Dining Room Design

Thinking about decor topics for the blog recently made me realize that there was one glaring area I had yet to cover....the dining room!  It's funny because I have posted endless tablescapes and party ideas, but never took the time to talk about the basics for designing this space.  Surprisingly there are quite a few aspects to consider when designing a dining room.  Below I have compiled a list of what I would consider to be the most important aspects for creating both a functional and comfortable dining space.  

Lighting

• Measurements- A dining room light should be no more than 12 inches less than the width of your table.  In addition, it should sit approximately 30 inches above your table for a standard 8 ft ceiling.  If your ceiling is higher, the rule is generally to raise the lighting fixture 1 inch for every additional 3 feet of ceiling height.  If you haven't bought furniture for your dining room yet, the easiest way to figure out the appropriate chandelier size according to Ballard Designs, is to add the dimensions of the room together (e.g. a 10'x14' room = 24" chandelier diameter).  For those of you who are curious, here is a link to the lighting fixture I chose for my dining room.  
• Dimmer- dining is all about ambiance and a big part/the most important (in my opinion) is lighting!  I highly recommend putting your dining room lighting on a dimmer switch, so that you have the ability to create a softly lit setting instead of being forced to choose between the intense on and off lighting.  Dimmers are relatively inexpensive and easy to install (*According to Home Depot, you can install a dimmer switch in 45 minutes).  

Table

• Shape & Size- When buying a dining room table it is important to consider the table size your room can accommodate.  According to the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook, you should allow for approximately 36 inches of space between a chair and a sideboard, and 42 inches of space behind a chair that is in a high traffic path.  Keeping these measurements in mind and the number of potential guests you would like to be able to seat at your table, should give you a very good idea of the table size you can accommodate in your space. (**Full disclosure- I bought our table with our future house and not our current condo in mind, so I am currently not abiding by Martha's Rule.)
• Table Orientation- Since I am in charge of hosting parties in our house, it is important to have our table positioned so that my assigned seat is closest to the kitchen.  Right now we have a round table, so the seating orientation isn't important since every seat is the same, and I just take the chair with the closest kitchen proximity.  However, when we move into our forever home, our current table will be moved into our kitchen and we will have a rectangular table in the dining room, so the end seat will have to be positioned in a manner that makes getting up and down from the table fairly easy.  
• A few additional considerations:
  • Pedestal vs. Legs- I am a fan of a pedestal table, because it provides guests with additional leg room and allows for greater flexibility with when it comes to creating additional seating.
  • Purchasing a Table with a Leaf- Our current table is a fixed size, because as I mentioned it will eventually be our kitchen table.  Purchasing a dining table with a leaf is a great idea when possible because it allows for you to create an intimate setting regardless of the number of guests.  Hosting 4 people at a table meant for 12 can make dialogue a little strenuous.  Having the ability to collapse your table down to a comfortable square or small rectangular shape will keep the table comfortable and intimate.  
  • Chair Size- One thing you will notice when purchasing a dining table is that the maximum number of seats a table accommodates varies depending on the size of your chairs.  Chairs with arms take up more space and the same goes for chairs with upholstered seats.  Because I opted for more plush dining chairs, my table is maxed out at 6 seats.  Had I opted for more minimalistic wooden chairs, I could have probably accommodated 8 seats.  
• Glass Top- This is something that I totally would have never considered had it not been for my sister.  Back when we were shopping for our dining table, I had FaceTimed my sister to see what table she had selected.  While showing me her table she pointed out her glass top and said that it was an absolute must have.  Not only does the glass top dress up the table, but most importantly it protects it!  Ring marks, spills, candle wax, you name it- not a problem thanks to my glass top!  I ordered my glass table top from a local glass and mirror company and it has been one of the best investments I have made to date and something I highly recommend for any dining table. 

