dining room Archives - Page 31 of 39

How to elegantly display flowers at home

With the beginning of spring around the corner, now is the perfect to inject some colour into your home with some beautiful blooms. With this in mind, we thought we should share some of our favourite ways to elegantly showcase your floral displays this year and instantly bring your room to life.

One option is to match the colour of the flower buds to the colours of your room. Perhaps not an option if your colour scheme is blue. However, for many colour schemes, adding co-ordinating flowers into your space can look incredibly stylish and will really pull a room together. A bunch of yellow flowers will add a real zingy look to your room paired with a couple of yellow scatter cushions on a chesterfield style sofa.

If you are not sure about having all one colour, go for two or three colours and pick flowers in one of your selection. For example, with a sunset colour scheme which incorporates pinks, oranges, reds and even yellows, any of those colours would look fab!

Go large. Five or six large blooms (think hydrangeas and peonies) will look uber sleek in a glass bowl vase and will make a perfect statement piece for your hallway. If you have a large sideboard, this simple decoration placed on top will keep your decor looking clean and elegant, but will add also add enviable style. Large flowers are also a great way to add excitement in your large farmhouse table.

Double the impact of flowers by placing in front of a mirror. A tall glass vase filled with flowers and foliage will look twice as full if placed in front of a mirror. Whether the vase is placed on the floor in front of a full-length mirror or is on a sideboard with a large wall mirror, your flowers are bound to look twice as impressive! This works particularly well with an otherwise understated room, such as light walls and flooring and soft Scandinavian furnishings, to make the biggest impact.

Work with more natural textures. Beautiful bouquets of flowers are undoubtedly stunning. However there is something more unique in bouquets of wilder, natural flowers. This look works particularly well in country kitchens and living rooms. To really make the most of the style, display in a soft coloured, metal jug, or even hanging out of a wicker basket as if they’ve been freshly picked. You could even line two or three small old glass milk bottles up in on rustic wooden shelves for that cosy farmhouse style.

Have you got a creative way to display your flowers at home? We would love to know!

Beautiful stainless steel pieces you need to have in your dining

Only a few weeks into the New Year, we are seeing more predictions for what will become on trend in interior design. For the last year, we have consumed brass accessories and although such items are still relevant, designers are suggesting that by the end of the year, we will once again be coveting the sparkling sheen of silver.

The Maddox collection is, therefore, ideal for creating a dining room that has all the sparkle that you need, whilst remaining understated and beautifully elegant. And so with this in mind, this is how to get the look for your dining room.

The dining table

The reclaimed wood dining table, such as the top of the Maddox dining table fuses effortlessly and seamlessly with the high polished finish of the table legs.

The dining chairs

The fabric dining chairs in this fantastic dining room are stunning in their own right but are the perfect foil to the roughly sawn top of the table and yet, there is no class. In this sense, this is because the colour of the fabric and the wooden chair legs is slightly muted, a blank canvas against which the rest of the room can shine. Cream dining chairs would work just as well.

The Console table

Just behind the dining room table is the narrow console table, perfect for adorning with the beautiful silver table lamps with matching grey lampshades to tie in with the chairs. From the same range, it has the same leg choice as well as reclaimed slightly rough swan reclaimed wood top. This promotes a cohesiveness in the room and stops anyone one thing from jarring against the other.

The display units

And there comes a change in height, a ‘trick’ that many interior designers use to prevent everything being too much ‘the same’. Variations in height of furniture and other pieces create the detail that really matter.

And yet, it matches the components seen in the dining table and console table – the reclaimed wood shelves and the high sheen finish to the legwork. There is just enough detail in the Maddox display units to them being a welcome, but not an overpowering addition to the room.

Detailing

Adding accessories is the fun part but get it wrong, and it looks too cluttered. You will note that there are some subtle changes to the metallic finish of the pendant lights, for example. With a brass finish, they are a welcome detail in the room but with an understated shine and finish, they don’t jar against the stainless steel sparkle.

