Formal dining rooms are on many homeowners’ wish lists.
Many dining rooms have too much furniture. Why not put your buffet or server in a different room? Hildreth moved his sideboard to the living room to use when entertaining. He arranges appetizers on it before dinner, then serves dessert and coffee on it afterward.
“It’s nice not to be tethered to your dining room table and to move into another room after dinner to talk with other guests,” Hildreth said. “And now my sideboard has found a new life.” great options now that are soft and don’t feel like the slippery outdoor fabric of days past,” she said. Additionally, you can take any fabric and get stain treatment applied before upholstering chairs.
If your dining room is small, but you want additional matching chairs available, you can display the chairs in other rooms. Ridder said: “Buy extra chairs and, if you want, do different seat covers for them so you can use them for the living room, family room or bedroom, yet still bring them in for a large dinner around your table.” with a neutral grass cloth that has a bit of coral in it. “It lightened the whole look up,” he said. Because china cabinets are going for very affordable prices in auctions and vintage markets, he suggested buying one and lacquering it with a bold paint color.
Ridder said she advises clients who are renovating a dining room to add down-lights around the chandelier. “It’s nice to have light pointing down on the table as well as chandelier light and candlelight,” she said.
Don’t be so matchymatchy. A different look for the host chairs at either end of the table can make a statement, Burns suggested. Instead of the usual chandelier over the center of the table, try two pendants. Urban clients like having separate dining rooms but may be short on space, Pheasant said. “What do we do if someone will only use their dining room two or three times a month?” he said. “We might create a library there, using a center table and lining shelves with books and photographs.”
If you have a glass china cabinet or hutch crammed with porcelain and crystal, separate what you really use from what you might want to de-accession. Display only a few special pieces; it will give the room a cleaner look and feel more modern. And don’t be afraid to set a nice table with your best china and cloth napkins, even if it’s just for a weeknight family dinner.
Pheasant said, “Use your good stuff and enjoy it.”