Cat_mom.... I wish we had custom places like that near us... that is a beautiful piece of art.

TorontoTim... I love that table! :) It is creative, attractive and seemingly durable. I am curious what chairs your creative mind chose to pair with it.... ?

Katieob -- was your C&B round table 48" diameter?

Truth be told, I am leaning towards getting a round table... probably 54". It is still fun to see everyone's spaces and different styles, though! Thank you, again, to everyone. Also, the good reviews, bad reviews and links are all very useful.

This is a photo of the table we got taken from the antique store. I purchased four Windsor chairs from Borkholder Furniture to go with it unfinished and am having them finished and matched to the table by a local wood guy. The table needed a few chips repaired but was otherwise a solid oak table in great shape. I love round tables in the kitchen.

I think I'm getting a long rectangular trestle table for my dining room but haven't ordered or found it yet.

katieob, how did you like the seagrass chairs otherwise?

TorontoTim, I love that table, especially the inlays, but for those in the US, I think bowling lane flooring here is usually hollow for more resilience. Wasn't that poorowner's problem: ordering butcherblock (solid) and getting lane flooring (hollow)?

katie: where did you get the wonderful chair covers for the DR chairs ? I love those and have not looked in the right place I guess. Any info would be great. c

Dining Table is salvaged teak. Dining chairs from Pottery barn.

TorontoTim-love that table!

Here's my vintage set, bought on craigslist.

I love this thread--love seeing all the different types and styles of tables everyone has!!!!

me too ! marita I just love your house...i can't remember if you have posted other rooms....but I sure would love to see...I am a fan of old houses :) pps7 yours too...that kitchen makes me weak every time I see it. c

Great idea for a threat, and thanks for the link to the old one! So many lovely pictures.

Here's our small eating area; as you can see we managed to have absolutely nothing match. The dark chairs came from England, the table was made by a friend, the two big oak chairs were bought at the local version of Unfinished Furniture, and the IKEA bench was a present from my parents, way back in the 80's.

trailrunner thanks for the complement! I have some additional house pics on the Home Decorating forum thread entitled "Paint the Ceiling or No?" I just bumped it up near the top to answer a question I hadn't seen when it was originally posted.

This is my dining/ kitchen table. The top is a combination of solid corian and a speckled corian. We have had the table for more than 15 years and it looks almost as good as the day we bought it.
{{!gwi}}
And one more with the table set for a party. {{!gwi}}

Not much decorating done yet in our new house. I left my beautiful custom made dining table and chairs at our old house when we moved. Went out looking for one that met our specifications: had to be at least 4' wide, and had enough leaves to pull out to at least 12' wide. Found this one at Hom Furniture. I'd never purchased anything from them before, always felt they were "low end", but so far it's met our expectations. When our family was here for a month this summer, it was put to good use. One time we had 20 people around the table for dinner. It's 56 inches wide and pulls out to 16 1/2 feet long. When all the leaves are out, it's 56 inches round. Pretty happy with it.

Here is our table. It is, I think, 43"X54" and has two leaves. We bought it at Hom Furniture in 2008, and we let it sit at their warehouse for almost a year, and then in our garage for another year and a half. We were extremely fortunate there was nothing wrong with it, as Hubs never checked it before it left their warehouse. Oops. The set came with six chairs. One of my darling sons already dinged the tabletop, but the set has a bit of a "lived-in" appearance anyhow, so it's OK.

But if that rugrat does it again.... ;^)

This isn't the best pic, but the only one I have on this laptop.

My kitchen table & chairs from Pottery Barn:

{{!gwi}}

Doonie, I've passed the Antique Tables Made Daily store before and had a good chuckle at the name. Your tables are beautiful! Would you mind sharing where you got your dining room chairs? Thanks!

Many gorgeous tables in this thread. I bought my parquet butcher block table about 25 years ago. While I wish I could expand it sometimes, I can't imagine replacing it so we make do.

Thank you Thrilledtobuild. The folks at that store are very fine people to work with. My dining room chairs are from Century Furniture. They are the Vienna Sidechairs.

I love seeing everyone's beautiful tables. Catmom, walnut is such a gorgeous wood. Your table is really neat!

Our dining room is, um, eclectic I guess...

here's some of the table detail.

