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According to a recent survey from Rocket Mortgage, 93% of buyers are looking for a home with a dedicated dining space for hosting. And actually, that tracks. After years of watching homeowners knock down walls and let kitchens, living rooms, and dining areas blur into one big space, the pendulum has begun to swing back toward houses with a little more definition. Unlike the formal dining rooms of decades past—the ones that sat untouched except for holidays—today’s versions are meant to actually be used, and often. Here are six examples that make a convincing case for giving the dining table its own place to shine.
Make Room for More
It’s no surprise that cookbook author and creative Dan Pelosi’s Hudson Valley home has a dining room built for a boatload of guests and plenty of meals. Flooded with natural light and layered with color and pattern, the joyful space was brought to life with the help of designer Nick Spain. It’s the kind of room that makes lingering around the table feel like the entire point.
Go Moody Where It Counts
In the former Manhattan apartment of Brett Heyman, founder and designer of Edie Parker, nearly every room is an explosion of color, texture, and humor—much like the objects Heyman designs. But the dining room takes a moodier turn. Flora and fauna motifs mingle with art from multiple eras, creating an enveloping space that feels especially suited to a long dinner after dark.
Sneak In a Bar
When writer-producer-director Meredith Chin bought her Spanish-style home, she immediately felt its energy and knew it could become a creative haven. She enlisted interior designer Mat Sanders to help translate that vision. In the serene dining area, which offers a light-filled contrast to the black kitchen, Sanders transformed one of the existing shelving niches into a bar with a custom fluted-walnut cabinet, glass shelves, and an integrated sconce (off to the right). Consider it one more perk of having a room devoted entirely to entertaining.
Keep the Walls, Add a Mural
When chef-turned-designer Sara Manning took on her Vermont Victorian, she was determined to preserve much of what made the less-than-modern house charming in the first place. She didn’t knock down walls, add en suites, or open everything up. Instead, she doubled down on color. On the walls wrapped around the dining table, Manning recruited artist Anne Meredith to paint a mural inspired by Josef Frank fabric.
Plan for the Post-Dinner Sprawl
Fashion designer Clare Vivier has owned her Los Angeles Craftsman for more than two decades, so naturally, the house has gone through a few iterations. In the latest version of the dining area, an old dark-brown paint color was swapped for a soft white, a cheerier match for the sunlight that filters into the space. But the real pro move is tucked into the corner: a chaise with adjustable arms that can lie completely flat. So when a guest is absolutely too full to remain upright after dinner, the trip from table to horizontal is only a few steps.
Make Room for Game Night
In design director Brit Ashcraft‘s Hudson Valley home, the space for dining is primed for more than just dinner parties. There’s a cozy chair for reading and lounging, a large central table for gathering, and a dresser just out of view stocked with bar essentials and a bowl of dice for impromptu games of Yahtzee. Who says this formal place has to be dedicated to just one thing?