Traditionally, sideboards are some of the most elegant and sophisticated items of furniture that you are likely to find in a dining room.
Not only do they immediately conjure a basic touch of sophistication and culture, but they also allow you to make your meals a real occasion – especially for guests – by showcasing the feast you are about to offer in an elegant and aesthetically pleasing way, while also ensuring that everything is conveniently within reach.
A white sideboard can contribute to a polished and either modern or classical look, depending on how it is set up and arranged. A stylistically cut pine sideboard in its natural color can contribute to a rustic aesthetic, and there are many other different varieties that can have a significant impact on the overall mood and presentation of your dining room as a whole.
Of course, there are also certain, more directly practical benefits to having a sideboard in your dining room. For example – the fact that it allows you to free up extra space on the dining room table, by not having dishes of food, plates and cutlery, jugs of water and so on, all sitting directly on the table before they are individually needed.
Once you’ve picked out the perfect rustic, modern, dark or white sideboard, however, it’s another thing to decorate it as well as you possibly can.
Here are a few suggestions on how to best decorate a sideboard in your dining. Try out a few of these approaches and see which ones feel right for you.
Upcycle an old sideboard to give it a new lease on life, and maybe even turn it into a family heirloom
Upcycling is a very popular pastime these days, and it allows people to benefit from their own innate creativity, in addition to the often discount-priced goods that can be found at second-hand markets, in order to create highly appealing items of furniture that can benefit directly from a second lease on life.
By finding an old sideboard – or taking one that you already have in your home, and that you haven’t felt inspired by for a while – and putting it through a thorough and enthusiastic upcycling process, you can give it a newfound burst of charm in a hurry, and may even be able to turn it into a family heirloom in the making. Or else, to redeem it as a family heirloom that has been forgotten about.
There are many different ways to upcycle furniture. Look out for a few guides online that can point you in the right direction.
Decorate your sideboard with ornaments that match a particular theme, and rotate seasonally
One of the great things you can do in order to decorate your sideboard, is to adorn it with items that match a particular theme, and to then cycle those ornaments around seasonally.
There are various different ways to do this, some more intuitive, others a bit less.
For Christmas, decorating your sideboard with things like snow globes, mini Christmas trees, candy canes, and tinsel, is a great way of adding a bit more festive cheer to the home.
But, you could also base your sideboard decor on the changing seasons of the year. You can use dried flower arrangements during any season. In autumn, for example, you could go out and collect fallen pine cones that you can then bring home and decorate your sideboard with.
Then again, you could also pick sideboard decoration “themes” that match personal hobbies and interests. If you like birdwatching, for example, ornamental wood carvings of birds could be a great feature to decorate your sideboard with.
Use your sideboard as the perfect way to draw attention to, and frame, a painting or photograph
Hanging a large painting, framed print or poster, or an inflated photograph, above your sideboard, can be an excellent way of turning a corner of your room into a virtual art piece in and of itself.
Not only will the picture draw attention to your sideboard, but you can also use your sideboard to draw extra attention to, and properly frame, the picture, painting, et cetera.
Consider, for example, adding subtle lighting features to your sideboard that help to create the ideal interplay of shadow and light to properly “frame” the picture.
You can also use a symmetrical arrangement of candles, for example, for a similar purpose.
Another way to get creative would be to utilize props and items of decor that tie into the theme of the picture, in order to create the visual impression of it “extending” out to your sideboard.
