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Informal dining room. Location and size?

10 years ago

We are in the preliminary design stage with our architect.

Right now we have 3 eating spaces...our island, breakfast room, and formal dining room (which is rarely used).

I have always had a formal dining room. I do not want a formal dining room in the new house. I do want an informal dining space large enough to accommodate a large farm table and an extra table if necessary during holiday entertaining. On the other hand I do not want the space to be so large that it is cold and uncozy (for lack of a better word) for everyday dining.

Please share the size...dimensions...of your space.

Is it between the kitchen and great room? Is it at the back of the house? I guess I would really love to see this part of your plan if you are really pleased with it.

Example...look at the pic I posted. This is something I really like. I have no idea about dimensions. This dining area is 14x14. I doubt that it is large enough if it is the only dining space. But, how large should a space like this be?

I know there is a thread similar to this and I have spent hours on Houzz. I really want to know what you have done.

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

autumn.4
10 years ago
red_lover-I have been thinking about you and wondering how things were coming with your architect timing and possible delays! I will share mine as that is actually a part of the plan that I really enjoy and it looks like it will work out well. Ours is 13x13 which is a nice size for us 95% of the time. I think 14x14 sounds fine really, not too large to feel cold but can fit a sizable amount of people.

P.S. I like the size of your great room. I feel like the 16' dimension in ours is tight with furniture and traffic patterns.

I thought I might have a good pic of it drywalled but I don't. Here is one that is the best I have. Dh did not want it in between the living and kitchen. He felt like you would always be walking around the table. If sized appropriately I do not agree. Anyhow ours is at the back but bumped off the kitchen. I like that it's open but yet a little secluded and the angled wall helps in allowing to adjust the table for expansion if need be.

Standing in the foyer. Photobucket issues, I will try to repost this pic later. I re-sized it and it's still making the text funky. Sorry.

The Plan:

This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 15:43
autumn.4
10 years ago
Trying for the pic again from a different computer. View from foyer:
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Yes, I have a friend whose dining room is arranged in such a way that she can extend her table and have people "scooted out in to the entryway". I'd forgotten that. HollySprings, I must argue with your math, though I do get the point. You didn't seat anyone at the ends of your table. If you're seating 20 people at one table, the table will have to be wide enough to seat two at each end -- otherwise it'll appear too spindly thin. So that means 4 people at the ends, 16 down the sides, or 8 people per side. Thus, if you allow them 24" per person, it'd be a 192" (16') table. If you allow them 30" per person, 240" (20') table. The patio is sounding good! Given that we're in a mild climate, that's actually my personal plan. With both leaves "in", my dining room table is 102" (8.5'), and that's pretty big . . . and we have squeezed 5 people down each side and two at each end (by the way, it's 40" wide). On the rare occasion we've done that, we've brought in the four chairs from the kitchen table and used the kitchen table as a buffet /dessert spot. It's not ideal, but no one complains while they're eating good food! When we move, though, we'll be outdoors when we have groups of this size. This post was edited by MrsPete on Mon, Feb 17, 14 at 17:54
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I love that you're planning for big dinners! Fun! I'm renting a tent and tables and chairs for a graduation party and in trying to figure out how many tables I could fit in the tent, I Googled 'spacing for tables and chairs.' You'll get several hits. From this link you'll see: For a special occasion such as a holiday meal with many guests, the meal may be served buffet style, calling for a slightly different furniture arrangement in the dining area Allow 60 inches between the buffet or food serving area and the edge of the dining table; this allows room to walk between the table and serving area, even when guests' chairs are pushed away from the table. You'll also need to consider the size of your chairs. For example, arm chairs may take up more space than the same-styled chairs without arms. And will the placement of the buffet be in a corner or 'dead end', meaning two people may need to pass each other behind a seated diner to access the buffet? Or can the buffet line be one way, allowing 'in' at one end and 'out' at the other? I'd try it out... set up your buffet (or a large box to imitate it) 60" away from the back of a chair with someone in it seated at your table. Is it comfortable to pass by? Do you feel like you'll spill soup on someone's head as you inch by, or that your bum is brushing the back of their head? Or can two of you pass each other comfortably behind the person seated in the chair? Once you feel comfortable, then use some graph paper and draw, to scale, your table, chairs, buffet etc. with the comfortable walkway.
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so, here's what I'd do if you really want that table and those chairs. forget a gold wall color. Go w/Swiss Coffee. you could always bring in a gold chandelier. both of these are swiss coffee. this room gets a ton of light, so it looks lighter. yours would look more like this shade w/your lighting paint out the baseboard trim in a nice white. Simply White would be a perfect choice. right now the eyes are drawn down to the dark tile and dark trim. please, no gold. The table has enough gold in it. the tiles have enough tan. the chairs are dark, the baseboard is dark, and the window trim is dark. (I'd paint those white too but that's up to you) Here are some other off whites that lean on the yellow side. (forget Drift of Mist and Snowbound) You're going to have to prime the wall anyway, so why not grab a quart of the swiss coffee and paint it on one wall. I'd also remove the heavy chairs and buffet at the one end. remove the small picutres and find one large art piece to go on the one wall. I,d prob do a creamy type of rug under the table to further lighten the space
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ILoveRed
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Autumn. I really like your plan. I can see why your husband is concerned about the placement in the plan I posted. It has crossed my mind that every time you need to go to the great room from the kitchen and vice versa you will have to cut through the dining room...so not sure.

That is not actually my plan but a piece of a plan that was done by my architect. Just trying to figure out if I want that casual of a layout or not.

Again I like your layout and I appreciate your advice. Your spaces look quite large in that second picture. Looks like you are moving along quickly. Very exciting.

We wanted to be building by spring. This is our second architect. So not going to happen. But I would rather go slow and get it right. So trying not to be disappointed.

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