Our Sitting Room + Dining Room at the Poplar Cottage (How One Small Room Does It All)
THE POPLAR COTTAGE
When we first dreamed up a combined sitting room + dining room on the main floor of the Poplar Cottage, we weren’t entirely sure it would actually work. We needed a place to eat, a place to sit, a place for homework, reading, and lingering - and we needed all of it to fit into one small room.
Pairing a sofa with a dining table felt like the most practical solution, and it aligned perfectly with the small-house living principles we’ve come to rely on: every inch should earn its keep, and every room should be used daily. But theory and real life aren’t always the same thing. Would the room feel crowded? Would the furniture fight each other? Would we actually use both functions?
We’ve now lived with this setup for the better part of a year, and today we’re sharing how it’s really working - what we’d do again, what surprised us, and what we might change down the road - along with a full look at the space and all the sources. Let’s get into it…
psst: all the sources are at the bottom of this post
A Small Room With Great Light
This room has always gotten the best light in the whole cottage - southern and western exposure! - and it pours in all afternoon. But the light is about all that hasn’t changed since we first bought the Poplar Cottage. Here are a few before pictures…
Before
A few of the big changes:
Pulled up the pergo floors and refinished the original fir flooring
added a staircase where the old electric fireplace sat
Moved the bedroom doorway over to create better flow
Even after the new staircase took a bite out of the floor plan (see below), the room still feels bright and airy thanks to the windows, warm white walls, and soft finishes. It’s not big (just about 120 square feet), but small, cozy rooms have always been my favorite to furnish!
The floor plan
The dining/sitting room is at the front of the house with a small entry carved out for the front door plus access to the primary bedroom, kitchen, and upstairs. The staircase is new to the house since we added a second story (and added four years to the renovation timeline - but that’s a story for another day 😉). I thought it would be helpful to show the floor plan so you can see exactly how the space works.
The pink area is the size this room has always been. You can see the location of the stairs, which created a small entry area for the front door. There’s still plenty of room to fit a couch and dining table and small entry.
Why a Sitting Room + Dining Room Combo Works Here
For months, we debated how to use this room. With five of us living here during the Hill House renovation, we needed:
A place to eat (we nixed the kitchen table in favor of more countertop space - thank goodness!)
A spot for reading, lounging, and helping with homework
A room that wouldn’t feel cluttered or chaotic despite doing double duty
The combo of a couch and a table to create a sitting room and a dining room checked all of those boxes. This type of combo space works best when you don’t need formal entertaining space, and thankfully I’ll take cozy over formal any day ;)
Spoiler: the dual-purpose room has worked beautifully for our family of 5. What has surprised me most is how naturally the room shifts throughout the day - meals, homework, lounging, and games all happen here without the space ever feeling overworked. It’s the best of both worlds!
What We Learned About Double-Duty Rooms (small house living)
This room has been a big lesson in thinking differently about how spaces work - especially in a small home. It reminded me that good design isn’t about following rules; it’s about understanding how your family actually lives and letting the house support that.
If you’re working with a small home or simply want more function without adding square footage, here’s what made this room work:
Choose fewer but better pieces
A sofa + one table can do more than you think. It’s a quality over quantity thing.Keep lines airy
Bentwood chairs, pedestal table, and a quiet artwork palette keep the compact room feeling more open.Layer softly
Textiles, artwork, and lighting are what make a small room feel intentional rather than cramped.A soft palette
Keeping the palette soft and quiet keeps the space feeling open and larger than it isLet the room evolve
This space took time and a willingness to keep shifting things until they felt and worked just right.
Finishes
Let’s talk about the big finishes…
1. The Sofa
The cornerstone of this room is our Pottery Barn sofa (kindly gifted), upholstered in a beautiful chambray-colored performance fabric. The bench cushion keeps crumbs at bay, and the scale is perfect - long enough for lounging, compact enough for the dining table. Keeping it clean has been easier than expected…so long as the kids don’t eat on here ;)
Details: 79.5” long sofa, bench cushion, down-blend wrapped cushions, performance weathered basketweave in chambray (available here)
2. My Great Grandmother’s Table
The round vintage table is one of my favorite pieces in the house - a treasure from my great grandmother’s furniture shop in Longview, WA. It’s the perfect size for our family, and its dark, old-growth wood adds warmth and soul to the room.
3. Bentwood Chairs
I found these bentwood chairs on FBMP and their curved lines work beautifully with the round table. The open backs don’t visually clutter the tight space and make it easy to move chairs in and out as needed.
4. Layers That Make It Cozy
Once the major pieces were in place, the room came together through layers:
A vintage-inspired rug to anchor the space
Roman shades to soften the windows
A vintage cabinet for storage and warmth
Throw pillows + blankets to make the sofa feel like a real sitting room
Artwork with a calm, coastal palette
Catch-all basket to house blankets and anything else we need it to
All the Sources
Here are all the pieces we’ve brought into this space in order to make it functional and deeply cozy. Note that Pottery Barn has kindly gifted us some items in this space.
wall and trim color: BM Swiss Coffee
staircase color: F&B Stony Ground
roman shades (in oatmeal)
table (vintage)
Bentwood chairs (FBMP)
Couch (79.5” long sofa, bench cushion, down-blend wrapped cushions, performance weathered basketweave in chambray)
table lamp (large - 27”)
Side table (vintage - FBMP)
Before and After
I wanted to leave you with a few before-and-afters of this space, just because…
Would we do it again?
Would we set this room up as a sitting/dining room again? Absolutely - in a heartbeat. It’s worked beautifully for our family. That said, it may not be the right solution for everyone.
The whole time we’ve been living in this house, I’ve wondered whether we’ll leave this room as-is once we move out. The Poplar Cottage is eventually meant to be a guest house for family, friends, and Airbnb guests, and that naturally shifts how a space needs to function.
Living with the room day to day has been the real test. Watching our kids pile onto the sofa, do homework at the table, and drift easily between meals and lounging has shown just how well this setup works for us. At the same time, it’s made it clear that the room may want a small adjustment for guests. We’ve already instituted a “no kids eating on the sofa” rule to protect this beautiful piece - not exactly the kind of thing I want visitors worrying about - which tells me that a more traditional dining setup may make sense down the road.
That’s the beauty of small houses: rooms don’t have to be fixed forever. They can evolve alongside the people who live in them. This sitting-and-dining combo has served our family wonderfully, and when the house moves into its next chapter, this room will likely evolve too - still hardworking, still charming, just in a slightly different way.
That’s all for today. If you’re trying to make a small dining room or living space work harder without adding square footage, this kind of double-duty layout is absolutely worth trying :)
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