"Eclectic" is a generous term, unless it's Greek for "stuff from the family". The oval table in the corner is from late 1800's Germany, the Charak and Willet sideboards are 1940's USA, and the table/chairs are hand-made 1990's New Mexican, ha. The table perhaps made more sense on our previous horse property but I couldn't give it up when we moved to the mountains. The profusion of candles and, horrors, a wine bottle oil lamp is preparedness for the frequent power outages

I doubt that anyone else is interested in such a personal mishmash, but thanks lolauren for the topic and everyone else for the indulgence.

cheers

An old table from 1986 with modern/retro chairs from Saloom.

No photos from my current house, but I still use the same table, a Heywood Wakefield Harmonic table from the fifties - - here's a shot of it in my old apartment:

Here is mine. This is not my dining room since that is still being redone (floors replaced) however the furniture has been delivered.

Here is mine
Overview:

and close up

Oh well...that has settled it ...I am going to do my next bicycle trip past these DR's. What a wondrous selection. CP...Chinchette,....mntfever...not that the others aren't wonderful but whew...my heart beats for these.

Eclectic...I call it mish mash...lol. I love it. Take what you have ...make it work. Addresses are forthcoming...I can hope :) c

I'm still going back and forth and back and forth on our kitchen table. I wanted to make sure it was small enough to not crowd the space, but perhaps I went too far? The upside is it's really easy to clean.

It's a nice neutral taupe so it's very of the moment, while still having some classic details.

On a more serious note, if I don't get a real kitchen table soon, I'm going to tie the vaccuum to the 13 month old.

Here's a view of our dining room. To cross-discuss threads, I'm thinking of getting rid of the china cabinet and just making a permanent install of moving boxes.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic evening. I love seeing all of your spaces!

Alabamamommy, thanks for making me laugh this morning. I love all of your tables and I think your dining room chandelier is gorgeous. Would you mind telling me where you got it?

that is the most precious baby....I wish I had one of those in my kitchen. c

This is a very helpful thread, thank you all. Among many other things that need changing in our house, our dining table isn't fitting the bill any more, so I have been shopping around but am having trouble finding the right thing. What I want is a rectangular oak extension table like joyce_6333's mission table in the china cab thread. But I got sort of sidetracked looking at a Heywood-Wakefield set like circuspeanut's in an antique store. So it really does help to see how the different styles look in real people's houses.

Alabamamommy -- too funny! What a beautiful house you have. Cute kids too!

Ellaf - Well, it's either laugh of cry right now! Work in progress for sure. More work than progress at the moment :) The chandelier is by Regina Andrew. I ordered it from shopcandelabra.com. I've done a few transactions with them and all have been positive.

Trailrunner - she's a mess and a hoot, but your sweet comments reminds me to stop for my daily dose of thankful.

Northcarolina - I feel your pain and I sincerely hope you find YOUR table! Your locale should help a bit, no? Once you settle on one, will you promise to start the next thread of "Show me your place settings!" or "Show me your holiday centerpieces!"

alabama: this is my little gal...she still loves it in the kitchen...I have pics of her in a little chair with her curls...your sweetheart reminded my how lucky I am too !

Love seeing all the tables in your lovely homes! I especially love the reuse of materials in the dining bowling lane table (TorontoTim), the personal quirkiness of the carved horse table (mtnfever), the modern meets antique pairing (chinchette), the gorgeous hunka walnut table (catmom) and definitely all the QS oak pieces - my favorite wood (breezy, countrygirl and avadoone to name a few). But alabamamommy, my favorite is your taupe table with its tiny diner. She's adorable!

Here's my DR (no decent pic of my kitchen table and it's much too messy for prime time at the moment. Besides, it's nothing special at all):

It's an antique QS oak table we purchased about 20 years ago, paired with chairs purchased from Ethan Allen about 5 years ago. The table came with chairs but they were dinky - too small for me and I'm barely 5'4" (okay not even that tall anymore. My feet are bigger, though. I think that's where my height went - it just turned the corner at my ankles). It took me a long time to find chairs that looked good with the table and my grandmother's china hutch, also QS oak with the most gorgeous rays. Seriously, they are inches long. We moved the hutch just to the other side of the DR arch into the LR. Drapes are from PB, purchased about a year ago.

The table is 38 x 57 (the quirks of antiques, odd sizes) with two 22" leaves that are stored under the table top. To extend the table, we lift the table top and pull the leaf out. It slides out on two rails that fall into place when fully extended. Pretty slick, IMO.

