The Dining Room

GobbledyGook

Slinky_Malinky wrote: »

I think you should please yourselves and take no notice of your parents. If you are having book cases and enjoy reading, then you could have a couple of really nice chairs and make it a reading room. If you can`t decide then why not just do the decorating and hold off buying furniture until you make up your mind.

That's what I have and I love it. There's nothing better than curling up on a big chair with a book after the kids have gone to bed.

I don't have people over for formal dinners so I'm quite happy with my table in the kitchen. At Christmas I re-jiggle the furniture and bring my table into the traditional dining area and put my comfy chairs in the kitchen as we usually have a quite formal Christmas dinner.

rachbc

we woudn't be without a dining room -we eat 2 meals a day in there most days and despite us both having our own office/ study/ craftroom/ workshop/ games room spaces we do still end up using it for all sorts of other stuff too - messy kids crafts, social space/ parties/ hubby sits wiring up PCBs whilst I write etc. When we first moved in we had a 6 seat table which left room for a sofa too but now we have a bigger table there is no soft seating - but I do prefer it this way.

But your house - do what suits and OH you rather your mother/ siblings.

PasturesNew

Edwardia wrote: »

My mother amd MIL say I can't have a house without a dining room/area.

Probably because you've got the biggest house (most spare room) - and you're an ex-chef, so they've got their beady eye on you to host Xmas every year for the next 30 years....... putting up with everybody and their noisy famlies ..... providing, cooking, cleaning.

The table ..... is all they need to seal the deal.

Poppy9

It is your house to do with as you want and when you come to sell you can always reinstate a table if you think it would make your house more salable.

I do think knocked through lounge/dinning rooms can look a bit awkward with two lots of seating areas if there is no dividing doors etc. to shut out one half but that's my personal opinion and I'm not in the habit of going into someone's house and judging it and if I was buying I have enough intelligence to know that I'm buying an empty house and can utilise the space as I wish so will not be influenced by current set up.

I have a separate dining room which had a sun lounge tagged on the back. We made the sun lounge into a proper extension and it's now the dining area with a large table overlooking the garden. The main part of the room is a second lounge (with comfy sofas according to my OH as he hates the leather ones in main sitting room:D). Both parts of the room are well used and we no longer use the table and chairs in the kitchen as we prefer the dining room (bigger table, nicer outlook etc.)

It worked well for us as we have an older teen at home so when friends come they take over the back room.

FatVonD

I'd go for a pool table with some kind of cover so you can use it as a dining table if you ever host Christmas lunch.

Mrs.W_2

Considering the previous fuss over Christmas, do anything but turn that space into a dining area!

Edwardia

Wow - thank you all for the replies !

I don't know how to do multiple quotes so I'll just have to do it this way. So from the top..

balletshoes - the kitchen is big enough for table and four chairs without impeding walking around but not more. For summer there's another table which can seat six, in the garden. Don't see my best friend much but he has free run of the entire house, more than my mother. I don't count him as a guest.

Fire Fox - DIY stuff still seems to be in feet and inches .the room is 30 feet long with 7'6" high ceilings. It has two windows at one end and one at the other and gets morning and evening sun. The last thing I want to do is make it feel smaller. I love that feeling of space. I can do a long wall of books regardless of whether I have sofa/chaise or table which won't interrupt flow from front to back.

Mortgage Reduction Novice - you're right it's not used at all at the moment. OH commutes to London and socialises there. We have entertained, but not at home.

poet123 - yes we do have room for other activities elsewhere. Although I've seen a beautiful Indian rosewood dining table and chairs which I really like, I don't want any room to be totally inflexible if I can avoid it. This is my dilemma. No kids, don't entertain at home, do I need it ??

Fire_Fox

Edwardia wrote: »

Fire Fox - DIY stuff still seems to be in feet and inches .the room is 30 feet long with 7'6" high ceilings. It has two windows at one end and one at the other and gets morning and evening sun. The last thing I want to do is make it feel smaller. I love that feeling of space. I can do a long wall of books regardless of whether I have sofa/chaise or table which won't interrupt flow from front to back.

