The Dining Room: It's Basic Elements

Today's dining room is often much more than a place to eat and entertain guests. Actually, each person must choose whether their lifestyle should include a formal dining room or not. Mine doesn't. I actually have my office/studio in my formal dining room. I used to have it in an upstairs bedroom, but I felt cut off from my home and what was happening in it. I like being at the hub of things at all times. And since I also have an "informal dining room" too, I have dispensed with my "formal" room in favour of my much more practical office.

I also hate to cook and that makes me pretty much of a non-entertainer, therefore, I really have no need of a formal dining room. But you'll have to look at your lifestyle and that of your family and make the appropriate decisions that work for you. Having said that, let's now take a look at the typical types of funiture one usually finds in a formal dining room: a large, long table (or it could be round or square), side chairs, a hutch or chest to hold food and serving dishes, table settings, lighting, carpeting (with perhaps an area rug too), and window treatments.

When choosing a table for your dining room, check your available space and then consider how you like to entertain the most and how often you entertain at all. Ask yourself the following questions. Can you stand eating on trays? How can you have a room in which a meal can be served both in the traditional manner and in a buffet style? Is there a way the room can be used for more than just dining? What types of furniture will the room hold without blocking traffic lanes? Will the room have, or does it presently have dado (also known as wainscotting or chair rail) that will affect placement or height of any of the furniture?

DECORATING TIP - If you have a hard flooring surface, and you choose an area rug, make sure that when the chairs are pulled back to accommodate guests while seated, that the entire chair rests on the area rug. You never want to have the back legs on the hard surface and the front legs on the area rug.

DECORATING TIP - If you place a floral arrangement in the center of the table, make sure it is not so tall that it would require someone to part the flowers in order to see and converse with someone on the opposite side of the table.