We have comfortable chairs at our dining table. They are Mitchell Gold chairs that look like large parsons chairs, two with arms. Our dining table is casual (100 year old oak), so we aren't in a formal setting.

We also eat breakfast (in winter) at the sofa in our garden room. The coffee table is actually a bench with a woven seat. Sturdy enough to hold dishes and books, soft enough to use as an ottoman.

In the summer, we eat breakfast on our screened porch where we have a wicker sofa and wicker glider. The table is a 36" round wood table at coffee table height.

In Southern Accents, there is a breakfast room with a love seat for seating on one side and two wooden chairs on the opposite side. The wall behind it is filled with botanical prints.

A few years ago, the HGTV Dream House in North Carolina had a large round coffee table surrounded by comfy, upholstered chairs that you'd see in a family room. I thought it was a great idea.

I think this is a great idea. I would love to have dining with soft comfy chairs. However, kids ruining pretty fabrics is my problem. We once had comfy wicker chairs but pancakes and all kinds of food became sticky messes in between the wicker in the chairs. I look forward to other's thoughts on this.

I like this idea too and have been thinking about it for the eating area of my kitchen. I want to create a comfy place where people can hang out for long conversations. Or where I can sit with a coffee and a book. So I'd like something comfier than your standard kitchen chair. I saw a picture once in a magazine of a kitchen table in front of a loveseat. But I'm worried about the seating being too low and about things getting dirty. Maybe a leather setee? Or a couple of wicker arm chairs? But I've found wicker to be pretty non-durable. A booth with built-in seats won't work because of the large windows in the eating area. Anyway, just thought I'd put my thoughts out there. I haven't done anything yet.

I bought the table and after trying four chairs, realized we just weren't going to sit there. So I decided on these two overstuffed, needepoint backed chairs. It is more cozy; I read the paper and sip tea at this table.

We're planning to do this in our house. The PO took out the wall between DR and kitchen so he could expand the kitchen by a couple of feet, which makes a comfy couch for people to hang out and chat with the person cooking almost a no-brainer. We would not use a formal dining room table so there's no point in having one. What we decided to do is get a high coffee table (probably cutting down a pedestal dining table) and some comfortable wing chairs, and when we wish to dine there in a group we can pull the coffee table closer to the couch and bring the other chairs over to the table. I have seen this setup in some coffeehouses I've visited and have always liked it. We're going to put the leather couch in this arrangement, and leather cleans up beautifully. I'm sure the chairs are going to be secondhand, leather would be ideal but highly unlikely, but I figured I'd at least Scotchgard them (outside, with a respirator on!).

Joanie, consider washable slipcovers (best bet), leather, or stain-resistant upholstery fabrics. There's an upholstery fabric called Crypton that is supposed to be practically bulletproof. ;-) If you still wanted that wicker look, check out the resin faux wickers, which you could hose right off if one of the kids decides to mash potato salad into it!

In the town where I spent my teen years, there was one restaurant that was THE place to go for the major occasions - graduation, proposals, promotions, etc. It had the most wonderful high-backed wing chairs for the dining chairs. It was so nice to just sink into these cushy velvet-covered chairs and enjoy the three-hour sojourn that was dinner there, although when dinner was over it could be difficult to pry yourself out instead of just contentedly going to sleep! ;-) It was lovely and really lent a feeling of luxury to the restaurant. (Sadly, it sank into mediocrity and eventually closed.)

I've just been looking at wicker chairs for our dining table. Johnmari, do you have a link to any resin chairs? The only wicker ones I've found that look like they would work at a dining table are from Ballard Designs and I'd like to see some others.

Here is a link that might be useful: chairs

For many years, we had very comfortable Lloyd Flanders wicker chairs around the dining table similar to these at LL Bean. They were old when we got them and they finally wore out.

Now we have Pottery Barn Augusta wicker chairs, which are available at warmer times of the year, and sometimes on eBay.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lloyd Flanders

The resin wicker chairs are EVERYWHERE during the summer, but they're out of season now so they will almost certainly be hard to find. Pier One always had a nice selection during the summer. If you want to shop locally I suppose this time of year you could try the pool-and-patio stores and see if they have anything, but if you can wait until summer you'll have a much better range to choose from. For now, try googling "resin wicker", "synthetic wicker" (note that some synthetic wicker is made of paper wrapped around wire, so pay attention to the construction details), and "all weather wicker". You'll get many, many links to different sites with a wide selection - way too many for me to link to, I'd be here all night. ;-)

While we have a dining table for entertaining, we find it too large for just the two of us. And being short I find most standard height dining chairs uncomfortable for long meals. So we take our meals at a smaller (and shorter) table on living-room-type leather armchairs. We call it our tete-a-tete table.

