I'm stuffed!
We just got up from the dinner table where we enjoyed a particularly great meal. My wife can do some serious cookin' which is good news considering how much the three boys around her table eat. Dinner time is an event in our house!
It got me to thinking. What really makes a great dining area? What important building and design features lend themselves to an enjoyable meal? Here are my thoughts…
1. Lighting- Having light sources that can be adjusted to the occasion really makes sense in the dining room. The same table might be used for everyday meals, a romantic candlelight dinner for two, or homework. Being able to adjust the lighting is important. The simple addition of a dimmer switch might make the difference here.
2. The Furniture- Our table is Ginormous! I made it myself out of Maple I bought rough-sawn and planed down. It's large enough to seat 12 at Thanksgiving Dinner. We almost cried with joy when we realized that it would fit in the dining area of our tiny house. (I made it when we lived in a bigger house) To me, nothing makes as much difference as the table. I might be biased, but it just seems so comfortable to have a big ole farmhouse table to gather around.
Even if you can't fit a huge table, it's a great idea to buy something you can see yourself keeping for many years. Tables seem to collect memories, even if you move them to another house. Imagine telling your grandkids, "your Dad learned how to write at this table!" Cool.
3. Not Too Open – In our previous house, the dining room was open on two sides. In this house, it's only open on one side so there is just enough room to get around three sides of the table. This creates a feeling of intimacy and coziness. It encourages conversation and provides a level of comfort that having it too open seems to lack.
4. Surrounding Areas – If you have the luxury of designing from scratch, I have a couple of suggestions for the Dining Room.
- No Watching TV- I think it's a bad idea to arrange the dining area so that the people sitting at the table can easily see and/or hear the TV. I'll leave my opinionated reasons unstated.
- Close to the Kitchen – This may be obvious, but I see so many homes that are designed with the dining area just a little too far away from the kitchen. It's so common that we need to hop up to grab something, that it makes sense to have it close. I also like kitchen smells. (remember… I'm Remodeling GUY). Some people just might prefer not to be able to SEE the kitchen. I don't mind that myself.
So, what did I leave out? What features do YOU think make a great dining room?
Loading ...
Wow! You're amazing! Your writing is just SOOOO inspiring. I wake up every single day and wonder what you'll do next. When I look in the mirror in the morning, I think of you! I love you Remodeling Guy!
~Huge Fan
Actually? I love reading your posts. I wish I had the skills to do these things to my home. Reading them gives me a tiny bit of inspiration into what I can do to make my home a little nicer and more updated. I learn something every time I read an article and I learn a lot from your site too.
Well thanks Katie! I appreciate that very much! I hope my "attempt to be funny" comment didn't guilt-trip you into saying all that! I was just entertaining myself! Have a great day, week, month, year!
Tim
I want a big farmhouse table too…but, alas, my TINY diningroom/kitchen won't allow for a big ol' hunk of wood like that. Great post!
Oh, you left out windows! Lots of natural light makes it nice and ambient too!
Another great thing for a dining room, is adequate space for a sideboard or serving shelf…that way all your dishes don't need to be carted back and forth to the kitchen or left in the midde of the table! But I think lighting is also critical…it can set the mood (based on brightness) or the tone (based on style!).
Great post, Remodeling Guy!!!
Your thoughts on having a small dinning space is making me feel better about our little "hamlet's" dinning area- Thanks for the great tips.