Finding what dining furniture works for you to create a you adore
Eating is a very intimate activity. And how you chose to indulge in dining says a lot about you. Some prefer to make dining a formal ritual, while others engage in a meal as way to socialize and to communicate as much as a way to partake of sustenance. How you view mealtime will help determine what dining furniture works for you.
A Formal Affair
For those who consider a meal a formal occasion, the furniture should reflect this preference. An extended table with a removable leaf will accommodate larger events, but can be scaled down for more intimate meals. A china cabinet or curio cabinet provides storage space for seasonal accessories and tableware. Consider a sideboard with built-in wine rack for a spirited serving space. To add drama for formal events, and to create a more understated elegance for day-to-day dining, consider utilizing slip covers to vary the mood for the various occasions.
Country Casual
For a less formal option, country casual provides family friendly furniture with easy elegance. A distressed farmhouse table provides plenty of space for dining, and bench seating allows you to accommodate a fluctuating guest list. This is an especially functional style for with families with children (and their friends, neighbors, and teammates).
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Really Retro
Diner chic provides many fashionable furniture finds. Fifties inspired looks, complete with laminate tables and vinyl covered seats offer easy to clean comfort for smaller spaces. Let your imagination run wild with classic reds, whites, and blues, or make it more modern with neon hues. Consider converting a metal framed baker’s rack into a mini-bar, or create a serving space with a wall mounted buffet server.
Marvelously Modern
A sleek pub table with bar chairs is a simple way to create a dining space with a cost-conscious yet contemporary flare. Make it modern with a mostly monochrome scheme accented with flashes of metallic and splashes of dramatic accent colors.
Shabby Chic
The shabby chic dining room combines flea market finds with sparks of elegance and whimsy. Use an “up-cycled” armoire as a mini-bar space, pair it with a French Country farm table, and mix and matched chairs with matching seat covers. Use complimentary colors and patterns to pull it all together for the perfect dining room for a romantic get-away. Off whites, rich rose, and blue-willow hues provide the perfect palette for a shabby chic space.
English Eclectic
The English have a time-honored sense of style that combines antiques and modern baubles, rich tapestries with rustic tartans. Bring a bit of England to your dining room with a heavy wooden table surrounded by chairs in a variety of styles covered in a well-wearing wool blend.
Consider using rich jewel tones, or your own family tartan, as the color scheme for your eclectic space.
Large scaled curio cabinets, or a rich mahogany buffet provide a stage for a collection of tea sets, crystal wine decanters, or pieces of silver. Pieces of furniture and accessories passed down from generation to generation work well in this mix-and-match motley of oddments. This styles works well for collectors or those with a penchant for the past.
Consider how you entertain?big and formal, or quiet and intimate?as well as the size and temperament of your family when you choose pieces for your eating space and, of course, keep in mind the size and scale of your room. No matter what style you prefer, gather together pieces that you love, accessories that speak to you, and a palette of colors that soothe you in order to determine what dining furniture works for you.