IMO not a long wall of book, a short wall of books if possible. Maybe put the sofas on the long walls, preferably ones with legs rather down to the floor so you can see some of the floor and much of the walls. That should help you maintain the feeling of space.

Edwardia

themull1 - we have room for all that elsewhere. One Christmas before the sitting room bit was started we bought a cheapo old table, covered it with huge pristine white jacquard tablecloth, did a Yule log and had Christmas lunch there but a really big table felt silly just for us.

nearlyrich - we couldn't stand our vendors' taste and after ripping bad DIY stuff off we discovered the original mahogany handrail on the stairs, and two cast iron fireplaces (one in the sitting room) plus plaster features hidden under 12 layers of wallpaper.

Slinky_Malinky - we have the paint (sandy parchment sort of colour emulsion and eggshell plus dark chocolate eggshell ) plus floor length linen curtains I got in sale at La Redoute with ornate knotted corded tiebacks from a sale at Laura Ashley in same colour. The original floorboards are in good nick but filthy - need cleaning, sealing and waxing. That's it ! There's other stuff that could go in there without causing gaps elsewhere, if we didn't have a big table and chairs.

marisco - I'm starting to lean in this direction. I could always put a temporary table in at Christmas. Last year we did it all in OH's room on his sofa and had buffet style food.

shegirl - I'd be happy with a flexible option.. your room sounds good to me ! Ours is not absolutely straight through either, just slightly offset.

rachbc - I do think we have enough room to do everything elsewhere, it is a room we don't use at all right now. I couldn't do without soft seating at all though OH has a thing for Chesterfields and they aren't that soft.

GobbledyGook- curling up with a book and log fire sounds good, my room doesn't have one.

Poppy9 - when the kitchen gets done we're thinking of changing the position of the kitchen door so we can have narrow French doors into the garden from this room as there is a nice view of the garden.

FatVonD - OMG not telling OH that sorry or I'll be stuck with it !

PasturesNew and Mrs W - Er yes it's the biggest house but maye not the biggest kitchen. I have cooked for parents and bro twice as a present (not Christmas) and I took over their kitchens to do it and did the whole haute cuisine thing. I wouldn't want to be stuck doing that every year for Christmas :eek: OH would refuse too.

maman

We have a double fronted house so not practical to knock rooms into one. Separate dining room on one side and sitting room on the other. We use our dining room every day for eating supper and often in the day as it has good bay window with an easy chair. DH often reads the paper there and I sometimes work at the table, paper work or sewing although we do have a 'study' in one of our bedrooms. We do entertain a bit and I find it very useful to be able to set the table and call guests in at the last minute.

We also have a huge conservatory with a table (and lots of comfy seating) where we can eat in summer plus the garden.

Unfortunately, our kitchen is a relatively small galley. It's perfectly adequate (very convenient even;)) for cooking but couldn't accommodate a table and chairs. I think where we made a mistake many years ago was having a conseravtory built on when we should have had a proper kitchen/diner extension and used the exisiting one as a utility. The conservatory is a fantastic summer space and great for parties but it's still a conservatory.

I think what I'm saying Edwardia is that we all have to manage with where we're at. I spend a lot of time in my kitchen cooking, listening to the radio, ironing etc. I'd love it to be bigger. BUT I think even if I had that I'd still have the formal dining room.

In my previous house (years ago, sounds a bit like yours) I had a lounge/diner. I used to have a drop-leaf table in the 'dining' end which we used every evening for supper then I folded it away to the side so the room still felt spacious.

Sorry to ramble but I think my answer to your question would be: decorate as if it's one room, have a spacious seating area at one end, accommodate anything else you need (bookshelves/other storage/music) in the other end but allow it to be converted to formal dining as and when you need it. This may be by bringing the table in from your kitchen or keeping one in there discreetly. I think the idea of keeping in touch with everyone by cooking/dining in one space is all very well but not what you necessarily want at all times. In short, flexibility!