Decor

• Flooring- I have an open loft floor plan, so I opted not to have a dining room rug because I felt that a rug would break up the space, making my dining area appear smaller.  However, if your dining room space is in need of a rug, I recommend referencing this Ballard Designs Rug Buying Guide.  You want to make sure that you buy a rug thats big enough to accommodate your guests pushing their chairs back and not feeling like they are going to fall off the rug ledge.  This guide is a great reference for determining the appropriate rug size for your space.   
• Additional Furniture- There are two pieces of furniture beyond the table and chairs that I would consider to be dining room worthy, the side board/china cabinet and the bar cart.
  • Side Board/China Cabinet- having a piece of furniture in your dining room that you can use to hold glassware, dinnerware, flatware and linens is extremely practical and very convenient.  In addition to the storage, a sideboard can be great for setting up a buffet in the dining room.  In our apartment, we have placed our Torrens Bar Cabinet under the staircase for easy access to our stemware (this piece has some seriously impressive storage capacity) and it also makes for a fabulous buffet table.  
  • Bar Cart- this is a piece that I have on my wish list at the moment because I think it is so practical (and chic) to have in a dining room.  Whether you are serving dessert, coffee, after dinner drinks or even for water and wine during the meal, a bar cart is an extremely helpful piece of furniture to have for both service and storage.  Stay tuned for a future post on bar cart styling!
• Keep it Minimal- Personally I believe that less is more in a dining room when it comes to decor.  Reason being, this is a room where food is served.  Food in itself is a very busy and distracting thing, so why create additional stimuli overload by adding all sorts of crazy wall decor and tchotchke displays??  Similar to the concept of "food looks best when served on a white plate," I also believe it is enjoyed best in a room served with minimal decor.  A plate is meant for eating just like a sideboard top and bar cart are meant for serving.  Refrain from cluttering those spaces with unnecessary knick knacks.  

Today's post definitely dug into the nitty gritty of dining room design, and it wasn't until we moved into this house (and actually had a dining space) that I realized how important all of these details are for creating a functional and comfortable space.  This post is a collection of the best tips I have picked up throughout my dining room design journey.  I love the way our dining space is coming together and am looking forward to putting the last few finishing touches on this room (like our future bar cart!).  More to come, so stay tuned!

Apple Crisp

Im slightly ritualistic when it comes to fall baking, apple dishes always kick off the season followed by pumpkin and cranberry.  Reason being is simple, this time of year is prime apple picking season and I am not really in need of a pumpkin until late October.  In an effort to gear up for our upcoming apple orchard trip, I wanted to come up with a new dessert recipe that was as tasty as an apple pie, but way less labor intensive (see my apple pie baking tips here).  As I was perusing various websites and recipe books I kept seeing recipes for cobblers, crisps and crumbles.  Prior to  researching, I always thought that the three (cobbler, crisp and crumble) were synonymous (well I was wrong!).  Here is the difference:

• Cobbler - Fruit base with a  biscuit/cake-like top layer
• Crisp- Fruit base with a top layer consisting of sugar, flour, butter and oats
• Crumble- Fruit base with a top layer consisting of sugar, flour and butter

I love oats, so I opted to create an apple crisp for today's recipe.  This dessert couldn't be easier to make and is a great way to get the most out of your orchard bounty.  Definitely a sweet way to kick off the start of the Fall season.

Ingredients

• 1/4c cold butter (cut into 1/2in cubes)
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4c old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2tsp + 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4c chopped toasted pecans
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 4 Granny Smith Apples
• 2 Tbs sugar
• More butter for greasing
• Whole Nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit
2. Butter an 8x8 inch square baking dish
3. In a large bowl, add the juice of a lemon
4. Peel, core and slice apples into 1/4in thick slices
5. Place the apple slices in the bowl with the lemon juice, toss the slices until coated
6. Add the granulated sugar and 1/4tsp of cinnamon to the slices, toss until combined and set bowl aside
7. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt and 1/2tsp of cinnamon
8. Once combined, add the cold butter and cut it into the flour/sugar mixture with a pastry cutter (or your hands) until the texture resembles coarse sand
9. Add the oats and toasted pecans to the mixture, mix until combined
10. Take the apple slices and place them (somewhat tightly packing) in the greased baking sheet
11. Cover apples with the crumble mixture, lightly grate fresh nutmeg over mixture before placing in the oven.
12. Bake for 30min in the oven uncovered, then cover baking dish with aluminum foil loosely and cook for another 15 minutes until you are able to stick a toothpick/bamboo skewer straight through the center to the bottom of the dish without any resistance.  
13. Serve warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream 

