dining room Archives - Page 27 of 39

Dining with a bench – the latest trend

Beam Reclaimed Wood Dining Table and Bench

We have noticed a shift in attitude to the extending dining table that so much, we can now triumphantly declare the extending reclaimed wood dining table is king of the dining room.

It makes perfect sense – simply add more dining space when you have guests, decreasing its size for when you don’t – as far as reclaimed wood furniture goes, it’s the perfect choice- especially when you’re catering for the man, or for the few..

But an extending dining table is only one part of the equation. The other is seating. No one wants to dine balancing on a stool that means their chin rests on the table or too tall a stool to find their knees rubbing painfully on the underside of your rustic dining table.

The answer is simple – a dining bench (or two).

The solution to all your dining needs

With the end of summer yet to enjoy and the golden colours of autumn to come, encouraging people to think of Christmas seems premature.

But it is the time that most of us are likely to welcome guests into our home for both formal dining events, as well as the traditional festive buffet. The truth is ordering now guarantees your dining table with bench in time for Christmas – by late November you may be very disappointed.

The dining table with bench options…

*The best sellers

It’s no wonder that these are our two most popular kitchen table sets. The industrial charm with more than a hint of rustic makes the Standford Wooden Large Extending Dining Table a popular choice.

Its best selling counterpart, the Newton Dining Table also have the pleasant solidity about it that many customers in love with the industrial dining table style enjoy.

*Scandinavian appeal

If it is refinement you are after with a subtle elegance and style then look no further than the Scandinavian inspired Chelwood Reclaimed Wood Dining Table.

As kitchen tables sets go, this surely is the triumph that we have been seeking. A great size, it will sit in any kitchen/diner, performing time and again. And yet, with a few elegant twists and additions, it will become the sophisticated dining table you need for your next Christmas dinner party.

*Beautifully rustic

There is a romantic ideal of imagining and seeing all your friends and family gathered around a large farmhouse-style table, tucking into delicious food. A gabble of noise as they all talk over each other, the occasional bouts of laughter and endless chatter gives any host a warm feeling.

If you hanker after the farmhouse dining table, we have two amazing options;

*The white painted legwork of this extendable trestle dining table makes it perfect for those who seek the farmhouse style to their dining room. Add elegance with upholstered dining chairs alongside the functional dining bench.

*The Elton Farmhouse Dining Table is very similar, offering fantastic dining space and great for the kitchen/diner too. The ding bench stores neatly away under the table and so if you don’t need the full extent of the table, you can push it against the wall.

The dining bench is multi-functional. Drape with throws and cushions to soften the seat, squeeze guests along its length to enjoy an impromptu get together and you’ll find your family will love it too.

How to style industrial oval dining tables

A simple care guide for your leather and reclaimed furniture

Natural materials are hardy – leather can withstand all kinds of rambunctious play and reclaimed wood has already lived longer than most of us and had a long, long story to tell – but every now and then, they need tender, loving care.

Although robust, treated well and with more than a little care and thought, they will age even more gracefully and beautifully.

The beauty of reclaimed wood

Whether it is English beams from ancient lofts or discarded fishing junk from the other side of the world, most of the wood we use is reclaimed and of the best quality.

Woods such as oak have a dense structure and that means they age beautifully but unlike MDF and other timbers, they don’t always welcome a hot cup of coffee on the surface…

·Wipe up spills as soon as they happen

·Clean the whole item each time, rather than small patches or you’ll find different colours and patinas in one area to the other

·Furniture polish gradually builds on the surface so use a damp cloth to wipe the surface instead

·Use coasters and mats

·Don’t allow it to sit in full sun for days, weeks and months on end

·Always lift your furniture, never drag it across the floor

Nourish it

Nourishing it your reclaimed furniture, whether a reclaimed dining table or sideboard is about loving it and using it, but also about adding a little something to it – in this case, waxing it.

Buy a high-quality waxing product – we suggest Mylands Wax, a British wax that works well on our reclaimed wood furniture. Use a clear wax if you want to avoid adding a darker shade to it.