Since this photo was taken, I've had two small boudoir-type pillows made for the two side chairs to add more pattern and color to the room (can't take a photo, the room has been taken over by hubby's RCA hobby and it's a mess). I plan to repaint, hopefully this weekend, the lower half of the walls to a golden-tan that is a much better match for the drapes. We also plan to install box beams on the ceiling and I'm very tempted to paint the ceiling a very pale blue (DR and LR are gold, red and a robin's egg blue). And someday, likely after the kitchen is redone, we will replace the taupe carpet. It's old and much too cold-looking for our taste.

Trail runner! It's one thing to flash a cute baby, but to get to show off such a beautiful full grown variety... Indeed count your blessings! She's radiant!

alabama..I sent you an email through GW. Thank you for your sweet words. c

This is a fun thread. Toronto, I love love your table. I saw an island like it at ABC Carpet and really wanted it, but it was way too big for our space. KateS, what a soothing palate. I love everything I see, it is so "ahh" and serene with little fillips of personality. Love everyone's oak tables, too. Here is my roundup of our kitchen/dr tables.

BEFORE - our dining room table, cherry Kindel. This is the table that makes you feel like a grown up! Almost 11feet long with its 3 leaves. Thanksgiving at your house, for-ever.
{{!gwi}}

AFTER - same table repurposed as an entry hall table, sans 3 leaves. I love its new incarnation. Need to use something less hackneyed than ivy though.
{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

BEFORE our kitchen table. 60" round pedestal Stickly mission cherry. I love the conviviality of round tables. I love armchairs too --- I have only armchairs around this table.
{{!gwi}}

AFTER - the table is now in what we call our craft/games room. We have ordered a glass top to protect it.
{{!gwi}}
BEFORE - the previous owner's dining room table. I don't know the dimensions but it seats ten. {{!gwi}}

After - it fit the space so well, we bought it from him. Our style is a bit more sparse, though.
{{!gwi}}

NEW - Our breakfast room table., seats 4-6. This we found on line at 1stdibs and picked up in Sheffield Mass. It is supposedly Swedish. It is distressed which I like for looks and for the kids, who themselves are masters at distressing. I also like that it all fits together with pegs. It is paired with a Swedish bench we bought at a local shop, and that I had reupholstered with old feed sacks. I love the look but when the weather is humid, it is sometimes a tad redolent of a barn stall
.{{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}

It's a lot of fun to see all these tables, and the rooms they are in! Gorgeous.

I am planning to renovate our kitchen, and I am thinking that I want to get rid of our island and put in an "old fashioned" kitchen table, in the middle of the room ... not off in a breakfast area or a nook or whatever. A big table, used to work at and eat at, in the center.

One question. If I did that, how much room should be all the way around the table? I am thinking a normal aisle width plus room to pull out a chair?

Loloren, I laugh every time I see your title in the listing-and the older one too. We have a really lovely dining table. It's currently in the living room covered by a table cloth, decorated with a pipe wrench, a first aid kit, a cherry pie, bags of granola, bread, a container of pens & pencils, a water jug, our calendar, and a stray copy of the movie Serenity. Oh, and some odd mail. Under it are boxes of kitchen things, leaned against it are the old cabinet doors waiting to go elsewhere, and across the room is the refrigerator. And I forgot the stove, it's in here too. Somehow, I don't think a picture of all this would do a thing for your collection!

TorontoTim

Thanks for posting the pictures of your table made from a bowling lane. We plan on doing the same and have a 10' section of lane. From where did you get the cast iron industrial legs? Also, did you use the full width of the lane or cut it narrower?

TIA

{{!gwi}}
We are hoping to upgrade soon :) (you have to keep your sense of humor to make it through a DIY renovation!)

Mtnrdredux- Your 'before' dining room picture is exactly what I've been looking for...to go with my Laura Calder kitchen picture :)
{{gwi:1547984}}From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

My old dining table is listed in the other thread. I had to redo my LR/DR because of ice dam flooding. So I ended up with my old dining room table (1700's tavern table) in the LR as a desk. I really liked it there, so I switched the dining from table to my little antique cherry drop leaf. If I have to, I can move the big one back for larger crowds.

Old table at the end of the LR (mid painting)

Hey, Prlll --- is that Ina Garten on in the background? lol

That's her - she came to make me dinner!

