White dining room ideas – 10 designs for a calming and inviting space

A white dining room can create an adaptable foundation for schemes of all styles, allowing for ultimate flexibility and creative freedom with your design choices. 

Truly timeless, decorating with white is often one of the most popular choices for the home. Simple and sophisticated, this enduring neutral's popularity lies in it's versatility, effortlessly integrating into bold and subtle interior designs. 

When planning your dining room ideas, a white scheme can create a long-lasting, inviting space that can be easily updated and modified over time. Whether you choose white for your paint ideas, or want to establish a classic monochrome look, there are many options to choose from for your white dining room ideas.

White dining room ideas – 10 inspiring looks for your dinning space

From period properties to minimalist, modern spaces, we have gathered our favorite white dining room ideas to provide you with some inspiration for the dining room in your home.

1. Embrace an all-white scheme

A clever way to make a neutral design feel bold and impactful, an all-white scheme can create a truly stand out dining room.

'Establishing an alluring atmosphere of calm and relaxation, ideal for when sitting and socializing with friends and family for long periods of time, embracing an all-white scheme can work in both classic and contemporary interiors,' says Andrea Childs, Editor, Country Homes & Interiors.

As shown beautifully in this dining room by Neptune, an all-white design can also enhance on the light and space in a room, creating an uplifting atmosphere - great for small dining room ideas. 

When designing an all-white dining room, ensure to add in elements of texture and softness to make the space feeling more inviting – simple additions such as the tablecloth, upholstered dining chairs and botanical decorations successfully achieve this in this dining room.

2. Add inviting texture

To ensure your white dining room does not feel cold or lifeless, using tactile, textural elements can add warmth, depth and interest to the space. 

In this cozy dining room, the wooden furniture and natural color palette used create a design of enduring elegance. Finished with shades and seat cushions from Wovn Home, this use of texture is not only practical, but brings the whole neutral scheme together, creating a simple, relaxed feel where comfort is key.

3. Create a relaxed Boho style

A Boho-inspired look can work in perfect harmony with white dining room ideas, with white providing the perfect backdrop for a room filled with a mix of objects, styles and textures. 

With Boho kitchen decor and Bohemian living room ideas proving popular choices for the home, why not bring this eclectic and characterful style into your dining room space.

Warm and welcoming, the white painted walls in this Boho-inspired dining room enhance the feeling of brightness in space, as well as allowing for the beautiful wooden dining table, chairs and chandelier to act as the central focal point. Rich with color and texture but in a more subtle and understated way, this Boho dining room feels open, inviting and relaxed.

4. Incorporate the warmth of wood

Whether you explore wood flooring ideas and opt for light wooden flooring to create a beautiful, Scandi feel, or pick a wooden dining table and chairs to add color and texture, incorporating wood into your white dining room ideas is a great way to make the space more warm and inviting.

In this beautiful dining room by Genna Margolis from Shapeside Interior Design, the relaxed, neutral scheme is enhanced by the natural beauty and color of the dark wood flooring. She states that the goal for this home was to 'brighten it up, keep it minimal but interesting where every piece serves a purpose, and overall give it a calming and open feel. For the dining area, my client really didn’t want a traditional dining room, I was so happy with this outcome it truly is crisp, clean, and collected.'

The white design makes the room feel spacious and calm, with the luxurious dark wood flooring adding a grounding element of texture and character.

5. Introduce an accent color

Incorporating an accent color into your white dining room ideas can both uplift an all-white scheme and inject personality into the space. 

From a bright pink to a vivid lime green, using white as your base color in a room provides the perfect opportunity to be bold with accents. It also allows for you to embrace classic color combinations, such as decorating with blue and white – as shown in this dining room. For more guidance on accent colors, see our exploration of the color wheel.

This dining space celebrates color and pattern with its striking blue and white design, with the white keeping the space balanced and calm amongst the bold patterns and blue accents.

6. Create contrast with wall paneling

A great way to add texture, depth and color to your white dining room, paneling can add a unique element of contrast in your white space.

Whether you want to enhance traditional paneling with paneling paint ideas, or install your own ceiling paneling or wall paneling into a contemporary home, there are a number of designs and options to choose from to best suit your dining space. 

In this dining room by Neptune, the painted black paneling creates a beautiful contrast with the white walls and dark wood. Uniting the traditional and the modern, the paneling in this space also provides a practical platform to rest decorative ornaments and artworks.

7. Add color and character

The dining room is a space where you spend long periods of time with friends and family, so you want your design to evoke conversation and excitement as well as being a place to feel relaxed. 

'To add character to your white dining room, ensure you have touches of color and a collection of unique accessories and furniture pieces to make the space feel more personal and inviting' says Homes & Gardens' Editor in Chief, Lucy Searle.

In this dining room, simple additions such as the tablecloth, textured pendant light and yellow rug help to create a warming environment that feels homey and welcoming. The contrasting use of pattern, texture and material breathes a unique sense of style and identity into this dining room space.

8. Keep things serene and simple

For a modern, minimalist look, embracing the simplicity and beauty of an uncluttered white design can create a serene space.

In this white dining room, statement lighting from Light & Lamps takes center-stage, creating an alluring focal point and decorative hanging feature in the space. 

Carefully considering stand-out lighting designs and artwork can make for a beautiful statement in an understated, white dining room.

9. Establish a striking, monochrome look

A match made in heaven, decorating with black and white can establish a striking, monochrome look in your dining room that is utterly timeless. 

'Whether you incorporate black elements in your dining room through paint, furniture, or accessories, the enduring color combination of black and white is guaranteed to create a chic design with an elegant appeal,' says Jennifer Ebert, Homes & Gardens' Digital Editor.

In this modern dining room, the black chairs create a striking focal point in the room, centering and grounding the dining area in the spacious, open-plan design. Creating a beautiful contrast with the all-white space, this clever use of color creates both a zoned seating area and appealing visual interest in the room.

10. Unite the classic and the contemporary

With many period properties usually rich with dark wood, paneling and darker color combinations, a fresh-coat of white paint can easily uplift a traditional space to make it feel more spacious and contemporary. 

A simple way to update the look and feel of your traditional dining room, the white paint used in this dining room perfectly complements the wooden features, allowing for them to take the spotlight in the space.

A beautiful mix of the old and new, white paint is a great choice if you want to achieve a subtle, modern update in a traditional interior.

How do you add color to a white dining room?

There are many ways you can add color to a white dining room. From beautiful wooden flooring and dining furniture, to colorful accessories and decorative ornaments.

As we have explored, the key to creating a successful white dining room scheme is incorporating elements of color and texture to make the space feel welcoming and personal to you. 

Whether you want to do this in a subtle way and work with other neutral colors, or incorporate bold accents and patterns, the beauty of working with white in interior design is that it can be paired with pretty much anything.

What is the best color for a dining room?

As we usually spend long periods of time in the dining room, lighter colors are often used to make the space feel open, spacious and relaxed. 

Charlotte Cosby, Head of Creative at Farrow & Ball states, 'whites with added warmth work beautifully in dining rooms used in the evenings under low lighting - such as whites with either a green, yellow, or red base. Using this technique will create a softness to the walls. '

However, the dining room is also a great place to get creative with color and pattern. A place for entertaining and socializing, you want the room to reflect your personal style as well as make your guests feel at ease, so whether that be light or dark colors, do what feels best in your home.