**Note- To make this in a rectangular dish, double the ingredients and bake for approximately 1hr 15min (give or take). 

September Kitchen Tools

September always feels like a month where everyone is getting organized, back to school and into their normal routines.  Thinking about getting organized reminded me that the kitchen is no exception.  In addition to having those meticulously labeled tupperware containers and a stocked pantry, there are also certain kitchen accessories that will help to set you up for cooking success in the year ahead.  These items are the often overlooked pieces that have made cooking infinitely easier and more enjoyable for me, so today I wanted to share my favorite practical kitchen essentials with you all.    

Spoon Rest

A spoon rest is one of those practical kitchen tools that no one ever thinks about needing until they are in the midst of cooking and can't find a place to safely place their cooking utensil.  There are so many spoon rest options on the market (like this one and this one- both are fab!), but I have to say that my favorite spoon rest would have to be the basic Stainless Steel Spoon Rest from Williams-Sonoma.  It holds a variety of cooking utensils, has a clean/sleek appearance, it's dishwasher safe and cost $10!  Love this spoon rest and highly recommend outfitting your kitchen with one to keep your kitchen surfaces protected and looking great.  

Cookbook Stand

Whether I am working from a recipe out of one of Ina Garten's cookbooks, a magazine, printout recipe or even my iPad/iphone, I have found my Glass & Stainless Steel Cookbook Holder to be an invaluable kitchen accessory.  The tempered glass cover is heavy enough to hold down even a thicker cookbook, it's scratch resistant and comes with a measurement conversion chart (which I find myself referencing often).  This cookbook holder has a sleek neutral design that will blend in with almost any kitchen and is very easy to clean.  My cookbook stand is another great example of something I wouldn't have necessarily thought I needed, but oh how it has made my time in the kitchen so much easier/more enjoyable.  

Salt Cellar

I would have to say that the two most common ingredients I find myself using when cooking are oil and salt.  Since my kitchen has a cabinet next to the stove that I use to house my oils, vinegars and other condiments, I haven't had a need for an oil dispenser (but if you are in the market for one, I do love this French Porcelain Oil Cruet).  On the other hand, salt storage was initially an issue for me because my spice cabinet is not near my stove.  The solution was purchasing a salt crock (aka salt holder, salt cellar or salt pig).  Salt crocks are great because they provide you with a way to keep your salt easily accessible when cooking without the unsightly store packaging.  I have this salt crock because it matches my pasta bowl set and I absolutely love its rustic design.   Here are a few other salt crock options I happen to love as well: Option 1, Option 2 and Option 3. 

Fall Entertaining Essentials

Over Labor Day Weekend, I decided to get a jump start on "Fallifying"(a word I've made up, meaning to prep for fall) my home.  Since it is only the beginning of September, I didn't think it would be appropriate to have my entire house decked out in fall decor just yet.  Instead, I spent the weekend looking for those items that would become the staple entertaining pieces for me throughout the Fall season.  While there are certainly more than just the 5 items listed below that will be part of my Fall entertaining repertoire, these 5 essentials are great ways to start incorporating small and festive fall accents into your home.  

