How To Decorate A Dining Room Buffet Or Sideboard
Let’s discuss how to decorate a dining room buffet table. Or a dining room console or sideboard table. This is my simple, no-fail, no-sarcasm (seriously) guide to decorating a buffet table in five steps: The TL;DR for you skimmers: (1) calm the space, (2) decide on function, (3) add a focal point, (4) bring in a statement piece or two, and (5) mix in some smaller decorative objects. And scene.
Truth time. I have three dining room buffets slash sideboards slash console tables in my dining room right now. Yes, it’s excessive. And yes, it’s just a temporary fix until we truly give the dining room some love and affection, likely building the dining room cabinet of my dreams. But until that day, it’s fun to style a buffet and restyle it to my heart’s content.
So today, I’m styling the newest piece of thrifted furniture in our dining room, a long buffet table.
Bonus, I’m trying to style the buffet using only things we have. Which spoiler, is a little tricky when everything stashed away on my decor shelves is wood and aged brass. Perhaps I need to go thrifting for some contrast!
Calm The Space
Anytime I’m styling a space, I always like to calm the space. Removing all the existing decor and creating a clean slate to start with, is a great way to kick start the creativity.
When you don’t start with a clean slate, you can feel pulled to tweak what’s there. Or too many small items making the buffet feel cluttered without a focal point. It’s hard to fix that if you don’t remove what’s already there.
Once you have a clean slate to work with you may see that the dining room buffet is the perfect spot to layer that art piece that’s been in the attic for 9 years but you can’t bear the idea of getting rid of it. True story.
It was easy to calm the buffet I was decorating in our dining room. It was already empty and has only ever been styled at Christmas.
The one exception to my calming-the-space rule is that I did not remove the giant, heavy mirror from the wall because I knew I was hanging it right back up. So just imagine the buffet space 100% clean and blank ready for its first layer of decor.
Function And Form
Before even just one piece of decor goes on that sideboard, think about form and function. I’m a big believer that home decor and design should be both beautiful and functional. So think through the practical purpose of the buffet.
Do you host a lot of dinner parties and need to find another surface for serving food than the dining table? Do you have functional items for the dining room that need to be stored? Or is the buffet the perfect place for an oversized item that doesn’t fit anywhere else? Do you host so rarely that the dining buffet table can be decorated however you wish and you’ll rarely need to remove it?
In general, there are two schools of thought on how to decorate a dining room buffet or sideboard. Purely decorative vs serves a purpose.
Purely Decorative Dining Room Buffet
With our lifestyle, we don’t host huge dinner parties very often and if we do, we rarely use the buffet for serving dishes. The kitchen island is our serving spot du jour.
Because of that, I like to decorate the sideboard however I wish without regard to functioning as a serving spot. The one exception is for hosting Thanksgiving and the buffet becomes dessert central. But it works out perfectly that I clean everything off for Thanksgiving, then reset it the following weekend for Christmas.
With a purely decorative dining room buffet or sideboard, anything goes. Pull out the extra decor you have stashed away, raid other rooms, and get creative with your styling.
Dining Room Buffet Server
When you have a dining room buffet that serves a purpose, especially as a spot to serve food during dinner parties, your decor may have limitations.
For instance, you may not want to move a large lamp so instead you pick an anchor item (more on that in a moment) like a plant that can moved to the floor. Or instead of small items scattered on the surface, collect them all in a bowl or tray so it’s easier to move the entire corralled collection rather than each individual item.
Let the purpose of your buffet dictate its styling.
The other, chalk-painted buffet in our dining room does have a purpose. Year-round it serves as our bar/drink serving station. The buffet is filled with accessories to make whipping up a midnight margarita, accessible and easy. Then all the wine and liquor are corralled on a wooden tray on top. It’s incredibly functional yet beautiful.
It also has a second purpose of being my seed starting station during garden season. The buffet is home to my seed collection, sorted in a galvanized tote. When it’s time to start some seeds or take packets to the garden, the furniture piece provides plenty of surface area to sift through the seeds, layout options, and come up with a game plan.
Add A Focal Point
Now the fun part. Let’s decorate!
The first piece of decor to bring to the buffet is a statement piece, something that can fill a lot of blank space over the buffet. You’re looking for a tall item or vertical element to draw your eye up and serve as a backdrop to the rest of the decor you add to the buffet.
