always feels like a real win to me. 🙂 We live in a 120-year-old farmhouse, so I try to make sure that the styles I choose are fitting for the style of our home as much as possible. With modern farmhouse-style being so popular the last few years, it can be easy to get distracted by trends, but I try to gravitate as much as possible towards more traditional and timeless choices that will last. Of course, there’s no way to know the future and how tastes and styles will change over time, but if you lean towards classic neutrals, high quality finishes, and bolder choices that are really “you”, the result can be a space that you can really settle into and enjoy for many years to come. So here’s what I did for our timeless farmhouse dining room.
Hopefully this space will give you a few dining room decor ideas whether your home is more modern farmhouse style with ambitions to be more timeless, or a traditional old farmhouse in need of a fresh dining room design like mine.
Foundational Pieces for the Timeless Farmhouse Dining Room
My ultimate dream dining room would be in a 200 year old house in New England and would be perfectly suited to the style of the home because much of the room would have stayed exactly the same since it was originally built. I love the idea of an old fireplace at one end of the room and a big built-in hutch full of plates on the other side, with a long, original wood table in the middle of the room. Maybe over time electricity would have been brought into the home and a chandelier hung, but other than that, all other furnishings would be mostly the same. Our dining room is not quite that, but I hope it at least feels a bit informed by that make-believe dream dining room of mine. 🙂
Pictured Above: Chandelier (36″ Diameter) | White Ginger Jars: Large and Small | White Velvet Curtains | Ready-to-Frame Equestrian Print | Gold Buffet Lamp with Black Shade | Plate Wall: Dinner Plates, Oval Platter, Gravy Boat
Our house has had a few big additions over the years, like our large farmhouse kitchen, but this little formal dining room is part of the original home. I’m not sure what this room was used for originally, but it really does feel like it was always meant to be a dining room to me and it functions beautifully as a breakfast nook too when we have our holiday breakfasts in here. Although the oak dining set including the round dining table with a pedestal, dining chairs, and the handmade solid oak buffet isn’t original to this house, it has been in my family for many generations, and it’s actually a bit older than the house, so I’m lucky to have it. It’s exactly right and timeless in every way, in my opinion. Obviously, this main part of the room was something that I didn’t change, and won’t be changing any time soon, or ever. 🙂
The handcrafted dining room table is actually an extending table so we’re able to squeeze a few extra chair around when needed, but having it as a round table makes a great small-space solution most of the time. We do have quite a large dining table in the kitchen, so that space works well for larger groups.
The plate rack pictured above has been in place for quite a few years, but I always get so many compliments on it. It’s made up of IKEA picture rail shelving and was such a simple but impactful storage and/or dining room wall display solution. I recently added to my collection of Pottery Barn antique white dishes and I think the pieces I have up on this plate rack look so simple and beautiful up there right now.
The other main furniture pieces that stayed the same are the little dresser, which I painted black for a timeless update. I bought this at a thrift store for $20 quite a few years ago and I just can’t part with it. It’s perfect in every way and all the proportions and details are just right. I also kept the armoire that Chris built for us in our first house together. It was probably one of our first big pieces of furniture and it’s still such a classic and useful addition to our home.
Little Updates That Made a Difference
As for the things I’ve changed in here, they were all little updates, but they just made the room feel like it was more well-planned out for the long haul, rather than something that was going to be in desperate need of a renovation in a year or two, which often happens when you just throw in a few “cheap ‘n cheerful” solutions.
The first thing I did was remove the rug from the room completely, which felt a little crazy to me at the time, but worth trying out. I had originally planned to add in this beautiful Ruggable, and I still might once the cooler weather is here, but for now this easy-breazy no-rug thing is really working for us. It definitely makes things easy to clean!
I admit that the new chandelier is very similar to the old dining room light that I had in here. I’ve had a vision for this type of simple black chandelier since before we moved in to this house and I still feel like it’s my favorite classic choice. The old one was very cheap ‘n cheerful, but it was fine. The only issue with it was that I felt like it was a little too small to have the impact that I wanted it to have in the space, and it also had a few weird design details that bugged me. This new one is just simple, graceful, and perfect. I’ve seen it in a few different homes that we’ve photographed and I always seem to love it in every space.
If you’re also about to hang a new chandelier this post might come in handy: How High to Hang a Ceiling Light Fixture Over a Table
I took this opportunity to treat myself to this beautiful buffet lamp that had been catching my eye for the last couple of years. The details and finishing on it are just so beautiful and it’s really one of those high-quality pieces that you know will become a permanent fixture in your home. It finally completes the little corner where I have the newly-painted black dresser. The vintage-style equestrian print hanging above is actually a DIY project and you can read more about that here if you’ve been looking for something similar: DIY Framed Vintage Art Prints Tutorial.
This little corner needed something and this beautiful campaign style table was just the right touch. Can you believe this side-table was an Amazon find? Look at those criss-cross metal legs and little feet! I also think every traditional room needs a little bit of blue and white. In this room it’s these blue blue and white ticking pillows. 🙂
A handmade pottery wave bowl by our friend Jules Love Ceramics.
I love these old navy blue lamps that Chris’ mom gave me a few years ago. They’re so perfect in here and just so “me” as well. 🙂
Sources: Chandelier (36″ Diameter) | White Ginger Jars: Large and Small | White Velvet Curtains | Ready-to-Frame Equestrian Print | Gold Buffet Lamp with Black Shade | Plate Wall: Dinner Plates, Oval Platter, Gravy Boat | Flooring
So that’s your little tour of the updated dining room! I think we’ve definitely gotten pretty close to a space that’s truly timeless with this most recent version of our farmhouse dining room, but I guess time will tell. 🙂
MORE IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Timeless Farmhouse Mudroom Refresh
- Updates to Our Back Hall Entrance Area
- 5 Things to Know Before You Buy a Ruggable
- Blue Kitchen Cabinets: Blue and White Kitchens
- My Favorite Inexpensive Decorating Tricks
- The Creek Line House DIY and Renovating Archives
This post contains affiliate links.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.