Most people love that little corner in the kitchen – the breakfast nook. It is such a useful and cozy place to sit and eat your breakfast in the company of your whole family. An informal part of your home, perfect for a meal which is also very informal – in most homes at least. But is you nook working for you?

You could say that there isn’t much to it. A table, a handful of chairs, and you are done. Spice it up a bit by going for a look you actually like – and which fits in with the kitchen and the rest of the home. Make it something worth laying eyes on, something visually inviting. But looks is only one element; there is also the matter of usability – which is not to be taken lightly. Let us look at what sort of meal a breakfast is.

As said, it is often informal. It is the first meal of the day, but also one that often does not take long to overcome, so to speak. Many, many families tend to be in a bit of a hurry in the morning – that is just the way it is. A practical feature of a breakfast nook would be to allow easy access to every seat around the table. While benches – especially fitted benches – are nice, they also tend to make it more difficult to access some of the seating available. This could make it quite difficult getting to and from your seat – a cause for trouble with teenage tempers flaring.

If you want fast access, put individual tables around your breakfast table. Make sure there is ample clearance behind those chairs too – otherwise the problem will remain unsolved. If you don’t have too much space in the nook area, try to get some relatively compact chairs with no armrests and such adornments. Also make sure your breakfast nook table isn’t too big and heavy. If space is limited, a round or oval table is a lot easier to get around, than one with sharp corners.

This should help you get a more usable breakfast nook – and to get out the door a bit faster in the morning.

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If you are looking for tips on how to decorate your breakfast nook then this article is for you. Breakfast nooks are notoriously hard to decorate for many reasons. For example, there are usually lots of windows with very little wall space. In addition, the table and chairs usually take up all the room so there is very little floor space left over for tables or stands for decorations. Therefore, you have to do most of your decorating with the functional items in the breakfast nook like the table, chairs, and window treatments.

You may ask how the table can be a source of decoration, but there are a few ways. First, there are certain tables that have tile inlaid in the top. You can use the same tile that you have on your kitchen backsplash or kitchen countertop or you can use tiles that complement those patterns. Some people go as far as to design their own tiles. You can have your kids decorate some tiles and then have them added to the table. That way you will have a permanent version of your kids’ artwork.

The chairs can also be a good way to decorate the room. Breakfast nook cushions can be any number of textures, colors, and designs. The cushions of your benches or seats are a great way to add a touch of color to your breakfast nook that can be very void of color otherwise. For example, if your marble countertop has veins of pink or red in it then red velvet seat cushions could be a way to bring out those subtle colors.

The window treatments are another way to add color to your breakfast nook. Even if you decide to use blinds, you can still add a valence or permanently tied back curtains that will bring out the colors in your kitchen decorations. One thing that you have to be careful of is that the window treatments not overpower the room. If you choose drapes or a valance that are too ornate or heavy then they might seem out of place in a simple country kitchen, for example.

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