Dining Room Furniture

This rich green and yellow Dining Room has plenty of room to move around the
table,even with the sideboard and plant to the side.

The furniture in the Dining Room needs to be functional and practical. It is very important in this room to make sure that the traffic pattern is clear of furniture and obstacles. Refer to last lessons lesson on requirements for seating clearances and apply them to this lessons layout of your Dining Room table and chairs. One thing that we didn't mention last lesson that is all important, is to make sure that your arm chairs (if you use them at your table) fit underneath the table. There's nothing worse than not being able to scoot your chair all the way under a table!

As A Multipurpose Room

• Work/Study Area?

The Dining Room is a very popular place for people to pay bills, and even run a home business. If you are using the Dining Room for work because you don't have any extra space in the house, you may want to purchase a home office workstation. These units will hold a computer and have plenty of store and workspace,and (the best part!) you can close the doors and hide all the work and mess when not in use! If you do use this room for task such as this, pay special attention to the Lighting page for tips.

• Library?

The Dining Room is an ideal place to build floor to ceiling bookshelves and store all your wonderful books. You could even have a bookcase built that is only 36" tall and use the top as a buffet. Books not only add warmth to the room, but the Dining Room can be a quite place, away from the TV and phone, to read. If you have room, add a small reading chair in a corner. Or, if you have space, it looks (and feels) wonderful to use two Wing Chairs as your end chairs with small Ottomans. This makes the Dining Room table a comfortable place to read the paper, a book or just relax after a great meal.

• Exercise Area?

One word ... NO! Don't do it! Put the Treadmill in the Bedroom or Den. There is nothing that can ruin a great pasta dish with tons of carbohydrates, than staring at a Treadmill while you're eating!

Necessary Furniture

Aside from the table and chairs, the other items of furniture that you need in your Dining Room will be different from the next person. After determining how you use the room, how you serve, how often you entertain you will be able to decide what is best for you.

• Do you like to have a buffet or side table to place serving dishes on during a meal?
• Do you entertain often and if so, how many people on average? Should you get a table with removal sections?
• Do you need a china cabinet or store china and serving pieces? If so, how much storage space do you need?
• Do you use the Dining Room as a study or work area? If so, is there adequate lighting?

The Table

There are a lot of different shapes and types of tables that you can choose from. You might have a solid wood table, or a pedestal with a glass top. To determine the size you need, follow the guide below:

Square Table

• A 36" square table will seat 4
• A 42" square table will seat 4
• A 48" square table will seat 4
• A 54" square table will seat 4

Round Table

• A 36" round table will seat 4
• A 42" round table will seat 4
• A 48" round table will seat 4 - 5
• A 54" round table will seat 5 - 6

Rectangle

• 36" x 60" rectangular table will seat 6
• 36" x 72" rectangular table will seat 6
• 42" x 60" rectangular table will seat 6
• 42" x 72" rectangular table will seat 6
• 42" x 84" rectangular table will seat 8
• 48" x 60" rectangular table will seat 6
• 48" x 72" rectangular table will seat 6
• 48" x 84" rectangular table will seat 8

At times, we have all squeezed more people at a table than the above, however, you can use the above guides as a ballpark. A lot will depend on the size of your chairs and the intimacy of the group! Measure the width of your chairs and refer to last lessons lesson on table space required per seating.

How about cowhide fur upholstery on your Dining Room chairs?