Demifloyd, wow on that light fixture! I love that area. Would it maybe make it more inviting to put a rug under it in a warm tone?

Windsorbecks, I think we all know just what you mean about kids and jellyfingers. That IS a word, isn't it? ;-)

I'll second the idea of washable slipcovers. Faux suede fabric looks warm and inviting, plush and soft, and it launders like a dream come true, no ironing. Darker colors don't show dirt as much. For warmth I'd go with a darker earth tone color on the walls, gold, or tan, or brick maybe. Warm colors on the walls and floors make all the difference in the world on whether folks want to be there or not. I've really seen that in action with my own decorating over the years.

oceanna, thanks, the light fixture came from Belgium.
You are right, a rug would make the area more inviting, but I haven't found one yet that will coordinate with this one in the adjacent hearth area:

I would remove a rug during the summer months, however.

To help make the area more inviting there is this little footstool and after the holidays my next project is having valances made (in fabric the same colors as the walls and trim) to go over the windows.

It is curious to me that many of us feel the same way; I have many friends that sit at their "regular" dining tables with regular chairs all of the time. I'm guessing we need the tactile and visual stimulation to be comfortable.

Wow, I thought that maybe this thread had died LOL.

Johnmari, your set up is more similar to what I ::think:: I am considering. I just didn't know if it would really work to even have a non-overstuffed, slimmer loveseat and chairs really work around a table. The table I currently have is one I want to keep... it is about 30" x 48" (so really too small to be a dining table anyway) and could easily be cut down to a large coffee table size. Do you have any pics? (not sure if you are really in your new digs yet).

Demifloyd, your set-up looks more comfy than the typical eating areas I see around. Love the addition of a foot stool... I think I like to put up my feet while having coffee, etc.

I'll try to post pics of the area once the new floors are in.

Lots of great ideas here! Anyone see the move "Away from Her"? The house in that movie had a couch - dining table combo. johnmari and windsorbecks, when you get your areas set up, please share pics. I have a favourite coffee shop with big comfy wingback chairs, but the tables are standard height, so I always feel like a little kid. I think you're right that a slightly shorter table would work.

Windsorbecks, here are a few I have in my collection that I think look inviting. Maybe there's something here to inspire you?

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This is Elton John's DR:

{{!gwi}}

I have a chippendale loveseat (Ethan Allen, bought from a high end thrift shop/low end antique shop :) ) that I had reupholstered in two brightly colored fabrics that I use at my kitchen table. It is my personal retreat, as I am small enough to be able to put my feet up on it while having coffee and reading magazines. As mentioned in another thread, it is my "something unexpected" that makes my house my own.

Like johnmari, I want to be able to decorate more and gaze out over a renovated kitchen, but so far this is my inspiration piece!

Salviastreet -- could you by any chance post a picture? I would LOVE to see what that looks like. My house colors are also bright (saffron and lime colored accent walls in the kitchen/dining area)

I am thinking of taking the two thrift shop mission-style
chairs out of my office over the holiday and trying them out at home.

I have most enjoyed having two couches at the dining table. Possibly you would too, who started the thread.

My husband lifted both couches onto risers (elevated platforms the couches fit onto). We'd had one for years, it has carpet on it. The other he used eight inch wide pine boards for the top, it has resonance when you step up to sit down and also serves as a foot stool.

One of the couches has no arms, its a VERY deep couch with no back cushion, and a feather pillow the size and curve of the entire length of the couch. Aproximately a 1980s couch. high end.
The other is a mid century, deep, couch that tilts you back when you sit. claw foot. VERY heavy. 8 way hand tied extremely heavy springs. Three cushion. It sits on the thick pine board riser. I set that one into the dining room window so you can sit on it sideways and look out the window into the garden, or lean back into the morning sun filtering through the trees onto your shoulder.

I have experimented first with a round, thick table top. it allowed great access getting in and out whether the couches were directly across from each other, or end to end along the sides of a square- with the round table floated in the center edge where the ends of the couches met.

Then I found coversation worked so well, even doing work on laptops when we remained across from each other, and I am experimenting with an old library table top (on the same scrolled 1970s solid legs.

I have a small TV with DVD player in a cabinet at the very end of the libary table at this point.

Then there is room for drinks, laptops, serving food, eating sitting facing each other, lounging with friends & visitors.

The test for useful ness : this holiday season this was a favorite gathering place of our visiting family & couples that liked to sit together. This fall it became a favorite eating nook in our home for us as a couple but the holiday visitors really proved it works.