Designing Dining Rooms Using a Holistic Approach

There is no right or wrong way to design your perfect dining room. Over the years, I have had numerous clients tell me that they want their dining space to look like this room, pointing at a picture in a magazine. The reality is, it’s easy to replicate a room, but there are a number of problems with this. First being the style might not fit with the rest of the house. The second issue is the space might not reflect the homeowners themselves: how they live, their past, and ultimately will not create a feeling of comfort for them. When a room has an ‘off’ feeling, do you know what happens? I’ve bet you’ve experienced this because I have, it doesn’t get used. What a waste! Dining rooms and any room in the house for that matter, should be designed with a holistic approach in mind to prevent this from happening. This includes a place that represents the style of the house and yours, exemplifies your values and beliefs, your cultural beliefs/history and a place that exudes a want to entertain. 

Dining rooms have always been a place where families and friends congregate and enjoy food. Traditionally in North America, they have been designed using a more formal approach.  When I was growing up our dining room was used most notably when we had a large number of guests for dinner, during holidays and on most Sunday nights for dinner. My parent’s dining room was designed with a very traditional antique table that had been passed down through generations, a matching buffet and chairs. I’ve always loved the history and stories associated with these pieces. My great grandfather had these pieces made for my great grandmother for her wedding present! Oftentimes during our dinners the origin of the table would come up with guests and it instantly made people feel at home despite the formal design of the room. 

The point that I am trying to make is that the dining room made sense to the design of my childhood home, our lifestyle, traditions, family history and because of all of this, we used the room quite frequently and have lovely memories associated with this room. We were lucky to have items passed down that we cherished, and our lifestyle and traditions enabled us to use the room quite frequently.

As society has become less formal the standard dining room has also evolved to encompass so many different versions. We now have the open concept main floor that usually consists of a single dining area near the kitchen, and a single living area all attached. This trend in open concept living has been partly due to the fact that historically rooms like dining rooms were being left unused. While this type of home design is still popular, I’ve seen a definite rise in the last 3 or so years with designing a separate dining room. Whether you choose the open concept version or a more traditional one, you need to create one that is best suited to your lifestyle, your culture and traditions and the style of your home. Again, remember to still use the holistic approach. When using this approach, the outcome will be positive and you will love the space, enjoy it more frequently, and create memories in it that will last a lifetime. 

We are so lucky to live in such a multicultural world where world travels and different traditions are at our fingertips. There are so many beautiful pieces of art that can add such a wow factor to a dining room. While I haven’t inherited a lot from my family in terms of cultural pieces. I have picked up items and noted cool trends that I love on my travels throughout the years and have incorporated them into my space. Sculptures, art, china, fabrics, and rugs are my favourites and boy they can tell a story. If you are so lucky to have a beautiful piece of cloth from your family or travels, use it for your chair cushions or frame it as a piece of art. My mother-in-law did this, she framed a stunning piece of needlework that was passed down to her. It’s not only lovely and suits their house and history, it has so much more presence in the room than any store bought accessory would have. Your dining room should reflect you and at the same time feel warm, inviting, inject memories, and great conversation over food with friends and family. Don’t give away all your china and antiques that you’ve inherited. Please re-purpose, update and incorporate these pieces and create a dining room that is true to you and enjoy it for years to come.