How to Balance Functionality and Style in a Scandinavian Dining Setting

Scandinavian dining rooms are gaining popularity today due to their style and simplicity. They create a sense of calmness and peace while being in the room due to their characteristic features of a neutral color palette, wooden or steel furniture, minimalistic decor, being well-ventilated, and having a comfortable feel.

The pros are that they are easy to set up, avoid clutter, have soothing color palettes, etc. and the cons are expensive furniture and the style might not suit everyone’s taste.

But you can always personalize it by balancing the style and functionality of these dining rooms. If you are unsure how to do that, we have you covered.

Balance Style with Functionality with These Tips

These tips can help you understand the features of a Scandinavian dining room setup, helping you to create a balance between aesthetics and functionality.

1. Understanding the Purpose

In a Scandinavian room, almost every design choice has a purpose. The trick to balancing both style and functionality is to understand how you can make the design and decor stylish while maintaining their purpose. For instance, the reason why neutral and light-colored palettes are chosen is to maintain and evoke a sense of calmness in the dining room.

The dining rooms are minimalistic because the focus should be on the food and building relationships rather than on worldly designs. Therefore, before buying a product or making a design choice in these dining rooms, consider its purpose.

2. Choosing the Right Color Palette

Using light and neutral tones like white, beige, light brown, etc., on the walls and in the decor will help to keep the room bright and clean. You can have highlights of darker shades like black, deep brown, golden, etc., which are the most commonly used ones. These will help to create contrast in the room, making it more aesthetic.

The reason why brighter colors are not chosen is that it might be distracting, and it will be difficult to match the rest of the decor with the color palette. In these designs, the walls and floors also match the color palette chosen, so choose them wisely!

3. Furniture Made of Natural Elements

The furniture is made of natural elements so that it is possible to connect with nature while being a more environmentally conscious choice as well. Although they are made of wood or steel, highly soft cushions are used to ensure comfort.

These might be expensive to buy since Scandinavian dining rooms are known for their large dining tables and chairs, but they are a good investment in the long run. Here, it is evident how aesthetics and functionality coincide as the big tables will create a stunning look while being highly useful to serve a large group of people.

4. Choosing the Layout and Decor for a Reason

Usually, in this style of dining room, many decor items are not added because it will lead to clutter at some point. Pottery with some natural or artificial plants, a flower vase, and a small basket to hold the fruits and spices are added to the dining table.

The walls may have a simple painting or wall art hung, which usually goes well with the rest of the theme. There are not many chairs added if the table is small because ample space and ventilation are essential features of Scandinavian dining rooms.

5. Personalize the Dining Room

Although the practice is not to add several items, there is no reason why you shouldn’t personalize your dining room. All these features are added to make you and your family feel comfortable in that space.

If you feel that a touch of color would go well with the design without impacting its utility, then you can absolutely have that. If you really want to have a piece of decor that is unusual for this style of dining room but will not lead to clutter, then you can have it. The idea is to create a space where every choice has a purpose.

6. Lighting and Ventilation

This is an important characteristic of a Scandinavian room, as the space has to be well-ventilated, and there must be plenty of light. During the nights, warm lights are added for that cozy feel, as white lights may not go well with the rest of the style.

Even if you cannot find a large place for huge furniture, you can still have this style on a smaller scale, but having a well-ventilated location is a must. If windows or doors are there, the location cannot improve!

Conclusion

A Scandinavian room is designed with a purpose in mind, as every choice has a reason behind it. The idea is to create a calming space where you and your family can spend quality time together.

Although these dining rooms look very aesthetic, they are also highly functional. Many think that adjustments cannot be made to the design, but this is not true.

You can easily balance the style and functionality by understanding the purpose behind the design choice and then personalizing it. Try incorporating these 6 ideas into your dining room, and let us know how it goes!