A dining room is a great place to start when redecorating your home. As one of the most used rooms in the home, whether you’re entertaining guests or dining as a family, there are some great options for updating the room, allowing you to really put your stamp on it. But which look do you prefer? Industrial or Urban modern – and how do you go about getting it right. Here, we look at both trends, to see what would suit your dining space best.
Industrial dining rooms
Tables
An Industrial dining table is a must-have centre piece for your Industrial look. A distressed textured rustic appearance is characterised by the reclaimed wood table top, combined with dark matte metal table legs. Available space is a key factor, so make sure you measure up carefully to find a piece that will leave you enough room to get around the room. When it comes to colour, there are various shades of wood, whether you prefer contemporary light or darker wood.
Chairs
Industrial dining chairs are usually vintage upcycled or vintage inspired. Many people opt for dark metal café style chairs – and these work extremely well if you like to mix up your décor – as they’ll usually go with almost any colour – as well as exposed brick if you prefer.
Of course, you may prefer retro wooden chairs with dark metal legs – and these can work equally as well in the industrial dining room. Many Industrial dining chairs are stackable for storage, ready for when you have guests. An Industrial-style chair could also be used in the bedroom, as could Industrial-style-lighting.
Lighting
Industrial style lighting is an essential element of this interior design style, and it often involves black fittings with warm Edison light bulbs. The dark metal light fittings complement the robust dark metal furniture legs and supports and clusters of pendants give a fantastic appearance. Metal piping can also form the structure of your ceiling or wall lighting, and you could have a bespoke pipe wall light, which doubles up as book shelving. Many repurposed dark metal studio lighting structures make for conversation pieces – perfect if conversation dries up at a dinner party! Popular black angle-poise task lamps may be vintage or vintage-inspired, which could also be handy for the bedroom.
Urban Modern Dining Rooms
Many people prefer modern furniture for the dining room, and love the versatility of the smoother Urban Modern look. Modern furniture, when compared to industrial, looks more minimalist and neutral in colour. The Urban Modern look may include a subtle variation of Industrial style lighting but you may combine your existing furniture with new pieces of modern furniture with a sharp smooth finish. Urban Modern is an interior design technique which can make different pieces work well together, and fuses inspiration from complementary and edgy opposing design traits.
Restaurant chic
The Urban Modern dining style is similar to many restaurants, which means you can bring some of this cosmopolitan atmosphere into your home. Modern dining table sets typically have a smooth sleek finish, with the chairs matching the table. The table top could be marble or any neutral coloured shiny surface or you may love light smoothly finished wood, together with contrasting table legs, which match the chairs. Metal accents on modern dining table sets are usually polished – pulling together the whole look exceptionally well.
Accessories
Modern rugs easily fit in with the Urban Modern style. There seems to be an infinite variety of geometric designs and more adventurous bold designs to choose from – so the only limit here is your imagination. You may have more neutral colours in your Urban Modern dining area for the décor, but there is no need to stick to grey and neutral colours for the rug. Be as daring as you like for a contrasting colourful rug for either your bedroom or dining area. Use your creative flair to choose something out of the ordinary and watch your guest marvel at your good taste!
Industrial and Urban Modern styles are very contemporary, yet different in appearance, and naturally both forms of interior design suit different tastes. If you find the right pieces, you can add personality and texture by creating an Industrial dining area full of character and with an environmental conscience. Or, find inspiration from perfect modern-furniture for a sharper, cosmopolitan Urban Modern look. Either way your choices will look fantastic!