Eating can be more than just sustenance. It can be an art, an event, an ambient evening in a beautiful space. But not if your guests' chairs are banging the walls, elbows are bumping and a harsh light glares down from above.
The dining room sets the stage for memorable events. And with homes evolving in many directions, the dining room sometimes doubles as an everyday eating area. So when designing this room, it pays to know how you serve and eat and, ultimately, how you live, too.
When creating a dining room, there are certain things to consider.
"The most important thing is that the room should reflect personality," says Colleen Law, sales manager at Cottswood Interiors in Edmonton. "There are so many options out there, but you must be true to your character. If you are a casual person, it's unlikely that you will feel comfortable at a formal table. It's important to think about how you entertain and how you live."
Some keys things that demand attention when designing a dining space are:
-- How many people should the dining table seat? What is the minimum and maximum?
-- Will the dining room serve as a room only for special occasions, or also for everyday meals?
-- Do you need storage in your dining room for special collections or additional china and silverware?
-- How do you serve -- from the kitchen, or buffet-style in the dining room?
"If people like to entertain often, they probably want a separate dining room," Law says.
There are many styles of tables, but Law sees most of her customers choosing wood tables that can expand with leaves, making it easy to add a few extra people to the guest list.
"One way to make a dining room unique is to have unusual hostess chairs at each end. This separates the table ends from the others and really punctuates the room. It is also a more formal design feature," explains Law.
Another option she recommends is a circular table, though this requires either a large, expansive room or a square room.
"Round tables are lovely. The beauty of the circular shape is that everyone is in the same position. It's great for conversation and makes things more even."
Such tables have exterior leaves of 12 inches that maintain the circular shape without turning the table into an oval.
Jason Morris, a design consultant at McElheran's Fine Furniture, loves dining rooms best.
"People tend to do something different, something special in their dining rooms, even if they are typically "beige" people," he says. "It's a room that's slightly disconnected from the rest of the home, so you can do something really unique without causing discord."
Morris recommends first analyzing your style, whether traditional, contemporary, or eclectic. Then comes the budget. Finally, Morris tells his clients to envision what kind of entertaining they want to do and what mood they want to create.
There's a big difference between intimate, sit-down dinners with low lighting, which he says are more formal, and cheerful, buffet-style dinners where there's a lot of movement between rooms.
"Buffet-style serving requires more space, so people can move about to get their meals," says Morris.
"For more intimate entertaining, it's OK to have a bit less space, as only the host and hostess will be serving while guests remain seated."
Morris sees long rectangular tables as more formal, with squares and circles being casual.
"The shape of the table affects conversation, and it tends to be more casual without a head of the table."
And don't forget about dressing the table and the room.
"It's nice to have two extra chairs on either side of the buffet to pull out for extra seating, and having a buffet provides extra storage, Morris explains.
Intimate dinners need dark luxe colours and dim lighting. Beautiful things on the buffet, art on the walls, and vases and sculptural pieces serve to stimulate conversation; the dining room is often where my clients will hang signature pieces of art."
As Law does, Morris recommends investing in a table that provides lots of options and sizes.
"Just make sure the room isn't too cramped," he emphasizes. "And make sure to include nice lighting and lamps, not just utilitarian task lighting."
-- Postmedia News
