apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We don't have space to eat in our tiny kitchen, so we eat most meals at the dining room table. I would love a more intimate kitchen nook in our next house (there's just the 2 of us), but I hope that no matter where we end up, we'll still have a dining room. It saddens me to think that those (along with china and 'formal' living rooms) are going out of style.

Dining room tables make excellent tables for cutting out fabric for sewing projects. Add a leaf or two and you have a huge surface for spreading out your cutting mat!

i don't have a dining room. i usually designate my eating areas to either the coffee table in my living room or a small table in my kitchen

That dining room table is great. Does anybody know where it is from?

I love the butterfly paintings. Does anyone know where they are from?

No dining room here. Due to the small size of my living space, I have a small table pushed up against the window that only accommodates me. I use it every day for eating and as my desk.

My dining table is the perfect spot to ready the Sunday NYX, all week.

on my kitchen table, i usually keep a big black bowl filled with some brightly colored handmade ceramic fruit figurines my mother had bought in mexico.
i try to keep just a couple of plants on the coffee table where i most often eat.

We use the dining room three meals a day. In between, there's usually homework or some type of DIY project on the table.

I actually moved my desk and bookcase into the dining area, and the dining table into the living room. I found that I mostly eat at my desk anyway, and it was too crowded in the living room. And I don't entertain very often.

That is a very pretty dining room.

Our dining room is the largest room in our place and I've taken over the bay window for yoga. Unfortunately, you can't really see the entire room or yoga area in this photo very well but it still makes me smile looking at it.

http://flickr.com/photos/pookndamon/2472059366/in/set-72157604920989881?edited=1

This one shows the space a tiny bit better.

http://flickr.com/photos/pookndamon/2497587090/

I love my dining room. I love the big wood table and the cottage type chairs that surround it. I've never had company come over and eat on it, to be honest. I've used it for coffee in the morning because it's such a quiet and peaceful spot. When I'm sewing or making a quilt, I use the dining room for that because it's always free of clutter and the table is the perfect size for that. All other times it's just an oasis of calm in my home. I have two big windows in my dining room that overlook my flowerbed in the front yard. I have a small porch between the windows and the flower bed that have two metal chairs and some flower pots with dahlias in them. I guess most of the time the dining does just sit there and look pretty, but I like it like that. It makes a good first impression when I come in the front door.

We eat most of our meals at the dining table and occasionally at the coffee table. There's no room for a kitchen table in our apartment. I like the idea of a kitchen nook but am also absolutely fine with using my dining room as our main eating area. I grew up with a similar situation - the dining room was a bit of a multi-purpose room when I was a kid so I guess I inherited that mentality.

it's my study desk and my dining table. The books and laptop are cleared away whenever we eat. Usually have a vase of fresh flowers or orchids on it too.

Wow! I love the dining room table in that photo. Anyone know where it's from?

I have a large living room but no dining room which I am quite happy about. My breakfast nook meets most of my needs and when I do entertain, I use the heywood wakefield drop leaf table behind my sofa. It can accomidate anywhere from 2-8 people depending on how many leaves I put in. Once the party is over, the leaves go back behind the armoire and the table goes back behind the sofa. Then that area of my living room retrns to its natural state: a dance floor.

We don't have room in the kitchen for much beyond cooking, and even that gets challenging occasionally, so we always eat in the dining room. Which I like as a concept....but I hate our dining room table.

It was a gift from my husband's parent to him when he first left home, and while I'm sure it was quite expensive and is very well made, it's ugly. But will never wear out. Sigh.

I love my inox dining table, but for some reason, I have most of my meals (for one) in the living room. So, unfortunately, I rarely use it for anything other than keeping books and papers. It always gets used for dining when people come over.
Now, I've been thinking about cutting down the legs and make it a coffee table, then I'd probably use it for every meal :)

My dining area gets used every day. Since I have very limited counter space in the kitchen, I sometimes do prep work at the table.

When I designed my kitchen, I decided I didn't want to have a small eat-in table and a seldom-used dining room company, reserved for special company only.

Instead, I outfitted my kitchen with more than ample storage (lots of pantries!) and use my dining room table every day.

Since I don't have a formal dining room (it's at the other end of my living room) it made no sense to buy a table that I would only use for company!

This table is perfect. My mother has a beautiful cherry wood table from the 1940s, and she covers it with pads, then a tablecloth, and then placemats, and eats every meal at it. Unfortunately, the beauty is never seen underneath all that protection. I have often told her she could just as well have a piece of plywood and two sawhorses underneath all that "bedding" and no one would ever know the difference. The table in the picture above is exactly what she needs, a plank and two sawhorses, and it looks great! And no fru fru.

I noticed a similar table in the June 2008 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. It's on page 40 but the Resources section doesn't identify the source. http://flickr.com/photos/pookndamon/2612713477/?editreplace=1

The table is stunning and I belive it is the Leonardo Desk by Achille Castiglioni. It retails at around $5000!
http://www.unicahome.com/p24283/zanotta/leonardo-work-table-by-castiglioni.html

If you are looking for a more affordable option, try this Ikea one:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09816719

You can mix and match with 2 different legs and several different table top options.

I agree, dining rooms always felt kinda wasteful and lonely. Just sitting there emtpy most of the time. I like the idea of a multi-purpose project room to put the big table to use. You just need lots of storage handy to stow projects away easily. Expandable/contractable tables and stacking chairs make the room even more flexible.

Love the table AND the butterfly prints. Great room!

my dining table is my island but built with the main purpose of seating 10 comfortably... so it's actually highly used.

prepping, cooking, dining, landing area for anything and usually everything that comes into my apt since it's the largest piece of furniture i own!

love the butterfly print - does anybody know where i can get one like it?