This topic stressed me out a bit since we are the middle of work opening our kitchen to the dining room in our 1906 house. I'm already worried about whether everything will turn out ok. We thought a lot about this, though, so I'll weigh in. I apologize for the length - brevity may be the soul of wit, but it apparently is not my strong suit. We moved to our current 1906 Arts & Crafts house from a Victorian farmhouse which had the kitchen isolated from the dining room and living room, separated by a bathroom. We found it hard when we had people over since they were either crammed in the kitchen without enough room to participate in the cooking or they were way at the other end of the house. We saw that we had a pattern of having people over in the summer when we could congregate outside by the grill, but not much in the winter. We have a very close community of friends and we enjoy sharing meals in a very casual, family sort of way with kids playing, adults talking and cooking. We also found the dining room more difficult to use for everyday meals. Additionally, it was not possible to carry on conversations when in the two spaces or moving between them for setting, clearing etc. I enjoy cooking, but also like interacting rather than being isolated. When we decided to move we were looking to resolve this split and have a more connected common space. We saw many houses (and almost bought one) with family room additions connected to the kitchen which left unused living and dining rooms. These rooms had become merely somewhere to walk through, heat and cool. Some had little or no furniture in the abandoned formal rooms. We realized that we did not really need this redundant space. There is an excellent book by Sarah Susanka (Taunton Press), The Not So Big House. It talks quite eloquently about using space in an efficient manner. I personally like having one place to eat all meals. I like eating at the dining room table for just the reasons mentioned in posts above - slowing down, sitting on a chair instead of stools, in a space designed for eating, around a table (preferably round) which facilitates a relaxed, shared experience. The truth is that since we do not have servants, we often need to go back and forth between the spaces. Houses at the turn of the last century were often built to fit a more formal way of living which placed servants (even modest homes) or the women of the house out of the way while the hosts entertained in formal rooms. They were also built prior to the use of refrigerators. When we moved into this new-to-us 1906 house it had a (tiny) butler's pantry for staging serving, while the refrigerator was crammed into the food pantry in such a way that required near-contortionist moves to get a carton of milk. The only storage was open to mice or around the corner in the butler's pantry cabinet. Counter space was limited to the two drainboards of the 1950's metal sink. This was not the room of efficient post-work cooking and cleaning, much less any pleasant shared time. One of us would quite frequently get trapped in the pantry by another trying to get something. The rest of the first floor of our beloved home showed signs of the revolutionary changes that were happening in houses at the time, shifting from formal double parlors to more flowing open rooms with wide framed openings between them. I am in Oak Park, home to Frank Lloyd Wright, though our home was part of a far more modest working class development. It is stunning to see the differences among the different houses being built during the first part of the century. As central heating and radiators allowed rooms to open up, a social shift away from formality and toward more relaxed, real connection was also under way. Now that the social and technological changes that have transpired over the last century have ushered in a time of shared cooking, I welcome kitchens and floorplans that facilitate that. There are other times in history and other cultures today in which the communal kitchen holds a significant place in a community. Our new kitchen provides inward facing space where people can prep around an island. In our open floor plan I envision friends and family cooking and talking together, either within the de-cramped kitchen or between it and the dining room next to it. We are also concerned about creating something that respects the house's history, fits in with the architecture and creates a sense of two spaces with different but related activities. The disfunctional pantries were ommitted in favor of refrigeration and dish storage near the new dishwasher (uses less water than hand washing). We removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and are replacing a portion of it with shallow (12 inch)cabinets that create a partial division and open to both sides. There will be a 6 foot visual opening on top,stepping in to a 3 foot walking space at the bottom in a sort of key hole shape. As much as we love the big pocket door in the large opening between the dining room and the foyer, I doubt that we will use it. I just can't see part of our family sitting in the living room smoking cigars while another part of the family or servants quietly set the table out of sight. It has been a delicate dance trying to mesh the eras. We are having a duplicate of the missing original built-in hutch along one side of the dining room built, but it will have some wood doors in place of the original glass to house some less aesthetic items that have no other storage on the first floor since the one closet was turned into a WC in the 50's. We got a picture of the original at an open house across the street and noticed gloves and scarves displayed where china and silver of another time once shone. Life is not static and it seems to me that a key component to navigating the ever-shifting impermanence is to be flexible. I cross my fingers hoping that my ideas about homes and people actually work out in this re-working of our lovely old house. I do not disagree with any of the prior posts, I just wanted to add some thoughts.

WOW what a great thread! I wonder how many of us if we were starting from scratch would decorate our homes and that might be the better question. Currently I think our styles in general are partially based on years of accumulating things and change in tastes,so you just go with what you have. If you were given a clean slate you might find yourself decorating in an entirely new way. I have never liked modern or very contempory furniture my entire life.I have always been a more traditional girl. Having said I was more traditional I have some antiques from my hubbys gm, which I would never part with and always work, simply by re-upholstering the piece. We have a huge painting the belonged to my mil which is old and I also love which had been over every dining room in our four homes. We simply reframe and change the matt etc and its like a new painting. A friend of my hubbys gave us as an engagement present a silk embroidered piece which was done by his mother and sister. Its the type you might see in an oriental restaurants.It too has always hung in the dining area, except for this house. Now we are re-doing the dining room and I think I will be able to hang my picture back up. So I think this goes along with the saying if you love something you will make it work by re-framing or whatever. Another example is the solid teak dr suite given too us from my mil. I would never in a million years buy something so contemporary,plus I have also never liked the look of light wood.But it is a beautiful suite and in this particular house we have a separate dr, so it works because it is separate from the rest of the house which is more traditional. I also like an informal style as opposed to rooms done very symetrically with matching end tables lamps.As for accessories I find a light sprinkling of dust bunnies on occasion adds to the informal look...wink wink.

We collect art nouveau and arts & crafts furniture/decorative pieces/art pottery etc - most of which is sourced on eBay and bricks & mortar auctions and fleamarkets - and our house (and previous houses) here in England is decorated to complement these styles. We're keen DIYers when it comes to house restoration. DH is very handy, having made a few unique kitchen islands among other things and I make all our soft furnishings again in complimentary fabrics, sourcing vintage or discontinued designs where possible. Amongst friends and family I would say our *style* is pretty unique, but whilst we do have rather an eclectic mix of stuff, in a way we're just replicating an older, historic style that is not the norm these days. Many people visiting our home for the first time are visibly surprised by the lengths we've gone to in order to get it looking just right. We've had many admiring comments but also had references to it resembling "my grandmother's house"......a back-handed compliment perhaps? Like you Ingrid, for me in particular our house wouldn't feel like our home without everything we have carefully sourced to create the whole it has become. Recently however, we considered selling our collections with a view to having a simpler, less cluttered way of life and a close family member remarked that our house comes across very much as an extension of me (in particular as I'm not sure if DH would be as obsessed if he were on his own!) and that they couldn't visualise us living somewhere without our precious things like a cocoon around us. I think they were right. Otoh, it does make me sound dreadfully materialistic - I'm not, honestly, although the comment about selling a child to facilitate a purchase did take me back to a more frenzied time of collecting for a moment, lol ;)

I really like the ones with only an upholstered seat, particularly with kiddos. Unfortunately the completely upholstered ones like the last one pictured are exactly like the chairs we have in our offices where I work (as extra chairs and around conference tables) and the ones in my dentist's waiting room and at clinics, so I just can't get the 'office chair' look out of my head. As far as the 'pile of wood' goes, I think the open back of the ones you posted from the nearby store would look airier and make the room feel larger. It's such a beautiful room and table! Love the blue.