How Much Does It Cost to Furnish a Dining Room?

Today is the second installment of our cost breakdown series, and we're hitting the dining room next! If you missed it, the first post covered the range of pricing for living room staples, and we got a great response to that post! There will be a few overlapping pieces between both spaces, but keep scrolling through for our breakdown of each piece you need for a dining room below!

Here are a few reasons for the range in each of these categories:

TABLE

Obviously your table size will vary based on your space, your family size, and whether you entertain a lot. But what material you choose heavily affects which price point your table will fall into. If you choose to hire a woodworker or custom craftsman to create the table, that will also affect which price point you fall into. Stone top surfaces are typically more expensive than wood or glass top tables, and the engineering of extension tables also can up the price.

DINING CHAIRS

Just because you inherently need multiple chairs in this space, this category has the largest range of pricing. Stocked fabrics and limited options for leg style can keep you in the lower price range, but anything custom made will immediately bump you into the two other categories. Leather vs. fabric, stain repellant treated fabric or not, and solid metal or wood legs vs. plywood and veneer legs all factor into this price range! Keep this is mind when you're comparing chairs that look very similar, but differ a lot in price - if you look into construction and materials for every piece of the chair, there are likely many points where the cost difference adds up!

LIGHTING

Just as we said in the living room, lighting has a huge range because we have seen handblown, custom pendants and chandeliers, and we have seen more mass-manufactured lighting as well. Lighting is the jewelry of a space, so make lighting as personal as your jewels -- but know that you can almost ALWAYS tell when it's cheap!

BUFFET/SIDEBOARD

Same thing applies here - materials, size, and construction will determine the cost associated with buffets or sideboards. One tip for finding the best sideboard for you - if you are, in fact, storing excess dinnerware like platters, be sure to measure the biggest piece you would like to store to ensure that the piece you ultimately choose will work for all of your storing needs!

RUG

Our post about rug material content gives all the details about what goes into the construction of a rug, so reheat that mug and get cozy before you click over - we didn't hold back any details! In terms of the dining room, a rug is not totally necessary, but it's good to budget for it, and if you want to use some of that to upgrade in lighting, for example, you CAN, because you can plan!

ART & ACCESSORIES

Not only is this category a question of volume, but also what is important for you to invest in. Craftsmanship and artisanal work takes much more time, material, and creativity, and prices can reflect that. How large are these art pieces and/or accessories? Are you purchasing from a vintage source or reusing something you already own in a new way? As with many categories, you must decide what takes priority for you in determining what budget makes sense for your style sensibility.

WINDOW TREATMENTS

We have a deep dive here about your options for window treatments as well! This category is probably the most overlooked in terms of budget, so please make sure to factor that in so you're not hit with a huge number later on! If you scroll back up and compare, window treatments are in line with the dining table in the overall budget - surprising huh?

Was this helpful for you? Let us know which room you'd like to see featured next!