How many of us have a dining room that we rarely use? It is usually a room in the house that is more formal and always looks picture perfect. We typically use the room for holidays when we are hosting family and friends for a festive event.
I see so many dining rooms that I feel the homeowners aren’t out-fitting to their personal needs. It can sometimes be a room where people think of a certain formula consisting of a table, chairs, china cabinet and a buffet. And usually always matching in style.
BORING!
Sometimes a furniture company will have a style that matches in its finish, but the styling isn’t exact. But to match the style of all of the furniture in any room is way too safe and usually always lackluster.
It is always important to ask yourself how a room is to be used. In a dining room, of course, people will sit and dine. But how many people would you like to serve? Let’s find a way to seat everyone without having to push people together or filling the room too tightly.
Consider using less caseloads in the room such as cabinets or consoles and make your table as large as possible. Or, at least, provide the opportunity to add table sections to accommodate the number of guests you desire.
Do you really need to showcase your parents or grandparents china in a cabinet that your kids probably don’t want to deal with when the service ware is passed on to them?
More times than not, the china cabinet is unnecessary. It is usually always filled with pieces you can live without. A buffet can help store service items you cannot fit into your pantry or kitchen, and it grounds a piece of art or a mirror nicely. It can also give you a landing space should you be serving a buffet meal.
A mirror can always open a space up and add dimension to a room. Considering options for a mirror frame, one can select a more formal or more casual feel. Maybe you want a more antique mirror instead of a clear and clean reflective mirror.
Round tables can usually always fit a room better than a rectangle. Round always fits a square space best, and if your room is a rectangle, by fitting a furniture piece at one long end, this will create a more square space for your table.
Diners seated at a round table can also converse with one another more easily. However, a rectangle table can sometimes offer a series of additions that can be added to accommodate a larger group of people.
Maybe consider angling the table in the room. Pivoting it under the chandelier is important. But this look can be interesting and create more space for chairs once they are pulled out from the table.
Your rug should be the appropriate size and shape. A rectangular rug should be placed under a rectangular table and a round or square rug under a round table.
Make sure that your chairs are STILL sitting on the rug when they are pulled out to sit on. No one wants to sit on an uneven chair with the front legs on the thicker rug and the back legs on your floor. And the back legs can certainly scratch your hardwood floor as they are pushed in and out.
The photo above is a dining room I designed for a client. We used the largest round table we could find so that this homeowner could sit eight people comfortably or seat ten in a pinch.
My client didn’t need any storage, so we used a tall mirror flanked with large ginger jars sitting on pedestals. Large art on the other large wall filled the space nicely and cleanly.
We created an elegant look without a lot of clutter. The room is well appointed, pretty to look at and able to fit the required number of guests.
