Want more design inspiration? Sign up for our free daily ... enjoy separation from day-to-day life." Whether or not a formal dining room will seem out of place in your home depends on its ...

The function that a dining room serves in the home has definitely shifted over the past several decades. No longer are dining spaces meant to be ultra formal and reserved solely for special occasions.

1 Distressed, robin’s-egg blue chairs with hand-woven rush seats and backs are comfortable, lightweight, and easy to maintain. “We didn’t want all wood tones or upholstery,” Smith says.