We don’t have a dining room, the room it would be is a playroom. Instead we have a dining kitchen. Our faithful kitchen table I bought for my first flat in London in 1999, it has served me well, but it was well past its best. My faithful purchase has recently been demoted to “emergency status” and now lives in the shed since Lakeland Furniture got in touch to see if there was anything from their site that would work in my home.
It’s a square shape which folds out to a rectangle. Square it seats four, folded out eight, but it is a squeeze and involves “emergency chairs”! I’ve always loved round dining tables, with a centre pedestal, it makes squeeze more in much easier when no one is wedged into a chair leg.
Here is my tips to finding the right place for dining in your space and that will withstand the test of time:
Measure up. Know what space you have and look for a table with that criteria in mind. Search with the space you have in mind making sure you have enough table-to-wall clearance. To allow diners to sit down and get up easily from their seats, try to leave 42-48″ between your table and the walls.
Put most use first. Prioritise your usual seating arrangements and buy with that in mind. So if you are a family of four make a purchase that will work brilliantly for the 99% of time rather than buy for the once a year demands of Christmas.
Don’t overcrowd. The manufacturer should recommend the number of people that can comfortably be seated without touching elbows while eating. Each person needs about 2 feet of eating space. Of course, if your table allows for it, you might be able to squeeze in another seat or for those occasional larger gatherings.
Go big on the table and small on the seating. When looking to take up less room in a space, try a bench instead of chairs on all or one side of your table. Make sure you can push the bench under the table so you can stash it away when not in use.
Add transparent acrylic chairs, to show of a beautiful table and make a small room feel more spacious.
I love these replica dining chairs.
Round tables are great for small spaces. They fit in tight spaces and have no sharp corners to bump into. You can usually fit more people around it because it has no corners. Pedestal tables are even better, as they offer more legroom.
A rectangular table work better for seating large crowd and in long or narrow rooms. They leave more room for traffic flow. Just keep an eye on table width, as the table length increases the width usually increases as well.
Go square. If your room is square, a square table, like a round one, makes for a more intimate dining experience because everyone is an equal distance apart. Also it will look great mimicking the room shape around it.
I was spoilt for choice however this round table caught my eye and I knew it would work well with my new chairs.
Although I had a good browse I kept coming back to this black round beauty with a centre pedestal and I am delighted with it. Here’s me sitting at my new addition writing this post!
When it comes to your home are you a fan of the round, square or rectangle? Let me know your thoughts below.
