Home and Decor

Glam Formal Dining + Tips

So excited to be able to finally share with you all our formal dining room!  This has been such a process, that I am happy to see finally be able to see where the room at this point now!  I can’t say I am completely done, because there are some slight tweaks left! With Thanksgiving almost here I have gotten it done just in the nick of time! We love entertaining and this will be the first time as homeowners to have a completed formal.  

I am going to take you through my formal dining room, I will give you all the details of each item, and why I chose it. I came from an apartment and never had a formal.  With that, I will share the steps I took from having an EMPTY room to completion.

If you are a regular follower of mine then you know I love Navy and Gold most of my home has the colors incorporated. That was the foundation of our dining room. I wanted to share the steps I took to finish our formal dining room! I do have links for each item used in our room, so click on the product name to get more details.

5 Easy Steps to A Glam Formal Dining Room

Step One – Paint (if desired)

One of the first projects we did was paint the walls Navy.  I wanted a contrast in the home from all the neutral. I wasn’t afraid of going darker because this room has 3 nice size windows so it gets plenty of light! I loved how it turned out!

I recommend painting before you have any furniture so you don’t have to worry with having to cover your furniture.  

Step Two – Lighting

Unless you have a great lighting fixture I almost always recommend getting a new lighting fixture to your space.  It can add so much to your room and become a statement piece. The fixtures that came with the home were very basic so we knew that we wanted to upgrade.  We actually bought one and had it in for about a month. I kept walking by it feeling underwhelmed honestly.

That’s when we upgraded to our Corbett lighting chandelier! This is now our second chandelier, and we are basically obsessed.  The quality is amazing, we will take these fixtures wherever we go. I love glam and statement so it was worth the investment.

One of the aspects I love about Corbett is how many of their lighting fixtures come come as a collection and can have most of your house coordinate.

We chose the Symphony collection had glam yet a little more subtle.  It allowed me to tie in the gold dinnerware on the dining table.

Step Three Furniture

I think a great foundation for your dining room to include is a buffet/sideboard, of course the dining table, and then it is a nice added touch to add bar cart if you room as the space.

So my dining room still not 100% finished if I am being totally honest.  I still have two more chairs I would like to swap out. This table set came with wooden back chairs that I didn’t love.  And I have intentions on getting my finalized chairs. However, this budget of ours has to stay on the course. Once our budget allows I will then swap them out and they will be our end chairs.  I could have waited until I had everything, but you know I like sharing with y’all the process.

This was the first time we’ve had a sideboard, I decided to go with a champagne color since I already have a lot of gold.  I knew that I needed a more subtle look to coordinate with the rest of the room.

Our dining room table we chose is a budget friendly piece, I didn’t go crazy with it.  I knew that I wanted my tabletop to be the star. So for me I didn’t need to break the budget on our table, because I knew I didn’t want that to be the main focus.

My husband was actually the biggest advocate for the bar cart, go figure haha! We do love to entertain, and he had been wanted a spot to keep his adult beverages.  Of course I had to add my decor flare to it. What I love about my cart the price, it was just $200. I would highly recommend this as an option if you don’t have room for a sideboard/buffet.

Furniture List:

Dining Table

Dining Chairs

Sideboard

Bar Cart

Step Four Tabletop:

As mentioned I wanted my tabletop to be the star.  It was time for us to step it up and get some quality dinnerware, barware, and flatware. We had always just gotten every day plates, but knew we should also get an additional set that was more formal.

I wanted my tabletop to be completely glamorous, and what better place to do that than Z Gallerie. If gold is not your style they also have beautiful Silver table top decor!

If you are like me you are probably wondering where to start.  Here is my complete tabletop list that I have used!

Charger plates

Dinner plates

Salad Plates

Bowls

Wine Glass

Flatware

Drinkware

Decanter

Gold Rimmed Drinkware

Step Five – Decor

Of course you have to finish it off with decor.  My decor is glam yet casual. To dress the table I would recommend a table runner and some type of centerpiece. I opted to used 3 circle candle holders, but the options are endless!

I have sprinkled throughout our table votive candles of different sizes.

You cannot forget to have a nice area rug to finish out the room.  I originally had a 7×10 rug but felt it wasn’t large enough, so I went with a 9 x 12.  I sold my old one and found this one at Rug USA.  I feel it fills the room so much better.

Here is a complete decor list of the items in our glam formal dining room:

Napkins

Napkin Rings

Circle Candle holder

Turkeys

3 Set Candle holders

Gold Tray

Votive

Votive

Curtains

Gold Vase

Table Runner

9×12 Rug

This has been such a fun project.  I don’t know if it is because we have never had a formal dining so it was a first, but I loved it!  What I love most is I was able to have my style show through. I love glitz and glam decor, and our formal dining was just that.

What piece is your favorite piece?