Dine like a King

The Dining Table

After the bedroom, the dining space is the most important area of the house. This is the place where we spend our most memorable moments with the ones that we love, the ones that have the greatest impact in our lives. In this article, I will take you through the design process for a dining table since it is so important. The overall dining space will be covered in another article.

Close your eyes and imagine your mother preparing your favorite dish. The excitement, the anticipation, and the smile in your mother’s eyes as she sees you dig in and enjoy the dish is palpable. This experience was enabled on the dining table, and this table, this important space must be designed well to enhance these lovely experiences.

I focus on the personality of the client, as well as the personality of their home, which serves the members of the family, as well as talk about the family subliminally to others who come to the home. For people who love to entertain guests and are social animals, I would recommend a show stopping wow factor statement making dining table either to exclusion of or in addition to the bar counter. This seems counter-intuitive since most of them seem to think the bar counter and the home theater is where the action happens. However, the impression that a luxury endowed and well appointed dining table makes is on the entire family of your friends as well as your own. While sitting and eating, the table affects the senses while you are relaxed.

What kind of table to choose? In luxury homes, I would straightaway recommend the rectangular shape, with a different set of head chairs. This gives you the maximum flexibility and options. While it is more formal, it is the one that I would choose, and leave the mingling and informal settings for the home theater or the bar counter. A rectangular shape allows the option of head chairs which you must exploit and ask for an exclusive set of head chairs at either end of the table. We recommend fabric due to versatility and ease of maintenance. Leather tends to work in tones and if the decor is more focused on tones, then leather can also be used. With leather, the head chair differentiation will be more subtle.

For the table top, I would recommend marble. Glass is too fragile and not recommended unless you have a designer base which you want to showcase. After marble, certain new granites can also be used to great effect. Marble with Brass bottom is a hot favourite. Wood alone is not recommended, but art wood is a definite yes! If you are looking for an industrial look, you can look at concrete table tops as well, but availability is a hit or a miss in India.

For the base of the table, go with a designer base and a different shape rather than the humdrum wooden base with four legs. S shaped, or round shaped bases are good since they highlight just the marble top and are tucked discreetly below the table. They are practical as well since they do not hit any knees! Brass finish, Cast Aluminum base are good options to go for. Use a base that is good to look at, and stable as well.

Choose the light above the table carefully. The chandelier must complement while also light up the dining area sufficiently. Ideally, both the shape of the table and the chandelier must complement each other.

If rectangle is not your thing, or if the dining space itself is squarish, you can go with a square or a round table. These tables are more informal, since Oval and round is more informal – there is no head and you are closer to each other. For informal settings like a cozy family dinner space, this may be an ideal shape to go with. In MyHome Ankura, we created an informal get together place for the family on the top floor with a round table which was a hit since Pizza parties were done in that space! In a square or a round table, the visual size for everyone is the same, and conversation is easy. Oval shape is another format but practically, the space and dimensions do recommend a rectangle more easily.

Some other technical considerations are to keep 3 ft min distance behind the chair, and more if you have a passage behind the chair. Each person needs 30 inches for each chair for everyone is comfortable. Typical height is 30 inches, but the thickness of the base also determines if the chair can go under the table, so this may vary slightly.

Of course, if you have a family table that is not doing too well, please get in touch with us for restoration. We restored such a table to its former glory in MyHome Bhooja project, with the result that we had smiling faces of the client and his parents! We created a new set of chairs for the table and it was a huge style statement since period furniture is not made anymore!

Please get in touch with us for custom design furniture for your home, as well as any styling needs that you may have. Some will say stick to the budget you have, but our opinion is that don’t break the bank, but choose what you love. Its your home, your style and taste and it should make you happy. And we are here to ensure that we are able to do this at a good outlay.