First, if your room isn't massive in size, (no less than 15'+ in width if your table is 42" wide) I wouldn't consider adding an additional piece of furniture to the room. What is the purpose of the sideboard? To serve or to store?

If you are fortunate enough to have a very large dining room, you can mix and match furnishings 'carefully'.

Here is an English style dining table and chairs with a gessoed & painted chest that complement one another in a room I worked on. English and French styles combined. It would not have been as successful if every thing was in mahogany.

Thanks for your reply. Our dining room is about 12 x 12. The china hutch we have is 18" deep and our table is 40". The sideboard I was thinking of putting in there would be about 18". So, with my calculations, assuming we center the table, we would have 34" from table end to the sideboard and 34" to the china hutch. From what I read, that's ok if you don't want a path to walk behind the people seated at the table.

So, if I forgo the sideboard, would I center the table in the room creating a bigger walkway on one side of the table? Or would I then center it between the wall and china hutch? The opposite walls of the room have a window and a 5' opening to another room. I had thought I should center the table completely in the middle of the room so it's centered on the window as well.

sallyd1120,

Still missing some numbers here to layout the room for you. You can see below what I have so far, and what I'm guessing at.

What is the length of the table that is 40" deep, the china hutch, the sideboard. Is the window a picture window like I have displayed in the layout? Any other elements in the room that would effect the layout? How big are the chairs? Is there electric in the ceiling centered for a light fixture? All these elements go into determining what will fit in the room. A picture would help

The window is 2 windows side by side, so what you have is fine. The opening is correct. In the bottom right of your diagram there needs to be an opening to the kitchen. It's 33" wide and it's all the way to the corner (maybe 3" of wall, then opening, then rest of wall).

The table is 40 x 70. It does have a leaf that can make is 88, but that will only be used for holidays when the whole family is in town, so I'm not worried about that.

The chairs are 24" d x 19,75" w. We have 6 of them.
The china hutch is 18" d x 54.5" w (57.63" at top).
The sideboard is 18"d x 52" w.

Please ignore the mess in the photo. We are in the middle of going through some things and have temporarily placed stuff on the table. Also there is a table in the right far corner that will most likely be moved and another piece that you can barely see on the right that will also be moved out of that room. We still need to hang the chandelier and buy some curtains. I could really use a suggestion for a curtain color. The walls are Benjamin Moore Hush and Benjamin Moore Lodge. I had thought something gold/orange would be nice and found some called Gold Imperial Striped at World Market (http://www.worldmarket.com/product/gold-imperial-stripe-grommet-curtain.do), but they looked so dull in the room. So, I need something else. I want something to pop! The plan was to put the sideboard on the wall opposite the china hutch and put a nice painting over it with colors that match with the curtains.

Thanks!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Gold Imperial Striped Curtain

Here's the wall with the china hutch (which also needs to be cleaned out). I feel like we will never be done getting things in order! Ahhhh!!!