Some great options include large art pieces (a curated gallery wall could also work), tapestry or wall hanging, big mirrors, or other large-scale items like my beloved framed potato sack.
Using the wall space above the buffet is a great way to bring in decor that doesn’t take up much space. This is helpful if your surface area is narrow.
Some of my favorite focal points…
Focal Point Option 1: Piece Of Art
A large piece of art is a great focal point above a buffet.
Art large enough can get expensive. One of my favorite tips for acquiring large art on a budget is to order a digital art print that can be printed extra large (my favorite source is Juniper Print Shop or even Etsy), find a cheap and extra large frame from Ikea, and have the piece printed at Staples. It’s much more budget-friendly than purchasing large art prints pre-framed.
The space above a buffet is also a great place for a gallery wall. Display your favorite small, wall art piece as part of the gallery or maybe try framed family photos arranged in a grid.
Focal Point Option 2: Large Mirror
Another favorite focal point is a large mirror.
Wall mirrors are beneficial placed on a wall across from the room’s windows to help reflect light and make the space feel brighter.
Large, decorative mirrors abound at local thrift shops, especially mirrors meant to attach to a bedroom dresser. Just don’t be afraid to hack it a bit. It’s pretty simple to remove the brackets to attach it to furniture, making it an easy way to acquire large mirrors. I’ve recently found two bedroom dresser mirrors for under $20 each.
While a great addition to the wall space above a buffet, make sure you hang it securely and anchor it well because those suckers are heavy!
Add A Large Anchor Item Or Two
Now that you’ve secured your focal point, it’s time to add a large anchor item or two. Anchor items are the wider and taller items amidst your decor stash.
Grab your biggest and tallest item first thing. Place it on the buffet, towards the side of your focal point (which is often centered on the buffet). You’re looking for scale here. The bigger the buffet and the focal point, the bigger the anchor item you’ll want.
Some favorite anchor items include a table lamp, a sculptural piece, an oversized vase, and large art.
I have a giant vintage lamp on the chalk-painted buffet that I found for free at our local dump. It’s one of my favorite finds ever and I love it as an anchor item on the buffet. I change the focal point on the buffet quite often (tobacco basket, US flag, photos, art) but the lamp always stays and works well.
For a small buffet, sometimes just one anchor item works well. But with a large buffet, like the one I’m working on decorating, it needs two anchor items to balance each other out, one on each side.
I settled on a large art piece and leaned up against the mirror on the left side. It’s a cross-stitch sampler my mom made. I’ve had it for ages but haven’t found a spot for it yet.
On the right side, I used a pair of oversized candlesticks. It’s not the perfect anchor item for me, as I would prefer something a little bit taller and darker for more contrast, but I’m trying hard to work with what I have.
And what I have is a bunch of small decor, a few medium-sized decor items, and very few large-scale anchor items. Perhaps it’s thrifting time?! Although Brimfield is next week!!
Layer Smaller Items
Now with your largest pieces added, it’s time to add the smaller and shorter items, affectionately known as the smalls. Mixing large and small items adds so much more visual interest than just one or the other. It’s like adding layers to an outfit.
Some of my favorite tips and tricks for adding small decorative elements include…
Rule Of Threes
If there is just one thing you pick up from this post, let it be the rule of threes.
When I began decorating and styling my home, I could never get it just right. I would be so unhappy with my flat surface or shelf styling that I would add more and more. Often, those things were small items I thought would remedy the decor fail. But it just made it worse.
Enter the rule of threes.
The rule of three is that items grouped in odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye with groups of three items being the most pleasing. Easy as that.
When choosing accent pieces or decorative pieces for your sideboard styling, think in terms of threes.
For example, a large art piece with a medium-sized plant and a small succulent. Or candlesticks combined with a vase and tchotchke. Or a large lamp with a pumpkin and a small decorative element.
Create A Visual Triangle
To take the rule of three one step further, try to arrange your decorative objects in the shape of a triangle. Mix different pieces at different heights to get the triangle effect.
Like this arrangement including a larger art piece in the background, a medium-sized potted plant, and a gold bust. Do you see the triangle?