Follow the instructions but they are simple enough – use an old rag and apply the wax generously making sure it gets in all the crevices and the cracks. Rub it along the grain and leave it for half an hour.

With a fresh rag, remove the excess wax and buff it. Now sit back, admire it and fall even deeper in love with it.

Sideboards, a reclaimed dining table, coffee tables and our reclaimed wood bookcases and display units would love a little waxing every now and then.

How often should you wax? Regularly but don’t overdo it. In the first three months you have the furniture, wax it monthly and then alternate months after this.

Leather care

Leather is a cool to the touch material that is deliciously robust, and one reason why investing in a brown leather sofa or armchair is a great move.

But it too needs a little help;

·Gently vacuum leather furniture on a regular basis and flick a duster over it too

·Place the leather sofa or armchair in the right place – that is, away from stark sunlight and radiators, and not too close to the drying heat of the open fire or log burner

·Sunlight fades it, discolours it and cracks the leather too – as does moonlight, so take care placing it in the window

·Treat it with respect! Sit on the seat, not the arms!

·Dyed clothing can rub against the leather leaving a slight mark or staining

·Your aniline leather sofa and armchairs are not standard, so standard cleaning products and polishes don’t cut the mustard – opt for conditioning treatments specifically for leather!

5 Useful tips on measuring the space in your home

When something comes flat-packed, it often isn’t an issue to get the item into the home, through the doors and into its final resting spot. It may mean carrying it in bits, however!

With items of furniture that come readymade, there can be an issue. For example, the large headboard of a bed, a delightful piece of reclaimed wood, beautifully styled and finished may not fit up the stairs if you have a low ceiling height in the hallway.

Or maybe the turn in your stair means getting anything larger than the vacuum up and around the corner is nigh-on impossible.

And then when you do get the item through the front door, getting it into the living room or the kitchen proves problematic because there just isn’t the space…

When ordering readymade, reclaimed wood furniture, we suggest you do the following;

1.Measure the entry doors to your home

Whether that is the front or back door, making sure that the item will fit through the door is important. Measure width as well as height, making note of steps and lips, as well as other issues that could impact on the moving of items into your home.

Items may be readymade but they often arrive in separate component pieces, especially rustic furniture such as the rustic dining table that will need its legs attaching to the table top. But still, the bigger the table top…

Of course, if you have patio or bi-folding doors and we can access them through the garden, it shouldn’t be an issue.

2.The staircase

The staircase in any home can present a challenge when getting items up and into the bedrooms, whether the modern bedroom furniture or rustic bed, or double wardrobe.

For example, the headboards of many of our beds are large and inflexible. Thus, there needs to be the head height to manoeuvre it safely from the ground floor.

With the stairs, take note of its shape and measure the width of the staircase and the height too, important if you have an overhang of the floor above.

Beds require some assembly but the chest of drawers from most of our collections are completely assembled prior to delivery.

3.The kitchen

Access to the kitchen can be easy, depending on its location to the door we are using to bring the furniture in.

But don’t forget, if you have fixed wall and floor kitchen cabinets, manoeuvring pieces into or through the space can be difficult. Some of our items come ready-made, such as the sideboards.

Assembly of items is rarely difficult or problematic. We offer free assembly on items from our Beam Collection simply because items are much heavier to handle.

4.The dining room

Again, access can be an issue so measure the doorway – height and width – and note the position of any other features or items that are immovable. Most pieces come partly pre-assembled with just the legs needing to be adding to large sideboards and so on.

5.The Living room

It’s a similar story in the living room, with sofas arriving without their legs or castors, ready for assembly.

But remember, any sofa, whether it is a two-seater or a three-seater, is not an object that bends! Thus, to get your plush velvet sofa into position, we will need space in the hallway to manoeuvre it into the room.

Measure the hallway, as well as the doorway height and width. Are you confident the items you order will fit through the door?

Get the look – The Mitcham industrial dining room

The Mitcham Collection with its retro appeal and industrial style furniture options sizzles in any room, but for the dining room, it is perfection.

A stylish dining room makes for a great family time as well as a great entertaining space. From enjoy coffee on a Sunday morning with the papers to entertaining friends, we’ll show how to get this look using the Mitcham Collection.

