How To Buy The Right Dining Table & Chairs For Your Dining Room

Eating & sleeping are two of the most important things we do every day, & having a lovely designer kitchen with wonderful cooking smells wafting from it needs an equally wonderful dining area. Whether you eat in your kitchen, or have a separate formal dining room, or a dining area in your open plan living room having the right dining furniture really matters. Nearly all of us entertain at some point, too, so it’s always good to put a little bit of extra effort into your dining space. Often it’s the only area our visitors spend any amount of time in.

First the practical considerations. Do you need easy to clean dining furniture? Indestructible dining table & chairs for the children? Or is style more important & the worst that will happen is a spilt glass of wine?

If you need child friendly dining sharp edges can often be a no-no. So a modern dining table with a rectangular glass top where the edges are exposed could be tempting fate, & it might be better to find a dining table with an oval or round top, or get a wooden table. Marble tables aren’t a good idea with children either as marble will stain. Wood can be easily marked, & lacquer can be scratched. Looking at all of this it’s easy to see why farmhouse & shabby chic style tables are so popular! But they can be so dull, so brighten them up with some cool dining chairs, don’t go for matching chairs.

Size is your next consideration. How many people will you want to seat at your dining table? Is it just the two of you, with the odd dinner party or celebration? Or an ever changing cast of family, neighbours, friends & extra children?

At the very least you probably need to allow seating for four people, but most dining tables will seat four anyway. Otherwise, if you plan for the number of people that you have there 80% of the time you can then either squash extra guests in, or buy an extending dining table.

The size of your dining table needs to reflect the size of the dining area. A too large dining table that overwhelms the room won’t look good. Of course if you have an extending dining table, & it is extended it probably will be a little big but that is unavoidable. Being able to move other pieces of furniture away from the dining area when the table is extended will help though. As long as your guests can get in & out without everyone else having to get up you should be fine. A table that is too small for the dining room will spoil the look of the room too. Even if you usually only have two of you if the space is large then a bigger table is usually better. Round dining tables take up a little more room so might be a good option in this instance & are great for adult conversation.

What about other dining furniture & accessories? Sideboards are a particularly useful piece of furniture, hiding clutter & providing a lot of storage in a relatively small area. If your table is usually covered in toys or books they can be easily put away in a sideboard when guests arrive, & any special cutlery, crockery & glasses can be stored in it until, needed, along with bottles of liqeuers, brandy & scotch. They can also be a useful way to display accessories, for example a lovely table lamp or vase of fresh flowers, & provided the top is protected can be used to hold serving dishes, nibbles & ice buckets.

A wall mirror about the sideboard will add some space & throw some light into the room, & sparkle in the evening light, & a tall floor lamp in a corner or table lamp on a sideboard or a corner table will provide extra lighting if you want low lighting but still want guests to see their food. The idea is to make accessories practical as well as decorative, & for them to be versatile enough to look good every day, & add that extra something for special occasions.

Finally you need to think about your theme. Is your home contemporary? Full of antiques? Traditional? French style? Farmhouse style? It is best to broadly stay within the theme of your chosen decor, but its always possible to mix styles within reason. Mix your practical, solid wood dining table with some brightly coloured chairs, or some crisp white contemporary chairs. Perhaps buy dining chairs in different colours, two of each colour, or have one half of the dining table in one colour, & the other in another colour. Dining chairs in primary colours are fun in a kitchen & can pick up the colours in a bowl of fruit, whilst white, silver & lighter colours always look good in an open plan dining area & in a formal dining room antiques & black gloss lacquer can really look amazing.

Make sure your dining table & chairs not only suit your overall decorating scheme but are also suitable for the room they are in. High backed chairs in a kitchen just don’t work, & a rugged wooden table in a formal dining room is also not a good idea. You may want your dining set to match, but in a kitchen it might be better to have some contrast. In a formal dining rom matching dining table, chairs & sideboard can look fantastic, & there’s always room to add different accessories.

Make sure that when you have finished your dining area it reflects three things, your taste & life, your home, & the immediate environs. Its tempting to buy some magazines & transport the look wholesale into your home, but to really feel comfortable it needs to feel like your home, not someone else’s. Don’t forget, your diners are there to be with you, not a magazine!

By: TJM

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For fabulous designer dining tables & dining chairs have a look at Go Modern, who have a large range of dining room furniture in contemporary styles.