Mix Vertical And Horizontal Items
Another tip is to mix vertical and horizontal items, along with objects of varying heights. This can be within a cluster of three decorative objects or mixing different clusters.
With a long buffet like ours, I love having a vertical element on each end anchoring a grouping of three items. Between the two groupings, I prefer to place a horizontal item like a tray with a collection of items.
When styling this buffet display, I opted for a tray filled with all the treasures the girls have been collecting this summer. From favorite rocks and crystals to sea shells from the beach. It’s easy for them to reach plus it’s decor that reminds me of special memories. My favorite type of home decor.
Practical Decor
Practical items can also double as decor, especially when they’re functional and beautiful.
Stack some gorgeous serviceware or pile your best napkins on a tray with a beautiful pitcher ready to serve up summer’s finest lemonade. Dinnerware, glassware, serving bowls, cutlery, and linens can be beautiful as dining room decor.
My favorite practical decor is barware and a collection of wines and liquor. So take how you would decorate a bar cart and transition those decor items and set up to your buffet.
Favorite Sideboard Decor Ideas
Some of my favorite small items to decorate a sideboard or console table include:
- Decorative trays
- Small decorative bowl
- Decorative containers
- Antlers or other items found in nature
- Coffee table books or drink mixing books
- Candlesticks with candles
- Linens
- Diffusers with oils in a pretty bowl
- Lanterns
- Houseplants
- Other decorative objects that hold meaning
And that’s all she wrote, folks. Just a few steps to decorating your sideboard like a professional designer. Well…kind of.
A quick recap: calm the space, determine function, create a focal point, add anchor items, and layer smaller items.
Other Helpful Tips
Some other helpful tips to consider throughout the decorating process to take your dining room buffet styling to the next level…
Consider Your Color Scheme
Consider a color scheme for your overall look. Keep a tight color palette or play fast and loose with your colors. Go monochromatic and neutral or try high contrast. The color scheme options are limitless.
I love high-contrast color schemes. Like a dark-painted buffet combined with light, neutral, or earth-toned accessories. However, the color scheme for the freshly styled buffet turned into a lot of wood and brown mixed with some greens and blues.
Shop Your House
No need to run out to Target for brand-new everything. If you’re like me, you have a small hoard of favorite, thrifted accessories in your attic just looking for a new home. Sometimes you’ll need a new piece or two to fill a gap but absolutely no need to buy everything new.
Here’s the collection of decor I pulled from my attic stash to use for decorating the buffet.
This is also a great way to get a collected over time, vintage look. Swoon! Vintage has my heart.
When I decorated this buffet, I needed a small tray for all the shells. I had a brown, natural wood one here but it blended too much with the wood tones in the buffet and I wanted something with a little more contrast. So I picked up a black tray from Target which has worked well. I would have preferred vintage but it’s so hard to find exactly what you’re looking for in the moment you need it when vintage shopping.
Bring The Outdoors In
Add some natural elements to your buffet styling and bring the outdoors in.
This can be a potted house plant, cut flowers from the garden, a floral arrangement from a local florist, or even branches and stems from the yard. A touch of green and organic items can soften stark decor or hard lines.
Add Texture
Bring in the texture to mix up the feel of the decor. Contrasting textures can help make items stand out more.
Mixing textures for a console looks like smooth, aged brass candlesticks in front of a cross-stitched art piece. Or linens on a wooden tray. And maybe a wall hanging with a soft, rug-like texture as a focal point with a rough finished, ceramic vase in front of it.
Mix It Up
And finally, when it comes to decorating a buffet, change it up regularly. Styling and decorating surfaces isn’t meant to be rigid, or full of rules, no matter what the professional interior designers say.
Decorating a buffet also isn’t something you’re one and done with. Change up your dining room buffet table decor regularly. Maybe even seasonally. Play with it and have fun without spending a lot of time or money fussing over it.
If you bring home a new vintage treasure, mix it into the dining decor. Change it up with the seasons. Or even style the space for different parties, be it formal dinner parties, backyard barbecues, or themed kids’ birthday parties.
But most importantly, have fun with decorating. Feel free to play around with different dining room buffet table decor ideas. It’s how you learn what you love, helps guide your thrifting adventures, and makes your home uniquely you.