Since you're here - what color yellow was the kitchen in your old house. Do you recall? It's pretty!

Thank you, Lavender. I have always wanted a windowed DR with a brick or slate floor (this one is one step down from the kitchen and has slate). In the inspection report when we bought the house, the inspector called it "the garden room" and we did find it a great place to start seeds for haricots verts!
The only thing is is it hard to furnish. It is 30'x12', so it's kind of narrow. But it has no wall space --- the wall of windows to the pond, two sets of french doors on one end, a corner fpl and french doors on the other end. On the wall that backs up to the kitchen, there are double doors up to the kitchen and two picture windows into the kitchen (or out of). I cannot figure out what to add to the room!

PS Prill -- It is wallpaper, not paint. It's sort of parchment-y looking. May be easier to see here:

{{!gwi}}

Here's mine with no leaves. With 2 it will sit 8-10.

I couldn't take good pictures of my tables when this thread started. They and a bunch of other stuff were jammed into the dining room/entry hall due to work in the family room/kitchen/breakfast room area.

Here is the dining room table:

It is rosewood from a Scandinavian import furniture store in the 70's. There is a matching sideboard not in the picture. It's style is very consistent with our MCM house. We like the pedestal base which keeps out of the way of chair placement. Also, the base doesn't need to move for the table to expand. It has one leaf in this picture. The second leaf expands it to 108" and without leaves it goes down to 70". The very modern simple thin legs on the chairs have been a problem. If my DH wasn't so skilled at woodworking repairs, they would be long gone - I think each chair has had at least one repair. So while we really like this, I'd look for something more sturdy if replacing it.

Here is our breakfast room table (used for most meals):

The chairs aren't as consistent with our contemporary style, but the table and chairs are very sturdy. It is oak. We bought it partly because the chairs are very comfortable even though they aren't padded which worked well with a growing family and now with grandchildren. This table also has the pedestal base staying out of the way of chair and people legs and the base doesn't need to move for the table to expand. It goes up to 110" with all 4 11" leaves in. In addition, storage for the leaves is built in under the table top. This one could probably be used for 100 years without needing repairs.

We bought it from a local furniture store. It was made by Richardson Brothers.

wow.... what an inspiration!! such a beautiful aray of dining room tables. This thread is a keeper...

mtndredux and Lavender...... I have a sun room that would be perfect for Mtndredux's 'before' dining area!

Someone else has my DR chairs!

Alabamamommy -- I have the same plans for those boxes! Or at least I have had now for 2 years. I find it's really hard to kick the floor paper-cardboard box habit. It's a little like Stockholm Syndrome I think.

These chairs and table came from my grandma. The ends are really pretty with a semi-circular piece in the middle and radiating planks. There's a third leaf somewhere. Even fully extended it's not a huge table though. What I like about it is how narrow it is, interactions across the table are rather intimate (you can just reach over and just grab the salad after dd neglects to pass it following multiple requests).

I had it refinished -- very, very badly, when I got it from my gram many years ago now. The finish is peeling off: ick. And they weren't able to fix the leaf mechanism at the time that you can still see gaping. I guess I should think about having this preserved. We've now eaten in the DR 3 times since de-mothballing. The breakfront is still under wraps. And the curtains badly need cleaning. Everyone's table manners are still atrocious but the conversation is much, much better seated around a table that cares.

I love this thread too. I wish - oh how I wish - I could show a DR as pretty as the lovelies above. Thanks for the happy sighs.

I love this thread too! Now that my kitchen is more finished than not, I've realized how shabby the dining room is looking. After seeing all these beauties, that seals the deal on my next project.

The dining room table is still in the living room because the kitchen is temporarily in the dining room, so the pictures are not great. The table is teak. 40 X 54 when closed and it extends to 40 X 94. The best feature is the integral butterfly leaf. It has a hidden extension leaf in the center that pulls up with on hand when the two halves of the table are slid open. One person an open it in 10 seconds flat. No more lugging around leaves for me. It is a very simple design, a blank slate that can be dressed down or up depending on the occasion.

Closed

Top slides to expose the leaf

Butterfly open

Fully extended, though not pushed in all the way because of whre it is right now.

Can't wait to see more dining rooms! yours are all gorgeous!

Here's ours.

I love this threads and I love dining rooms!Here is where we eat every night...