DINING ROOM OR EATING ROOM?
March 23rd, 2009 categories: Lifestyle, Selling
That all depends on your lifestyle. It also depends on your floor plan–do you have an eating area in the kitchen and a formal dining room? Do you have most of your meals in the kitchen and use the formal dining room for just that–formal dining? If you have two places for serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, each can reflect the mood of the individual space. If you only have one eating space, you need to find a middle ground that won’t feel too casual for a more formal dinner or too formal for everyday family meals.
- If you are “doing” a formal dining area–think of your favorite restaurant. Is it sleek and formal or cozy and warm? Do you like an eclectic look? This can be tricky–care is needed to prevent a mismatched untidiness. An interesting wood table base with a glass top surrounded by beautifully carved wood chairs creates a formal look.
- A dado can create a cozy, warm space. The lower three to four feet of the wall is treated in a different way from the top–usually a trip of molding separates the two pieces. The bottom could be paneled in wood and the top treated with wall paper or paint.
- Comfort is the prime consideration. Chairs should not be closer than 30 inches apart when measuring from center to center. Be careful about your table base–straddling a leg is supremely uncomfortable. The top of a center pedestal table should extend 14 inches beyond the base for enough knee room.
- Storage is another something to consider. If you have lots of books, think about lining your dining room walls with book shelves. A friend of mine did this and it makes for a very warm and intimate dining space. She also used objects collected on her travels to break up the books. An armoire is a terrific place to store linens, stem ware and china–some armoires have shelving arrangements that enable you to leave the doors open and display some of your glasses.
- A more casual space can still be quite elegant when it needs to be. A tablecloth will add a grace note and actually the chairs around a kitchen table can be handsome and still functional enough for daily use. And what is wrong with family meals being served with place mats (washable, of course) and drip-dry napkins instead of paper? Isn’t our family entitled to a few niceties on a daily basis?
To sum it up–let your dining area, formal or casual, reflect you and your lifestyle.
If you have questions about Chicago real estate, call me at 312-981-2360 or on my cell phone, 312-607-1306. Or you can send me an e-mail.
Related Articles: Kitchen Counter tops–A Primer, 3-17-09; Out With The Old–In With The New–Slowly!, 2-16-09
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