Glenview Dining Room

SITUATION:

Help furnish the informal dining area below.

BACKGROUND:

My cousin and her husband bought a beautiful new home and asked for help finding a dining table and chairs for their informal dining area. The sellers left the chandelier in the picture, which they knew they wanted to keep.

This was how the house was staged to sell (below). The orientation of this table was all wrong for the rectangle shape of the dining area and the wood tone of the dining table camouflaged in way too much with the wood floors.

ASSESSMENT:

When a client asks me to pick just one or a few pieces of furniture to their existing place, it’s important to keep in mind that you have to work with what you’ve got.

First things first, what’s staying, what’s going:

The light fixture, colors of the wall, flooring are all set in place.

How and who will use this room:

Functionality, of course, is top priority. This couple has a big family and future plans to host many large gatherings, so maximizing the occupancy is necessary. Kid friendly was also important for this growing family.

What style to choose:
The house has some traditional elements, like the dark hard wood floors, crown moulding, and baseboards. The chandelier has some contemporary, farmhouse glam vibes. The couple is young and stylish and appreciates a slightly more modern style, but also wants it to be timeless for their forever home. Translation— there’s a lot of styles in the mix to consider!

RECOMMENDATION:

You can find a balance between traditional and modern somewhere. I promise! You can never go wrong with a solid wood dining table, and the Anton dining table from West Elm is one of my favorites. Since this is a more casual dining space, I wanted the flexibility of seating so I knew I wanted to get the matching bench.

Here are the three options for chairs:

I like giving clients the variety in materials, so the faux leather v. upholstered fabric v. wood provided all of that. Notice that all the chairs are a neutral color so they will definitely be a long lasting style. All of these options work because the table is simple and so versatile. I love the idea of the black contrast against the table, since it gives just enough interest/ accent. Matchy-matchy dining sets are not my cup of tea. Plus, matching sets, although easy to buy, are not necessarily the cheapest route just because they’re bundled. I get it though, it removes a lot of the guess work when picking furniture. IF however, you do decide to mix and match on your own, always always measure your dining table height and your seat height to make sure they’re proportional.

And the winner is:

OPTION 3! The low back barrel dining chair complemented the black bronzed portion of the chandelier. The chairs also had a little bit of that farmhouse feel (giving a nod again to that chandelier), but not SO much that you felt like you were walking through an episode of Fixer Upper. And, of course, we took advantage of the long, rectangle orientation of the dining room to really fill up the space. Lastly, my cousin also mentioned that they had very similar dining chairs in their house growing up, so it was also nice to bring that nostalgia into her very own, first home.