Dining Room Furniture Guide

Buying new dining room furniture for your home is an exciting time. To ensure your dining room/area is a relaxing and pleasant place to eat and entertain in, you will need to do a little forward planning and carefully choose the new pieces of furniture for your home.

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The most important piece of dining room furniture will always be the table and chairs, choose from round or rectangular, extending or a fixed size. The size and shape of the table you choose will be down to what space you have and how many people you will want to seat on a regular basis.

Ideally, when guests are seated, you need to be able to walk around the table easily, a space of three feet is recommended, however in cases this may not always be possible.

To try and visualise the size of the table in your home, look at the measurements of the item you like and mark out the space on the floor with a paper template or with wide tape. All of the dining tables on our website are shown with exact measurements to help you choose the right table. To visualise the height, use a metal tape measure pulled out to the proposed table height at the corners of your floor template. If possible, try and find an object(s) from around your home that are roughly the same height and place them where you plan to house your table, then take a step back and see how it feels. Can you walk around it, does it look overpowering in the space or you may find you can accommodate a bigger table than you thought!

Design

Once you have decided what size of dining furniture you have space for, you then need to consider colour and design as a dark heavy table may overpower a room and create the illusion of bulk even if you have space for it. If you are looking to create more light on the room and a feeling of space, choose a paler colour wood and something less chunky. The Hardwick Light Oak is an ideal range as it has a slim profile in a lighter colour than some ranges.

If your dining area is in your lounge or open plan kitchen/diner, you will want to choose something that compliments your even contrasts your existing furniture. If you are looking to choose new furniture for your open plan lounge and dining area, we have many of our furniture ranges that have TV cabinets, shelving, coffee tables as well and dining furniture and sideboards or display cabinets. Take a look at Hardwick Oak, Loxley Oak, Talbot Chunky Oak or for something a little different, try Modern Sheesham.

Video showing how to extend a Loxley Oak Dining Table

An extending table is perfect if you only need more seating space when you have guests. A round table looks great in a kitchen dining area and it can also double up as a craft or homework space.

Before choosing your table, have a think about how you use it. Will, it solely be for family dinners and entertaining, if so make sure you have sufficient space to place your flatware and serving dishes and that each person will have elbow room, ideally, each person needs around 24 inches of space. Also, look where the legs of the table are, if you wish to sit three each side, will the person in the middle be straddling the legs!

If the table is to be used as a multipurpose space, it will need to be hardwearing enough to cope with homework, crafts as a workspace or even as kitchen prep space, i.e. chopping veg or baking. If the table is to be used in this way you may consider buying a  covering to protect the surface. Here are just a few of our dining table options. if you like a paler oak, then the Greystone White Washed is ideal or if you are looking for a darker warm coloured table, Modern Sheesham is perfect.

A selection of our Dining Tables

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Chairs

Each of our dining tables has complimentary chairs that work perfectly with the table design, e.g. a six-seater table will fit six of the matching chairs from the range. A few examples would be the elegant ladder back oak chair with leather seat pad from the Loxley range, the light oak Talbot range with the solid farmhouse style oak chairs, the comfort of the leather Modern Sheesham Chairs and the elegant Mason Stone range with a choice of stylish velvet or leather covered chairs, a touch of retro chic.

A selection of our Dining Chairs

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Other Furniture

Your table and chairs have been chosen, now it’s time to see if you need or have the space for any other useful dining area furniture. Much of this will depend on where your dining area is located, i.e. a separate dining room, an area in your lounge or an open plan area in your kitchen.

Additional furniture is not only beautiful to dress your room/space to its best advantage, it will provide extra storage space for mood lighting or somewhere to display your precious items.

Sideboards

A sideboard or cupboard, if you have the space is a very useful piece of furniture as it can be used for extra storage, this can anything from placemats and glassware to kids craft and hobbies paraphernalia! We have sideboards in all shapes and sizes so you can always find one to meet your needs. We also in some ranges have glazed tops that provide display space, ideal if you don’t have room for a separate display unit. New Progressive Oak, Renaissance Grey and Modern Sheesham all have display units to stands on a dresser top.

If space is limited, why not choose one of our smaller cabinets, still useful storage space but taking up a very small footprint. Our small New Progressive Oak cupboard is only 750mm wide by 350mm deep. Our larger sideboards such as the large Talbot sideboard and the Hardwick Light Oak Large Sideboard provide maximum storage and are 1391mm wide by 470mm deep. The small Hardwick Oak sideboard is also great for smaller spaces as it measures 800mm wide and just 350mm deep but still has a generous double cupboard.

A selection of our Sideboards

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Display Cabinets

Display cabinets are perfect for showing off your best china and favourite possessions such as books, pottery or photos. Large freestanding units such as the Modern Sheesham display unit can even be used to zone spaces between a dining and lounge area. Bookshelves are also a great option for display storage, they can be used to display your serving dishes, pottery, photos and of course books. The Hardwick Light Oak bookcase as shown below is an ideal option for any dining area. Glazed display cabinets are perfect for keeping your collectables safe whilst giving them pride of place. Shown below are just a few of our best-selling display cabinets.

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Lamp Tables & Console Tables

Lamps positioned on a matching lamp table will add much-needed light in a dark corner and mood lighting for your dinner parties. A console table is a great choice if you have less space as they tend to only be around 315mm deep so won’t intrude on space in your dining room but will provide an ideal surface for a lamp, vase of flowers or photo frame. The shelf under a console is ideal for storage.

A selection of Lamp/Console Tables

Accessories

To add the finishing touches to your dining room, we have a range of clocks, pictures and ornaments including statement pieces such as the edge sculptures to make your room unique. A cleverly placed mirror will reflect light around the room giving the illusion of more space.

Progressive Furnishings Ranges

We have a varied selection of dining furniture ranges including the Loxley in rustic oak, Hardwick light oak which will look perfect in either a modern or traditional home. If you are looking for something a little different, try the Modern Sheesham range made from Indian Sheesham Hardwood with a minimalist design. If a more traditional look is what you are after try the Penelope Grey painted range with its soft grey painted bases with a smooth light oak top, this range is perfect in any home. The Mason Stone range delivers a minimal look with its slim black legs and ultra-thin tabletops in stone, making it ideal for smaller spaces. Greystone Painted and White Washed have a homely country cottage feel to them without being dated or twee. The painted frames with the light oak tops would look great in a new build or traditional home.

If you are looking to re-furnish your dining area and are looking for some help to choose the right furniture, please do not hesitate to get in touch and ask for our help. If you are within travel distance of our showroom, pay us a visit where you can see all of our furniture ranges on display and our friendly knowledgeable team will be able to help you choose the right furniture for your home and family life.

Dining Room Inspiration

Here are just a few of our favourite dining room pieces plus a selection of our accessories and finishing touches.