The dining table

It is – and should be – the focus of any dining room but the Mitcham oak table is stunningly beautiful with its spider legs, adding a hint of detail but without the fuss. It is a detail ‘to be discovered’ by your guests and one that will be admired.

The dining chairs

Using two tones of leather with the stylish dining chairs is a great way of adding yet more detail but again, without being overly fussy.

The tan and grey dining chairs are the Cleo models, faux leather dining chairs that offer the look and feel of real leather but at an affordable price. Their thin, metal leg frames are an ideal foil to the thicker spider leg of the industrial dining table.

We have other industrial leather dining chairs that offer a similar finish, tan leather being a beautiful colour for the dining room.

The rug

The rug acts as a platform for the industrial table and chairs but finding the right colour and shade can be problematic.

The ‘salt and pepper’ colours and effect on the rug in the dining room landscape as highlighted above allows the tones of the brown oak top of the dining table to shine through, setting off the tan and grey leather dining chairs too.

Sticking with the black and white tones, lightly-patterned rugs works a treat in the industrial styled dining room.

This fantastic black and white Louis de Poortere rug is one of our most popular, and ideal with the Mitcham oak industrial dining table.

The industrial sideboard

Just visible with its beautiful corners and slightly raised door panelling detail is the Mitcham industrial sideboard.

Everything should be well-placed and a thought-out addition to the dining room. When using items from the same collection, you are making it easier on yourself in the sense that you don’t have to worry about different shades or tones of colour and finish.

The Mitcham Collection has several industrial sideboard options, from the large industrial sideboard to the concrete sides of another style of another Mitcham industrial sideboard.

Lush greenery

It’s there and it is just enough to lift the interest level – plants.

It is a trend that has made a mark on interior design this year and it works well within eh industrial styled dining room too.

Cluster similar plants on the industrial sideboard or on a display unit, also the perfect addition to the dining room. Or why not ring the changes by placing the slimline but effortless chic console table in the dining room?

Industrial style furniture works well in any room but is fantastic for the dining room. Is this a style that attracts you?

5 restaurant design elements to jazz up your dining room

There is more to restaurant design than table and chairs alongside a modern colour scheme. The way it is all pulled together is used to transport diners to a different world, just for an hour or two. The good news is, with our guide, you can combine these elements for your dining room too with reclaimed wood dining table options you’re sure to love.

Dining benches

A practical addition, an upholstered, comfy dining bench running along a wall is a design trick many restaurants employ. Even the smaller two-seater dining bench could make a vast difference to your dining room. There is a leather option too if you are worried about sticky fingers.

There is nothing wrong with making a style statement in the dining room either, and it doesn’t just have to be about the dining chairs. Take note of restaurants that have plush, high-back upholstered dining benches and the vibe the interior gives off.

Colourful dining chairs

Go on, admit – you opt for the safe solutions when it comes to dining chairs to go with your reclaimed wood furniture because, maybe you’re a little nervous of doing something ‘different’.

Be brave and banish these fears and jump feet first by adding coloured dining chairs to your dining room. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed and neither will you regret your decisions in years to come, questioning why you bought luxurious, coloured velvet dining chairs.

Set the mood

There are times when meal times are frantic, a brief interlude in a busy day before family members peel off to their various social activities.

But there are other times that you want a more leisurely pace to dinner. Or maybe, dare we suggest, a more romantic ambience?

You’ll notice that your favourite eatery will have a very different feel to it once the sun has set than during the day. They do this to meet the expectations of clientele and to help diners relax, and they do this with lighting.

A pretty candle, its flickering flamer highlighting the beauty of reclaimed wood furniture, or a table lamp gracing the industrial shelving or dining room sideboard cabinet are all ideal lighting solutions.

Go green!

You want minimal, we get it. You want streamline, we get it. You want industrial styling, we get it. But the problem is, it can all look a little too streamlined and minimal, too industrial and ‘harsh’.

Restaurant designers understand this too and that’s why the use of green in the shape of statement plants with broad, lush green leaves is a must.

