home dining room

With spring in the air comes the desire for a serious purge of anything we don’t use in my house and some home décor or style pick me ups. Today I’m focusing on the dining room or eat in kitchen area and talking about finding the right table style to fit your family’s needs.

Dining tables come in a variety of designs and the first thing you want to do is the look at the dining area as a whole and think about what shape table would fit best. Once you decide on shape you can think about size, colour and what type of material you want your table to be made of.

Dining table shapes

Reclaimed wood extendible dining tableMy dining room is quite large because it’s open plan and leads into the formal living room, so any shape table would fit there, but I have a family hand me down of a large rectangular farmhouse table made of walnut with a removable leaf that works well and has sentimental value.

If you love to entertain or often host large family dinners a dining table with a removable leaf will offer extra seating when needed. This Reclaimed Wood Extendible dining table has rustic charm and would look lovely in a large dining area.

5 - piece dining tableAnother alternative is an oval shaped table. The look of smoothed rounded corners may suit your style better and they come in a variety of sizes to fit your room as well. For some reason I also find they look a little smaller without the square corners.

My eat in kitchen has a much smaller nook for a table and I have a small round table with 4 chairs that fits perfectly. My kitchen also has a door leading to the backyard and therefore we have a long shoe rack running along one wall as well. With the coming and going and shoe area, a round table makes it easy to get around, but there are some great smaller square tables that are great for small family dinners each night.

Choosing the right table size

Rectangular dining tableWhen you’re shopping for a new dining table it’s important to take into consideration how you’ll be using the table most and the space you want it to fit in. Maybe you just need a table large enough for your family dinners each night and an extra seat or two if you have kids who like to have friends stay over for dinner, or maybe you love to have dinner party’s or your house is the go-to house for large family functions.

If you’re starting out with an empty space you can play around with size and shape of a table by using painters tape to layout on the floor, this way you can get a clear visual on what the table might look like in the space. Then simply measure the tape layout with a measuring tape to get the dimensions of the perfect table for your space.

Dining table designs

Rectangular dining table with concrete topDepending on your home décor and personal taste you might choose a wood, glass, cement top or other material for your dining table.

Cement tops for tables and counter tops have grown in popularity and are super modern and industrial feeling. I’m loving this Rectangular Dining Table with Concrete Top. The mix of the wooden legs with the cement top is the perfect mix of rustic and modern and it’s large enough to seat  6 – 8 people.

Clayton transitional 5- pieceAnother great design is a transitional set. Transitional pieces can be styled to fit any design and this Clayton Transitional 5-Piece Dining Set is classy and stylish with the dark rich merlot colour and high back cushioned chairs. The cross design on the backs of the chair are eye catching and the cream microfiber looks fresh and is easy to clean.

A beautiful dining table is really the starting design piece for your dining room. With beautiful linens, dinnerware, the right lighting and accessories you can pull together an amazing eating and entertaining space.

You can find the perfect dining table for your home at bestbuy.ca.

Main image @ www.lisvivarte.com.

Lindsey Reed
I am a mom of two boys who loves reading and trail runs. I am passionate about health, fitness and food and write about these topics and more on my personal blog www.organicfitnesstips.net.