Designing your Dining Room (January 18, 2010)

Designing your Dining Room

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 ¨C 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

The first consideration for dining room furniture should be the number of necessary chairs. Nothing will destroy a carefully designed dining room more quickly than importing folding chairs when extra seats are needed. Table size is also a factor: be sure to leave at least 24 inches of clearance around the perimeter of the room (while the chairs are in place around the table) to allow guests to move about freely.Additional furniture in a dining room is a matter of personal preference. Many people choose to incorporate china cabinets into the d¨¦cor 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.

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