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I love my formal dining room. Maybe what turns many people off is the term formal? If the furnishings are light and fun, even though it's a separate space, would that make it more appealing to some?
We use ours for lots and lots of things. Nice big dinners or smaller ones. Great big table for cutting out fabric, sitting around for a business meeting (like a conference table), etc. I like to do jigsaw puzzles at one end.
Originally we'd thought of putting the china cabinet on one wall and moving the table over slightly to accommodate that. Then we changed our minds and put our cabinet right outside the entry to that room in a little alcove. And we centered the table in the room. Chandelier was now off center. I think the swag idea is great. But we did move the box and the hard part was matching the drywall texture and repainting.
If you move a chandelier, there are always those round medallions in many styles that could hide a bit of mis-matched texturing. Someday we'll down-size and I fear we'll lose our dining room. But I hope to always have some sort of dedicated space for this.
I have an open floor plan, but most people with my model have a separate extra room with french doors that can be an office or den and they squeeze the dining area along with the living room into a relatively small area. I had them take down the walls so I do not have that extra room on my main floor, but I use that space as a dedicated dining room area. For me, this is the perfect compromise. I have enough room to put both leaves in my table and comfortably seat 10 (12 or even 14 would normally fit around my table but my chairs are large so it's a little tough).
It's still open to the rest of the room, but I have enough room for an art deco buffet and another small piece and between those and the chandelier, it definitely says "dining room" even if it's missing 1.5 of the walls it might have. And I doubled my living room space this way, so that's nice too. Possibly with a bigger family I might have wanted the separate den but with it being just me and the kiddo, this works great for us.
As for "the rules" - some things just make sense, like the height of a chandelier hanging over a table, or how much clearance you need for chairs around a table. Not that everything has to fit some dictated number within a half inch, but I think the linked piece is a helpful guide as a starting point esp. for someone who may not have tried furnishing a dining room before.
(ETA: I'm not allowed to rep Silibran again, or I would have to say thanks for posting a helpful and informative link)
I have an open floor plan, but most people with my model have a separate extra room with french doors that can be an office or den and they squeeze the dining area along with the living room into a relatively small area. I had them take down the walls so I do not have that extra room on my main floor, but I use that space as a dedicated dining room area. For me, this is the perfect compromise. I have enough room to put both leaves in my table and comfortably seat 10 (12 or even 14 would normally fit around my table but my chairs are large so it's a little tough).
It's still open to the rest of the room, but I have enough room for an art deco buffet and another small piece and between those and the chandelier, it definitely says "dining room" even if it's missing 1.5 of the walls it might have. And I doubled my living room space this way, so that's nice too. Possibly with a bigger family I might have wanted the separate den but with it being just me and the kiddo, this works great for us.
As for "the rules" - some things just make sense, like the height of a chandelier hanging over a table, or how much clearance you need for chairs around a table. Not that everything has to fit some dictated number within a half inch, but I think the linked piece is a helpful guide as a starting point esp. for someone who may not have tried furnishing a dining room before.
(ETA: I'm not allowed to rep Silibran again, or I would have to say thanks for posting a helpful and informative link)
Thanks. From time to time we get questions about how high to hang chandeliers. The info about rugs was good to.
And I liked the pics. I found them very pretty.
I also want to mention that an awful lot of our posters here really do live and like older homes, presumably with dining rooms or designated dining areas.
I disregarded the guildlines on chandelier height. Mine is high enough that it is above everyone’s head, while seated at the table, but it is still quite low. I wanted it to be the focal point in the room.
If you want to find original objects to decor your dining room I suggest you to use glass blown products, because they add a touch of style. Searching online I found www.yourmurano.com/en the official Murano Glass shop, online I found many original Murano Glass creations with a certificate by the Italian law which is "Vetro Artistico Murano" Trademark of Origin. Finally I can shop a large variety of blown glass products from home and I'm sure to receive them within a few days. If you like glass creations you should check it out, they also have free worldwide shipping !!
Beautiful pictures, indeed. I've saved some of those design ideas on my Pinterest for future renovation projects. My simple rule for setting up dining room tables is to not cramp the space. Personally, it's a terrible feeling having to dine in cramped spaces with exception to romantic candlelit dinners (you lose the sense of space and time in such instances). However, I'm a fan of unsophisticated designs; I prefer something that looks like these dining room furniture sets. Such sets have a kind of vintage feel associated with it and look neat. Those lighting ideas are exemplary- I'm willing to have a go at one of those definitely.
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