Designing your Dining Room
From LoveToKnow Interior Design
Many homeowners want beautiful, functional spaces in their homes. Designing your dining room can be a challenge depending on its formality, the number of guests you expect to entertain, and the type of dining that will take place.
Designing Your Dining Room: Basic Considerations
Before picking out wall colors and ordering a new table and chairs, it is important to consider the basics of interior design as they apply to a dining room. The basic room you have to work with as well as how you plan to use it are crucial factors when designing your dining room.
Size
The size of the room helps dictate the colors and furnishings that are most suitable. A very small dining room, for example, would feel cluttered and overcrowded when paired with dark, heavy furniture, dark walls, and heavy drapes. Large rooms, on the other hand, will feel empty if the table is tiny and there are no other furnishings, particularly if the window is bright and airy and the walls are light-colored. If the room is very small, consider adding an additional window or wall cutout to enhance the space – windows that open into the kitchen are especially valuable and efficient. To shrink a large room to a more manageable size, add tall plants, rich drapes, or additional pieces of furniture (a china cabinet for example).
Formality
A formal dining room meant for use only on special occasions needs different design consideration than an informal eatery. While candid family pictures may be appropriate for a casual setting, a formal portrait is a better accent in a formal room. Furthermore, a crystal chandelier is out of place in an informal room, while generic floor lamps are not suitable for a fine dining room. Choosing the formality of the room will help determine these basic interior design choices.
Frequency
Designing your dining room can be an expensive project, and before you choose to create an opulent formal setting, consider how frequently you will use it. If the dining room is pressed into service regularly for Sunday dinners, dinner parties, and holiday gatherings, it may be well worth it to seek professional advice, whereas if it is to be a casual or less frequently used room, your personal preferences may be all the design consultation you need.
Accessibility
One often overlooked consideration when designing dining rooms is accessibility. Naturally, there should be easy access to the kitchen, and if you plan on extensive entertaining it should be accessible to other gathering areas as well ( living room, home theater, etc.). Furthermore, the dining room should be near a bathroom for convenience.
Not only does a dining room need to be accessible to other parts of the house, but it should be roomy enough that guests do not need to vacate their chairs to let other people pass or to retrieve dishes from a cabinet.
Furniture
Additional furniture in a dining room is a matter of personal preference. Many people choose to incorporate china cabinets into the décor to highlight fine china and crystal, and a wine rack would certainly not be out of place. When adding these extra pieces, however, always consider the available space and whether they will make the room uncomfortably crowded.
Lighting
Lighting is a crucial consideration when designing your dining room. Guests should have adequate light to appreciate the food without squinting, but the light should not be so harsh as to glare off a white tablecloth or dishes. Chandeliers are common fixtures in dining rooms, and they can be purchased in a variety of designs and styles to match any level of formality. When choosing lighting fixtures, take into account the presence of natural light: if you plan on hosting dinner parties, avoid western-facing windows that would focus the setting sun into your guests’ eyes.
Designing Your Dining Room: Extra Details
While the simplest of dining rooms can be designed after considering only basic elements, multi-functional rooms with decorative accents add personality and flair to the overall effect.
Multiple Functions
If you plan on hosting a variety of different functions – dinner parties, brunches, luncheons, etc. – you need to consider flexibility in your dining room’s interior design. An expandable table, for example, can be adjusted to suit different party sizes, and an interior window with access to the kitchen can serve as an admirable buffet station.
Decorative Accents
Accents in a dining room should be kept minimal so that they do not need to be frequently rearranged to accommodate different meals. A centerpiece is the most common choice and can easily be coordinated to suit different holidays or events. Take care, however, that nothing on the table is so tall or bulky that it obscures guests sitting across from one another, a problem that will stunt conversation and enjoyment no matter how gorgeous the decoration.
Designing your dining room can be a challenge, particularly if it will be used for a wide variety of events. With careful consideration of key factors such as furniture, size, accessibility, and formality, however, a dining room can be both a beautiful and a functional space that adds prestige and value to any home.
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Comments
How far off a wall should a dining table with chairs be located while still being able to move freely behind seated people?
-- Contributed by: TabbyI need to know what size table will fit into a 9'x 9' dining room?
I desire to have a round table and the room is square but is connected w/lving room.
-- Contributed by: QuanThis page has been accessed 5,956 times. This page was last modified 17:32, 13 May 2006.
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