u/Mysterious_Property8

We recently bought a renovated Victorian terrace, and I’m struggling with the dining room layout/design.

The room is quite small (3.85m x 2.56m) and has doorways in all four corners, plus spotlights instead of a central pendant, so it feels very boxy and lacks a focal point. I found older photos of the house and originally two of the doorways were arched (see photo 3).

I’m considering reinstating an archway in the doorway shown in photo 1. We probably can’t do both arches because the hallway side may eventually need a door so we can keep our cat downstairs when needed.

My questions are:

• Would adding one arch back in help soften the room and improve the flow visually?
• Would architraves be a better option, or would that feel too heavy in such a tight space?
• Any suggestions for creating a focal point or adding texture/character without a fireplace?
• Since we can’t replace the spotlights, what would you do lighting-wise to make the room feel less flat?

I’d really appreciate any ideas, especially from anyone who has dealt with awkward Victorian layouts or small dining rooms.

Hi,

My partner and I have recently moved into a Victorian terrace and I’m having difficulty designing the dining room. It’s a small room (3.85m x 2.56m) and it has doorways in each of the fours corners so I’m struggling with making it feel like its own space and not a pass-through space to get to other rooms.

There are a few things that are exacerbating the problem, it had already been renovated when we bought it and they have done some things I hate. They installed spotlights and there used to be archways but they removed these and squared the doorways off. I feel like the lack of a central pendant light means the room is missing a focal point and the doorways make everything feel flat and boxy.

I am toying with a few ideas to try and create more of a focal point and separation from other areas but can’t settle on any. I thought about wallpapering the back wall which has the chimney breast but think it might look dated. I’ve also thought about adding architraving around the doorway at the back to the left of the chimney breast in picture 2 or reinstating an archway. This bit leads to the basement stairs and we’ve painted it to create some separation. It would be difficult to paint/wallpaper the whole dining room bit as three of the doorways don‘t have doors or frames so there’s no definitive end to the room. We may have to install a door here in picture 3 to keep our cat downstairs when necessary but there isn’t the room to make the rest into actual doorways.

Would love any advice or suggestions!

I know some of the furniture isn’t helping but our last home was furnished, so we’re making do with what we have till we have a vision for this room!