Geometric Lanterns

Geometric lanterns are a trend that I am noticing in an array of home stores this season, so of course I have immediately jumped on the bandwagon.  I love the fact that these lanterns are a hybrid between a hurricane and a traditional lantern with modern/rustic flare.  You can find these lanterns with closed peaked tops or open hurricane style in copper, brass or zinc, like the ones I have featured above from World Market.  In addition to the fabulous look of these hurricanes, they retail for anywhere between $9.99 and $29.99!  Love that!  With that said, my favorite feature would have to be the fact that the base of these lanterns is nonstick.  Meaning that when the candles melt down into the base, don't worry about it!  Just wait for the wax to harden and then it will lift right out of the lantern.  Great price, chic look and easy care, makes these lanterns a must-have for this fall season.  

Cocktail Napkins

I love a good cocktail napkin and have a bit of a cocktail napkin habit (similar to my pillow, flower and cooking tool habits).   With all of the decorating and redecorating I have been doing lately, I have been a huge fan of prints from various fabric designers like Schumacher, Lee Jofa and Scalamandre.  As it turns out, Scalamandre has collaborated with my favorite paper cocktail company, Caspari, to come up with the most fabulous line of products featuring the famous Scalamandre Zebra and Arrows.  I am in love with these orange zebra cocktail napkins for the Fall season, because they give you that autumn feel without being too kitchy.  These napkins are definitely a chic and updated accessory that I highly recommend adding to your entertaining repertoire this season.   

Wood Slice Serving Board

I have a serious weakness for anything rustic chic and this serving board definitely fits the bill!  Not only is it rustic and very reminiscent of Autumn, it is also extremely versatile.  Whether I am crafting  a new fall cheesescape, serving up delicious sugar cookies or even using it as a base for  a fall centerpiece, this board adapts to an array of situations.   I have seen all sorts of variations on this board in a number of stores, but ended up purchasing mine from Sur la Table, because the care for their board is super easy and it gives off the most wonderful smokey cedar fragrance.  Love love love this board!

Copper Wine Coaster

I love a splash of copper. Well, if we are being honest, I really would love a whole sea of copper.  The reality- not in my budget, so I am sticking with loving a splash of copper.  Most home good stores are chock full of copper accessories right now.  My favorite piece at the moment would have to be this Copper Wine Coaster from Williams Sonoma.  With the chic style of the rustic brass handles and the warmth of the coaster's color palette, this is the perfect accent to any autumn table setting.    

Phantom Wine by Bogle

There is no question that I enjoy a nice bottle of wine on occasion. Sometimes to a fault.  Recently, I was talking about wine with a friend of mine and she asked if I had tried Phantom by Bogle.  Bogle has been known to produce wines that are great for everyday drinking, so naturally I was a little confused when she emphatically recommended this particular label.  It still peaked my interest, so I purchased a bottle to share with my husband over the weekend.  Let me just say…I totally understand now why my friend was raving about Phantom by: Bogle.  This wine is FABULOUS!!!!  OMG so delicious and instantly became worthy of my Fall entertaining essentials, because in addition to this wine being very delicious, it is only offered seasonally (in the Fall).   If you are looking for a great bottle of wine to try this fall, I highly highly recommend picking up a bottle of Phantom by Bogle.  I promise, you most certainly will not be disappointed!

This happens to be my favorite time of year, so of course I have wasted no time with starting to transition my home from Summer to Fall.  I absolutely love these entertaining pieces mentioned in today's post as well as other items that I will be sharing in the upcoming weeks/months.  Now if only the Fall weather would get the memo that it is time to start cooling off our 90+ degree city! 

Giving My Living Room a Mini Make-Over

For today's post I wanted to share a glimpse of my latest home decor updates.  We have been in our home for about a  year and a half now and it was really at the one year mark that I finally started to feel reinvigorated to begin the fine tuning process with our living room home decor.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, when we initially purchased our condo there were the immediate needs that had to be addressed like the bathroom renovation, painting, replacing appliances and window treatments.   

