[WIP] Dining room scene : looking for feedback on realism

Houuuuurr

Hello everyone

Recently made a scene in Blender, completed it but there's something that looks off but I can't put my finger on it, I want to achieve a realistic look. Any feedback would be appreciated

ThisisVictoriaZ

Hi, this is a good start! If you want to achieve realism I would highly recommend finding real life references that are interesting to you and trying to recreate them as closely as possible. In your image the door, wall, and floor are clearly just using one tiling material, and are lacking in detail. Where is the trim on the wall? The door doesn't feel like its in the wall, but rather sitting on top of it more like a book shelf, plus it has no handles so how can you open it? What can you do to make it feel more realistic? It also feels very low poly, I would not be afraid to use bevels and extra geo to add more detail to really sell that this is a real place I can go. Here are some examples where they do a good job making their environments feel real

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lD3aqV

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZGYRNm
It may not be the same subject matter but i would look at the quality of their materials, and the details they add to their scenes. 
Also here are some real images 

Joopson

ThisisVictoriaZ said:

This isn't important really, because I think this image looks very good, but as someone who worked at Wayfair, I can tell you this image is a render-- what's important about your point is the realism, and I agree on all points. The lighting in this scene looks great, to me it's the chandelier and the SKU (tables and chairs) that "break" the image a bit and bring out the CG. 

ThisisVictoriaZ

@Joopson thanks for pointing that out! I found the image on Pinterest, which is probably my fault for using Pinterest in the first place nowadays lol but I did think the image demonstrated realistic surroundings of a table and chairs, with the rug underneath and the background elements providing context for where the scene is taking place. In the OPs image I cant really tell where we are, could be a kitchen or a restaurant 

sacboi

Some insightful info already discussed here and additionally as others mentioned lighting can make or break a scene regardless of an intended art direction so I'd also suggest looking into photography techniques, for example 'Rembrandt Lighting'  although the master himself was particularly influenced by the works of Caravaggio in terms his artistic intuition when manipulating 'Chiaroscuro'  too achieve a theatrical juxtaposition between light and shadow.

Houuuuurr

Update:

Thank you @ThisisVictoriaZ, @Joopsonand and @sacboi for the input

In the first render the room is empty and lacks detail as it was pointed out, I had focused on the details of the main subject (the dining table and what's on top of it) and I hadn't payed attention to the rest of the room.

So i added a few things in the scene to make it look more lived in, added some details (turning some items, added the doorknob, a keyhole and a vent), changed the door and doorframe and I removed the image textures and made them procedural.

ThisisVictoriaZ

looking much better!