Want a lighter dining room? Try a white table
Like fashion, decorating trends come in waves.
One day, everyone wants a sputnik light fixture in their foyer, and the next they want a Moroccan Beni Ourainstyle rug on their living room floor. If my clients’ wishes are an indication of what’s next, then I’m predicting light, bright dining rooms.
In the past few weeks, three clients have called wanting to lighten up their dining rooms. They all said they wanted these underutilized rooms to be happy, uplifting and airy. The dark wood furnishings they had installed 10 or so years ago — the ones they used to think of as warm and cozy — now feel too serious and boardroom-like.
Their desire for change is partly driven by the fact that they all want to use these rooms more — particularly during the day — so a fresher design seems more inviting. I also attribute their change to today’s ever-growing influence of Scandinavian design that favors lighter woods and paler colors.
Although there are several ways of giving my clients what they want — repainting the walls, changing the window treatments — I have urged them to start by making the biggest piece in the room, the dining table, white. White tables are crisp and clean, and every kind of china, glass, flower and linen (not to mention food!) looks good on them.
My clients also have dark wood floors, so a white table will immediately lighten a large horizontal swath of the room.
White dining tables are plentiful on the market, but my clients all decided to transform existing tables instead of buying a new one.
One client had her walnut table custom-made — she still loves the shape, just not the finish. So the solution is to have it sanded, stripped, and white-lacquered. The process is not inexpensive; Harry C. Johnson & Son, a Maryland-based furniture restorer and refinisher, estimated that refinishing her table would cost about $2,800 and take 10 to 15 days. Of course, pricing varies based on the size and shape of the table.
Another client’s dining table has a dark industrial concrete top that is so heavy visually and literally that the only way to get it out is to break it or have it craned out. (The table is in an eighth-floor apartment.) To give it a facelift, the client’s architects suggested a quarter-inch to half-inch-thick white Corian top adhered to the concrete with an epoxy.
In the last case, my client doesn’t want to commit to a white table. We settled on a white tablecloth to the floor with an inverted pleat at each corner, topped with glass.
As for the chairs, my clients are keeping theirs; one client plans to recover the seats in a lighter fabric. We all agree: The chairs will look fresher paired with a white table. Their shape will stand out more, and the juxtaposition will make the rooms look more interesting.