How to design your dining room
(Dining room at Cité Vaneau, Paris VII. Design and photo: Antonia Mahon for Blue Sparks)
Dining spaces can be tricky to decorate! They’re not always a separate room, often part of a ‘cuisine Américain’ as the French say, an ‘American kitchen’ (if you can generalize such a thing!). Or if they are a separate space, dining rooms can feel too formal and uptight, as they’re not often used, or used only for more formal dinners.
So how do you decorate your dining area? The first question is how you’ll use the space. Is it for formal dinner parties for 20 people? (could be, but, agree with you, it’s highly unlikely in this day and age!). Or for having three other couples over for a friendly, informal dinner? Maybe in the day to day, it’s for family meals together and occasionally for bigger dinners with family and friends?
Think about the biggest gathering you can imagine hosting - Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas, for example. How many people will come? Will you do two sittings - kids first then adults, or do you want everyone to sit down together at the same time? If it’s only once or twice a year that you’ll have this many people to feed, you can probably cheat on those occasions by adding extra tables of around the same width to an extendable table - hidden by a festive tablecloth!
Once you’ve worked out how many guests you want to seat, think about how you want to feel while you're eating!
Stately and elegant because you want to impress your guests? Or maybe you want everyone to be able to relax and be comfortable? Once you know how you want to feel, you can choose a couple of these ‘feeling words’ which you will think of when looking for the furniture. I always do this at the beginning of projects for clients, it helps guide the design.
Next, start looking for the biggest piece of furniture - the table! The size of the table obviously depends on the number of people you want to seat at one time. There are many dining table size graphics to be found on the Interweb (as my Dad always called it), and these will give you a good idea. Mainly, though, the size of the table will depend on how big your space is, how wide your chairs are, and how close together you want your guests to be! I prefer guests to be close together as it makes for a better discussion and thus a better party!
So at home, for example, we have an extendable rectangular table which is 90cm wide (about 35 inches) and 160cm long (63 inches). This seats our family of four comfortably day to day. If we have guests, we can fit six comfortably or eight a bit more cozily. And as the table extends to 240cm long (94 inches), we can seat 10 people for celebrations - and even 12, one Christmas, with two people at each end!
One last thing about the table - watch out for the legs! If you’re regularly hosting large groups (eg. 8 or more people), you might want to look for a table which has one central foot (I’ve always loved the oval Tulip table by Eero Saarinen for its grace and simplicity). This way the table legs won’t become bones of contention!
Now to the chairs. I’m a great believer in being comfortable when eating - it just makes the whole meal more relaxed, which means guests will open up and chat more (is it very obvious that I’m Irish?!). So I usually recommend that my clients have comfortable, preferably upholstered chairs with armrests, for each member of the family who regularly eats meals at home. When guests are invited, ideally there are more of the same chairs stored somewhere which can be brought out. And when it’s the full family reunion, they won’t mind sitting on good quality folding chairs which also take up less space at the table!
What other furniture will you need in your dining space? A buffet is always a practical addition, to provide more space for dishes of food, drinks and extra plates and glasses. And you can use it to emphasize the ambiance and style that you want to give the space - remember your ‘feeling words’ during your search! You might also like to include a bar cart, again practical and can look amazing (think of Mad Men!).
Lighting is the next part - preferably no overhead lighting, in my book, as it’s seriously unflattering and you want your guests to feel at ease. So think of lots of lamps, on the walls or on the buffet and a side table. Then a standing lamp or two to bring up the light level, and you’re grand! This enables you to vary which lamps you use and dimmer switches are always a bonus. And lots of candles on the table, obviously!
Wall coverings and colors will depend very much on the ambiance you want to create. Once again, dark colors will make the space feel smaller, and light colors larger. And there are some amazing wallpapers which can really make a dining space come alive.
Now, in terms of acoustics, fabric always helps. And curtains, rugs etc also make a space feel cozy - which is always my preference, probably due to growing up in a large, cold and drafty house in Dublin! So I always include drapes in my designs, along with table cloths and nice napkins to make guests feel special!
If any or all of this feels baffling to you, I’d love to help, just click here and we’ll set up a Zoom call!