Sharing my favorite dining room wall decor ideas to inspire you to dress up your empty dining room walls with style!
The dining room in our new home is one of the few rooms where I’m starting from scratch. The dining room table in our old home was too long for our current one so I sold it and the chairs before we moved. And since our old dining room had a built-in cabinet, I didn’t have any dining room storage pieces either. Our new dining room is slowly starting to take shape (emphasis on the slow 😜) – so far we have {this new dining room rug},
this sideboard which I bought locally as a floor sample but you can find online {here},
and {this fabulous light fixture} which was my big splurge ({this chandelier} is the closest lower priced alternative I could find):
I have so many ideas swirling around my head that I thought I’d share all of my dining room wall decor ideas with you since I’m sure several of you have decorating your dining room on your house to-do list too! (post includes affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})
1. Style a Console, Sideboard, or Buffet
If you have a console table, sideboard or buffet, the only dining room wall decor you need for your space may be a few well styled pieces on top of it. I love the simple arrangement of a piece of art in the middle flanked by a vase with greenery on one side and a tray with barware and glasses on the other:
{This cane console} they’re sitting on is a beauty as are these favorite consoles, buffets, & sideboards:
Console Sources: White console with cane doors | Sage green buffet with marble top | Light wood buffet with blue doors | Mango wood sideboard with woven doors | Textured trellis buffet | White console with gold lattice doors
2. Create a Statement-Making Plate Wall
If you collect dishware or have beautiful wedding china you never use, instead of keeping it hidden away in a cabinet, consider hanging it on the wall. I mixed two different sets of my Juliska dinnerware and serving pieces and created this plate wall in the dining room of our previous home:
Sources: Wood bead chandelier | Woven chargers | Glass hurricane vases | Drapes, chairs, & table no longer available
I hung the plates with hangers that held them securely in place but could also easily be removed if I wanted to take down any of the plates or serving pieces to use for a large gathering. Check out {this post} on how to hang plates on a wall for all the details on how they were hung.
3. Add Warmth with Wall Baskets
I LOVE the look of a grouping of different sized circular baskets on a wall and think it would be fabulous in a dining room. You can buy wall baskets as a set that coordinate with one another beautifully such as {this set of 8 wall baskets}:
or {this wall basket set} from an Etsy shop. You can also buy them individually and do the mixing and matching on your own. Some favorite sources for buying wall baskets individually include {this Etsy shop} and at World Market {here}.
4. Reflect the Light with a Mirror
If you have a bare dining room wall opposite several windows, a large mirror will reflect the light and brighten up your space. You could hang a large mirror over a console such as {this antique glass round mirror}:
Other Sources (Pottery Barn): Dining chairs | Dining table | Wood buffet | Lamp on buffet
or go for a statement making floor mirror such as {this gleaming primrose mirror}:
5. Deck Out a Stylish Bar Cart
A small wall in your dining room is the perfect spot for a stylish bar cart decked out with your favorite barware and beverages. Fill the space above the bar cart with lighting such as the globe pendant hung above {this gorgeous brass & glass bar cart}:
or a piece of art, as was hung over {this ebony & brass Parisian bar cart}:
These are some other favorite bar carts to think about using in your dining room:
Sources: 1. Wood & metal bar cart | 2. Modern circular bar cart | 3. Small round bar cart | 4. Rattan bar cart | 5. Black metal bar cart | 6. Brass hairpin leg bar cart (also available {here}) | 7. Small rattan bar cart | 8. Colorful rattan bar cart | 9. Brass double handled bar cart
6. Add an Electric Fireplace for Instant Ambiance
Do you have a large dining room wall that would be the perfect spot for a fireplace? I can’t think of a cozier dining room setting than eating fireside:
Other Sources (Pottery Barn): Dining table | Dining chairs | Glass globe chandelier | Ceramic vases | Driftwood pillar holder
Adding a gas or wood-burning fireplace to a home is often a very costly renovation but have you considered adding an electric fireplace? They’ve come a long way in looking more realistic in recent years! They can be installed pretty much anywhere there’s a power outlet since no venting is required.
You can choose either a freestanding electric fireplace or an electric fireplace insert. Freestanding electric fireplaces like {this fireplace} include the mantle surround so you don’t need to do much of anything other than plug it in. You can even find freestanding fireplaces with a tiled surround such as {this fireplace} with a Carrara marble surround in a herringbone pattern.
