Dining in the Round: My New Table
I'm a design and food-obsessed freelance writer and market research analyst, and a stay-at-home mom.
I'm a design and food-obsessed freelance writer and market research analyst,... More »
I had a busy weekend, mostly stimulating the economy of the furniture industry. Our big purchase was something I'd been casually looking for for a while: an expandable round dining room table. I am so excited that I'm still a little jittery.
There aren't many tables like this one out there - it starts as a round table that seats four, but expands via a bunch of hinges, becoming a round table that seats eight to ten. It's solid teak and made by the Danish company Dyrlund. As far as we can tell, it was probably made in the late 1960's. And there are only a few out there.
So, now that I have my awesome round dining table, I'm trying to figure out how best to rearrange my dining room to make the most of the table shape. We've actually put the table in our former living room, which is right as you walk in the house, and moved our old living room furniture to create a loungey spot in the old dining room, which is open to the kitchen.
Here are a couple of pictures of our new dining space, along with some round tables I love. Any ideas for decor, rugs, arrangement, or table-setting would be greatly appreciated!
There aren't many tables like this one out there - it starts as a round table that seats four, but expands via a bunch of hinges, becoming a round table that seats eight to ten. It's solid teak and made by the Danish company Dyrlund. As far as we can tell, it was probably made in the late 1960's. And there are only a few out there.
So, now that I have my awesome round dining table, I'm trying to figure out how best to rearrange my dining room to make the most of the table shape. We've actually put the table in our former living room, which is right as you walk in the house, and moved our old living room furniture to create a loungey spot in the old dining room, which is open to the kitchen.
Here are a couple of pictures of our new dining space, along with some round tables I love. Any ideas for decor, rugs, arrangement, or table-setting would be greatly appreciated!
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| Here's the table, expanded to seat eight to ten. It's in a fairly traditional-looking space - lots of old art on the walls (mostly old school family photos and seafood-related pictures) and newer family photos on the mantle.
My poor old living room rug is obviously too small for the expanded table, but I don't want to rush out to buy something new without thinking it through. You can just see one of our dining room chairs at the back left. They're simple - brown/black leather Hendriksdal chairs from IKEA. Nothing fancy, but they work with the table and they're comfortable. |
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| This is a close-up of one of the hinged pieces. These two pieces fold together, as do pairs around the table. Then, you can pick up the main part of the table and slide the folded sections underneath to hide them. It's brilliant! |
by Axis Mundi
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When I think of round tables, tulips often come to mind. I like the simple way they're usually accessorized, too.
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| In this space, I really like the way the round table contrasts with the crisp squares of art on the wall. |
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by Axis Mundi
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| Similarly, I think this boxy vase looks great with the round table. I love these chairs, too. |
by Pierce Allen
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My table has four legs - something a little more traditional - though I like this single pedastal.
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| Something about round tables invites really cool chairs, like these. It makes me wonder if we should think about mixing up the chairs a bit at home. |
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I love these chairs, too, especially with the glass table and great floor.
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One more set of chairs I'm into - I like the mix of color and could actually pull this off at home with some slipcovers.
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| This little table is a good reminder of why I wanted a round dining table to begin with: there's something more intimate about dinner when everyone can see everyone's faces (even if there are 10 faces to see). |
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by Lori Gilder
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| I like how these wood chairs contrast with the smooth glass table. Makes me wonder if we should go acrylic for our chairs (one day). |
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I like this mix of chair and bench and wonder if I could pull this off at home - and how hard it would be to find a curved bench.
Ideabook published on Aug. 10, 2010.
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have you picked your chairs yet? This table is so versatile that the room doesn't even have to look like a full time dining room unless you want it to.
Becky - I hadn't seen that room but I love it! The chairs we have (we already had some) are pretty plain - IKEA Hendricksdal in brown/black leather. They're just sort of solid and comfortable. Right now, they're just lining the walls, though - until we figure out our rug situation.
and thanks for the tip on wisteria.com, fluzie2000. I'm usually a Target tablecloth kind of girl and I've just realized that I'm going to have to branch out and maybe buy something a little nicer now that my table is so big! I'm feeling pretty protective of it right now, too, so tablecloths are definitely important. (And no poker, even though at least one of my guy friends immediately noticed that it's perfect for cards...)
When I got home, I did some online research to find out more about it. It looks like similar tables sometimes go up on auction sites, like eBay or 1stdibs. There's also a $20K version of something similar available here: http://www.dbfletcher.com/. Not really in our budget, but it's a gorgeous table!
Considering how functional and practical they are, it's surprising there aren't more of them floating around, huh?
We did go to Hampden too, though. Have you ever been to Oakenshawe 1021? It was closed last weekend, but when I've been in the past I've seen some of the most amazing vintage mid-century stuff...
Overpowering