Dining room layout dilemma

7 years ago

I can use some advice! I just moved into a colonial that has a separate ‘formal’ dining room. Plain walls and ceiling and not ornamentation like chair rail or tray ceiling. 9’ high ceiling. I am excited to pick a new dining set and my dilemma is a tall china cabinet vs buffet/server or both. I have a pretty large collection of serving pieces for entertaining but I am a minimalist at heart. My taste runs among traditional /modern farmhouse. I like neutrals (blacks, greys, creams, whites, browns). Adjacent room at 13’ wall is eat in kitchen and a breakfast table will be floating there. The other opening is the center hall/foyer so you immediately see the dining to your left as you walk in. The scribble above the dining table table is a 6 arm black chandelier. I was thinking of black casegoods and natural wood table and perhaps black chairs or cream linen. Window panels in cream linen or just bamboo shades? Any input appreciated!!! Will spacing be too crowded or feel too heavy or disjointed. Should I buy a matching set? I will post pictures of what I’m thinking of buying.

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Patricia Colwell Consulting

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Pictures of the actual room would help I would not do display cabinets if you are a minimalist just a nice long buffet cabinet maybe a bit on the <MCM style and get a table that will fit the space you might even think round you need to have 3’ min all around the table put the buffeet on the short wall that will bascically give you a square space for the table you could do a 60” round table that will seat 8 niecly and a round will add some interest to an otherwise linear space . I would choose the chandeleir last and make it something awesome and quite large in that space .I really sidlike those legs on tables a nice simple pedestal allows for a bit more seating and feet don’t rest on the table base. I would need to see your furniture in the rest of the house to advise about chairs but you could make this a bit more formal with proper drapes , please no bambood blinds , and nice upholstered chairs I like the idea of linen

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Comments (7)

Amber
Original Author
7 years ago
Here is the color/ type of table I was thinking. I was thinking linen chairs or black. Not sure how to make cohesive. Oh and I have this chandelier already but am open to change.
Amber
Original Author
7 years ago
Walls are BM Pale Oak and floors are golden oak 3” boards
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Amber
Original Author
7 years ago
Last thought: I was thinking of the 2 tall casements on the 4’ walls and the long buffet on the opposite wall with a picture? Or art? over it
gella81
7 years ago
As for the "tall china cabinet vs buffet/server or both" dilemma - consider how you entertain, in addition to storage needs. I have both. A buffet and two china cabinets, actually. We use the buffet to set up a bar and lay out some snacks / starters whenever we have company, and I cannot imagine going without that extra surface in the dining room. The cabinets store absolutely all tableware we use for entertaining. Setting the table is usually on the kids or a friend/family member who arrives earlier to help, and I cannot imagine having them create additional traffic in the kitchen while we're busy with the final preparations. So that's a necessity as well. Map out a typical gathering in your household, and figure out the logistics before you decide on the furniture pieces.
Amber
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks gella81! Can you tell me the size of your dining room?
gella81
7 years ago
Narrower than yours, about 15' x 11' I think. The openings are the same, but we have one window on the shorter wall and two on the longer one. So we have the furniture grouped along the shorter wall - buffet centered beneath the window, flanked by two tall cabinets.

Disclaimer: we're in a high rise condo building, so there's no traffic to the patio or back yard and such. Guests concentrate in the dining and living rooms and are discouraged from wandering into the kitchen. We're not fans of open plans, and see the kitchen as a work area only, we don't incorporate it into living space by design. I realize that's not how most families see it, and in most house parties we attend the gathering centers in the kitchen before moving into the dining room. That's why I started by saying consider how it works for your family in particular. Think of how you'd like to arrange the flow, allocate functional areas, and then decide what furniture you need and where to accommodate such set up.