On the other hand, an electric fireplace insert is similar to a gas insert in that you need to build a surround for it. It’s more work but allows for more personalization (you can choose your own tile, mantel, etc. so that it fits in perfectly with the style of your home). And it gives you a more built-in look similar to a gas or wood-burning fireplace.
7. Create a Feature Wall with Molding
I love a good feature wall, especially one created with custom molding as in this moody dining room:
Other Sources (Pottery Barn): Dining table | Dining chairs | Chandelier
Most walls of molding such as this are created by a carpenter (or it’s a do-able DIY!) and can be fully customized depending upon exactly what you want. Another option is to use a wall molding kit such as one of {these kits} with wood frames that have an adhesive backing. You simply adhere them to your wall and paint! I’ve never tried them but the reviews are excellent!
8. Add Life with Tall Greenery
If you have a single piece of furniture on a dining room wall that feels kinda lost because the wall is so large, adding tall greenery next to your furniture piece might be the answer! I have a terrible history of keeping trees alive indoors (I might have to give it a shot again in our new home that gets more light!) but if you’re a green thumb, adding a fiddle leaf fig tree or ficus tree can breathe new life into your space.
If you want to go with something faux, a willowy olive tree like {this potted olive tree} is a great choice for filling up a bare wall without overpowering the space:
9. Show Your Personality With Art
A dining room wall is the perfect place to display some favorite art whether that be something large-scale and colorful,
Other Sources (Serena & Lily): Dining table | Dining chairs | Chandelier | Console | Lamp |. Candle holders
more modern and monochromatic,
Other Sources (Crate & Barrel): Dining table | Dining chairs | Pendant light
or a series of art pieces or photographs arranged in a grid:
Other Sources (Pottery Barn): Dining table | Dining chairs
I also love this dining room wall decor idea of creating an art ledge along an entire wall and layering framed art and photos of different shapes & sizes:
Sources (Pottery Barn): Dining table | Chairs | Rug | Pendants | Faux fiddle leaf fig tree | Black fluted planter | Floating wood frames
10. Create a Feature Wall with Wallpaper
A great way to bring color and pattern into your dining room is with a wallpapered feature wall such as the one created with {this stunning grasscloth wallpaper}:
Other Sources (Serena & Lily): Dining table | Dining chairs | Chandelier | Console table | Round mirror
You don’t have to use pasted wallpaper either – there are a lot of great peel & stick options that would be great for a dining room feature wall. Check out {this post on peel & stick wallpaper} for details on peel & stick wallpaper installation and some favorite sources.
I hope you found an idea or two you love to help dress up your dining room! I’ll be sure to share our space as soon as it’s done (which may be forever at the rate things are going 😜). Have a great week everyone!
Jeanine says
So much great information in this post – thank you! I really love the basket idea!
Glenda Shine says
The wall baskets are very popular right now. The only thing I think of when I see them, is that when we were young married in the early 80’s that is what all of us broke young couples put on our wall because we couldn’t afford anything nice!
ellen b. says
Hi Kris, while I LOVE your style, your budget is not practical for the average person.
Serena & Lilly have fabulous items & design, but, seriously, $798 for wall baskets?!? I enjoy seeing your great ideas & where to buy items, but most are sadly out of my reach.
Kris Jarrett says
I used a lot of Serena & Lily images in this post because it’s where I found many visual examples of the ideas I wanted to share on what to do with dining room wall space. No, you don’t need to pay $798 for wall baskets – I’m simply showing you that image as an inspiring idea of how pretty a grouping of wall baskets can look. Because those baskets are so expensive, I purposely spent time searching for and linking to three other lower priced wall basket alternatives including an Etsy shop where you can get a grouping of baskets for about $10 each. You can also find baskets at thrift stores or Facebook marketplace and create your own basket wall. I have a LOT of posts with budget friendly design tips on my site and work hard to show ideas in all budget ranges.
valerie says
just found your site; your home is very nice, and reflects all your hard work!
really like your plate wall; i’m planning to do a plate wall in my dining room (hoping to move soon, lol) but think i’ll use a different method of hanging, so that the plate hangers are not visible…. my choice for the wall of china cabinet would have been a compatible paint color, or even better, wallpaper.
that’s what makes decorating so interesting/personal, we all have different ideas!!