Enjoy the beauty of a broadleaf plant, for example, gracing the industrial style shelving unit in your dining room.

Mix your wood tones

The one thing we love about reclaimed wood – and we know our customers do too – is the variations in patterns and patinas that make every piece unique.

If you look at the detailing of a restaurant, you will notice that unlike some other places, they vary the use of wood tones in the space.

They retain a sense of cohesion in other ways – matching styles of chairs and table linen, for example – but use darker woods along lighter woods. Why not mix it up in your dining room with the warmth of the lighter toned Rocco industrial table with similarly styled but darker wood sideboard.

Why not jazz up your dining room and send us photos of the results?

Tips to create rustic glamour in the dining space

Maddox Industrial Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

Rustic glamour is the seamless combination of wood and anything that shines. All our collections lend themselves to this popular, on-trend interior design style – including the industrial edge of the Maddox Collection – but only if you know how.

So here’s how to do it.

Let the key elements ‘shine’

The key elements of the rustic glamour look are wood and anything that shines, from glass to clear plastics, to mirrors and more.

Both need their opportunity in the rustic glamour landscape to shine. All this comes rolled into one with the Maddox reclaimed wood dining table.

Just look at the beauty and warmth of the wooden table top on this rustic dining table perfectly foiled by the mirrored metal legs. Doesn’t it make your spine tingle?!

Sticking with the dining room scene for the moment, the matching Maddox display unit in the background emphasises this – just in case you hadn’t notice the effortless rustic glamour chicness of the room – with the mirrored metal display units being the cohesive narrative the room needs.

Get personal

Sometimes, the accessories are the things that support and bolster a style and the rustic glamour fusion is no different.

As well as adding your own family photos to the wall and the Maddox display units and bookcases, add those statement words and signs that you see too.

From ‘love’ to ‘family’, the rustic glamour style is all about spelling it out so that everything is clear and obvious.

Luxurious textures

It doesn’t seem possible but the rustic glamour style, even with the most beautiful reclaimed furniture can fall flat, just like other styles, and that is because the textures are too one dimensional.

Texture can be the flippant surprise that catches people off guard and makes them sit and take notice. It is important in this fusion of because everything can be so obvious that adding a hint of luxury as an undertone is just what’s needed.

Fabric dining chairs can be wool, velvet dining chairs or hardwearing cotton ones. The detailing on some of our dining chairs are also perfect foils for the industrial sharpness of the Maddox collection, bringing yet more glamour.

Of course, that doesn’t mean leather dining chairs are out of the frame – far from it. In fact, leather is a material that oozes sophistication, a sub-species of glamour in the interior design world.

Can you have too much glamour?

We doubt it.

The more obvious it is, the more rustic glamour the room becomes. There is an edginess to the Maddox Collection that we know customers love because it has more than a hint of the unexpected.

Adding yet more glamour and shine with separate pieces brings the collection to life, but dampens those angles and lines, without blunting its on-trend industrial demeanour.

Choose artwork that is so far from the industrial look that you think it won’t work – that’s glamour.

Choose items that have an elegance all of their own– that’s glamour.

Why not opt for a traditional addition or even an antique shelving unit – that’s glamour – because it is unexpected. And this alone creates the fusion that a rustic glamour landscape needs.

Create an elegant rustic dining area with this collection

Glamour can be anything from bright, shiny bejewelled surfaces to understated elegance that gives rise to a styled room of such beauty that it’s hard to tear your eyes away.

The elements of rustic glamour can be applied to all our collections and so, if like us you plan on making more of when rustic and glamour combine, then you will need to understand how to bring the rustic dining table into the realm of glamour.

Adding an extra dimension – Hoxton and Glamour

The rustic look doesn’t have to be rough sawn to the touch or to the eye, a point proved by the Hoxton rustic oak dining table.

The combination of wood and ‘shiny stuff’ are the two elements that make an interior landscape into a rustic glamour space.

But with the Hoxton range, you will need to retain an air of sophistication when adding ‘shiny stuff’.

How about silver candelabras with tall, slender candles? Or maybe opt for a decadent mirror to adorn the dining room wall? Perhaps it is the nonchalant, casual lean on the Yolanda mirror that makes the glamourous detailed frame stand out.