Around the start of early spring, it was actually our dog Dolly who decided to kick off the second round of decorating by destroying our living room rug with a series of accidents that weren't really her fault (I'm going to stop there with describing, but hopefully you get the gist…).  The biggest lesson learned thanks to Dolly: Even though they are significantly less expensive than wool rugs, avoid purchasing jute or sisal rugs if you own pets or have children.  One false move (aka stain) and the rug is done.   

Replacing the living room rug was all the inspiration I needed to feel reinvigorated to kick off this mini project.The second round of home decorating was focused on fine-tuning the living room, primarily adjusting the furnishings to better fit the space.  After an almost 7-month long revamp, my living room is finally coming together and looking like everything was meant for the space. 

Scale

My living room decor has been evolving ever since my husband and I first moved in together.  Our first place together was small and had low ceilings.  Even though we were beginning to purchase furniture together, we made an effort to avoid purchasing furniture to fit our first place.  Reason being, it was temporary and our nice new furniture pieces were permanent, so our new furniture would need to work in our next house.  At the time of our move, we had simply transferred the furniture from our old living room to our new living room.  While certain pieces like our couch, bookshelf and media center fit in the living room perfectly, our pair of blue professor's chairs were too small for a room with such tall ceilings.  

Swapping out the chairs for a larger/taller pair was necessary to fit the scale of the room.  When shopping for the chairs, I knew that I wanted the chairs to be a little less predictable, so I opted for a winged-back chair in the corner for a little height and then a larger club chair on one end of the coffee table.  To tie the chairs together, I had them upholstered in the same mocha vintage velvet fabric.  The new chairs fit the space beautifully and luckily we have been able to re-home the little blue chairs in our bedroom and loft.  

Function & Comfort

In addition to designing a room that's proportional to the space, it's important to make sure that the furnishings are both comfortable and functional.  The first issue I needed to tackle was the rug.  Our living room is a high traffic area and we have a dog.  When we first moved in we opted for a chunky jute rug because it fit the space, was neutral in color and cost $199 for an 8x10.  While at the time it did the trick, it was a temporary solution.  

When the time came to replace it (exactly 1 year after we bought it…thanks Dolls!), I knew I needed to find a rug that was comfortable, durable, neutral in color and easy to clean.  I ended up finding our rug on final sale at Restoration Hardware, which was a little scary since I only had pictures to go off of and wouldn't be able to return it.  Luckily it turned out great and it is the perfect foundation for this space.  

The second function/comfort component of this living room re-do that needed to be addressed was the coffee table.  Our original coffee table was a piece that I had inherited from my parents and painted gold to match the decor in our first house.  When we moved, the length of our new living room was slightly smaller and so it immediately became apparent that the coffee table was too large for the space.   

We entertain frequently in our living room, so it was important to find a table that would still have a substantial surface area, but would afford additional leg room for those guests seated on either end of the coffee table.  After a long search we ended up purchasing the Clairemont Oval Coffee Table from Crate & Barrel.  I love the unique oval shape, sophisticated mirrored shelf that provides additional storage and the fact that it is 6 inches shorter than our old table, giving guests plenty of leg room.  

Finishing Touches

My sister has always had an eye for home decor aesthetics.  When she was first decorating her NYC loft with her husband, I remember talking to her throughout her decorating process trying to gain any insights on decorating and how to put a room together.  The one phone call I specifically remember was when she told me that she was on a hunt for tchotchkes, "because finishing off a room's decor aesthetic is all about the knick knacks."  It was a slightly funny way of saying it, but boy was she right!  Sure, there's a lot of thought that goes into picking out fabrics and furniture pieces for a space, but I have spent significantly more time arranging and rearranging my throw pillows, living room bookshelf and coffee table decor.   All of these little items are essential pieces for bringing any space together and it takes time to get everything situated in a way that finally works. 

I am not sure if I am happier about the way the room turned out or the fact that I am finally done with this project.  It was certainly a great experience with plenty of lessons learned, but the best part is definitely the fact that I get to come home every day to this cozy and completed space.  Now it's time to get going on to the next project!  

If you have any questions regarding today's post, I would love to hear from you!