Dining Room Plans & Three Simple Meals to Make This Week

It has been about two months with our completed kitchen makeover and we are still in love, but our dining room has been begging for some attention. So far, we have updated the lighting, got a custom bench, added a new (secondhand) table, and I just completed a little gallery wall. So, we have ordered a few items and have a plan to make it feel a little homier! This is so important to us because we have been loving eating together as a family. The dining room is where we eat most of our meals, color, play games, and listen to music. Today, I am sharing my plan for the dining room and three easy meals we will be eating in our dining room this week!

The Plan!

Here is my mood board. I linked what I could, tap here for the links!

We don’t need to do much but we are planning on adding this cabinet from Ikea on the empty wall. We will use it to display some dishes as well as house things like napkins and our record player on top. I will decorate it with plants and a big frame. On the wall next to the cabinet, I plan on finding a way to display our records.

We ordered these chairs for the dining room from Target. I hope the work out! Initially I wanted some brown cafe chairs like this but we both liked these pink chairs, so we are giving them a chance! I added a gallery wall last night above the dining bench. It is higher than what I would normally recommend but I did not want the person sitting below it to feel like it would hit them. We are looking for someone to make us some cushions and I am on the hunt for some throw pillows for the bench. Home Goods is my favorite place to find throw pillows so I will check there. I will also link some I like from World Market.

Last but not least, I have ordered more of the blinds we have throughout the house for the French doors. I was debating painting the French doors a pale pink, but I am going to wait and see if we need more color once it’s all decorated. And I will be adding in plants whenever I can!

Three Easy Dinners

After not getting to eat in the dining room for two months, we are using it all the time now! Sometimes I go all out and we have a huge meal but most nights we gravitate towards quick and easy. Here are three of our favorite quick and easy meals:

Tostadas

My husband’s family ate these a lot during lent when he was growing and now, we eat them whenever we want a super easy meal. All you need are tostada shells, refried beans, and whatever toppings you like. You can also add meat we just typically go meatless. Our favorite combo is refried beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, guacamole and hot sauce.

Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken

Literally the best orange chicken out there. We just cook it according to the packaging and server with frozen broccoli and frozen rice.

20 Minute Broccoli Lemon Pasta Skillet

I’ve been making this recipe for a few years and we love it. Again, you could add chicken to it but we prefer the meatless version. We like to serve this with French bread. Plus it makes for yummy leftovers!

I hope these recipes inspire you to start cooking and hopefully to use your dining room! If you need some more inspiration, check out this account on Tiktok. She has mission to set the table every night until it becomes a habit! And don’t forget to subscribe so you catch the dining room reveal!