Textures, textures, textures

We know that texture adds depth and dimension to a style – in other words, it gives the style legs so that instead of it blending into the background, it saunters casually past the eye.

Glamour doesn’t have to be BIG and scream in-your-face. Just upping the tempo by adding a different texture can be enough in the rustic glamour style.

For example, against the smoothness – both is touch and finish – to the Hoxton rustic oak trestle dining table, you could add a pinch of texture with upholstered dining chairs.

Fabric dining chairs are surely a luxury at any table they adorn. And with modern rugs to frame it all, you can’t deny there is something simply delightful about such a design scheme.

Do the unexpected

Glamour means different things to different people. But in a rustic glamour landscape, it can be the unexpected that adds to glamour fix in any room.

In the dining room, the addition of a white display cabinet to complement the understated Hoxton rustic dining table could be the very thing that you need.

And behind this glamour, is oodles of storage space that any dining room to keep the dinner service that graces the table when guests gather for one of your amazing, much-talked-about dinner parties.

The Dorset reclaimed white wood dresser would be ideal, wouldn’t it?

Think shiny things

Don’t underestimate anything that glitters to bring the rustic glamour style to life.

Think reflective surfaces – mirrors and glass – think shiny, polished metal sitting alongside wood.

Think glass vases and uber-elegant hanging pendant lights.

Think statement pieces that make people go ‘wow!’.

Cover the walls with shiny-edged photo frames with the classic black and white photo.

Think over-sized wall clocks and super-arty canvases.

Think a neutral, understated wall colour so that the grain of the wood of the Hoxton rustic table shines just as much as the shiny stuff…

Bring in rustic glamour with the Derby reclaimed collection

Luxe Kensington Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

When it comes to decorating trends, rustic and glamour go hand in glove, something that many people find hard to believe.

The earthiness edginess and shiny opulence of glamour wouldn’t be two elements you would necessarily fit together but as we look at the Derby collection through rustic glamour tinted spectacles, we see that this is achievable.

Both with distinct looks, they bring a timeless appeal and a beauty to a home. But as the saying goes, opposites attract and that is certainly true when rustic meets glamour.

Fancy the look? Here’s how to get it with the fabulous Derby Collection.

#1 MIX wood with lustre

Anything that shines can be defined as lustre and the look of love between rustic and glamour starts with the heady combination of wood and shine.

And this is exactly how the Derby Collection brings alive a room.

#2 BALANCE the glamour with the unrefined edges

Rustic differs from farmhouse in that it has an overall less-refined look. Glamour can be as low key or high-end as possible.

The secret to a harmonious and seamless rustic glamour interaction is to balance the two key elements.

Alternatively, the addition of modern rugs, even patterned rugs, can bring it all together in a seamless parade of rustic glamour.

#3 ALLOW rustic wood to be a pinpoint in the room

Focal points are places where the eye falls and allows us to make sense of the shape, style and function of a room.

A pinpoint is something we like to use that is a small detail that we recognise after the burst of style has attracted your eye. It’s a bit like the hidden detailing, making the rustic glamour room the space that just keeps on giving.

In this sense, we think that a piece of rustic sculptural furniture is the ideal solution. The Derby Large Wood Sideboard, we think, without the glass top is one of those pinpoint items. Framed by a modern rug, there is something very tactile about rustic wood – the rough surface invites closer inspection.

Let it just sit there, smouldering with sexiness in the rustic glamour landscape.

#4 ADD Luxurious textures

Glamour isn’t just about anything that shimmers and glimmers, although we admit that anything with sparkle attracts us like magpies.

Textures that are soft to the touch, whether that’s a long pile rug underfoot or the chunky knit soft throw on the sofa, wins our vote.

There is nowhere better to meld rustic with glamour than in the dining room, as the Derby Reclaimed Wood Extending Dining Table, with or without glass top shows.

And the glamour could be sat right next to it: velvet dining chairs. Smooth to the touch with deep, passionate colours and shades available adds the hint of glamour that is sheer delight.

Is the rustic glamour figure in your interior design plans?