Alongside the neutral backdrop of grey, there are earthy colours teamed with other brass and stainless steel accessories but there is one colour that lightens it all – the varying shades of pink, from the candles to the flowers.

Wall accessories are minimal – opt for artwork if you feel it needs more character – but the beautiful wall clock, complete with Roman numerals is simply stunning, an exquisite detail that draws the eye across the entire dining room landscape.

Is this the perfect way to add stainless steel to your dining room?

Is gold the bold choice of the year?

We regularly poll our followers on both Houzz and Instagram on the latest interior trends. It gives us an idea of what our customers really think of some of the trends and ideas coming our way.

Metallic accessories have long been the preferred choice for use in framing a room, the equivalent of the black lines and streaks in the art world for picking out detail in a painting or image. For a long time, silver was the default choice but 2017 shook things up a little with brass effect finishes.

2018 promises to be no less controversial when it comes to trends and ideas in interior design, but we wanted to know what you thought of the gold metallic finish.

We Asked, You Answered

Gold has a yellower overall tone than the dark but golden hue of brass. But we wanted to know – do you love it or hate it? Is gold the bold metallic choice for 2018?

And the answer overwhelmingly was yes, with only a handful of votes on Houzz opting for stainless steel. All our fans on Instagram plumped for gold.

Let the love affair with gold accessories begin!

The two items we showed were the black dining chairs with rose gold frame and the navy velvet dining chair with stainless steel legs. Both are clearly stunning pieces but with the gold attracting the most attention, we thought we would look at how to use gold accessories to their best.

Gold is a fantastic colour to use across a range of styles, from the farmhouse to the modern, with many items of contemporary furniture glowing in its golden shine.

Gold works well with a variety of materials too. Velvet is a plush material that invites people to touch and enjoy it and, to a certain extent, the combination of velvet and gold is long steeped in tradition.

But it can be brassy and very yellow thus, using other colours and fabrics helps to even out its tone. Why not team this year’s must-have colours – the dark earthy greens and the delightful ultraviolet purple – with golden framed accessories?

It is a colour that works beautifully with white too. If your penchant is for crisp, white walls, tone down the starkness with gold foiled artwork or gold colour bases to a pretty table and floor lamps.

Retain the classic feel with leather furniture sitting alongside gold too and for a traditional appealing living room, there is no compensation for the iconic shape of a leather Chesterfield sofa marrying with gold framed accessories, from lamps to decorative mirrors. As this gold-framed round wall mirror shows, gold doesn’t have to have a high polish finish to it either.

Small gold details

Just like gold itself, the smallest nugget can have the most value. And with gold accessories, there doesn’t have to be an ostentatious display.

That means choosing dining chairs with rose gold metallic legs, or pretty framed mirrors or even a table lamp or two. It is also a metallic colour that will sit alongside other metal finishes too because it doesn’t say in the rule book that gold can’t be used with stainless steel.

How do you see using gold in your home? Will it be the bold accessory you’ll incorporate into the living room, the dining room and the bedroom?

How to create this fantastic look with luxurious stainless steel

Luxe Kensington Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

For the last few seasons, brass has been the metallic of choice and although many pundits suggest that this is still the case for 2018, stainless steel is hotly tipped to face a re-emergence – and polished stainless steel at that.

This sparkly surface does a lot to open up a space, adding a sense of luxury and understated grandeur, especially in the dining room. Along with glass, it must surely be one of the most exquisite and coveted materials. And if you like the industrial style, you’ll love this Kensington dining table, with its polished stainless steel finish to the legwork sitting beautifully alongside the reclaimed wood top and the dramatically dashing black velvet dining chairs.

So how do you get the look?

An Elegant Industrial Dining Room

The Kensington dining table is a beautiful reclaimed wood furniture piece with a combination of polished stainless steel legwork with a reclaimed wood table top. The industrial style is all about the effortless combination of materials, such as metal, wood and the rawness of brick work and so on.

But it is not devoid of style nor glamour which is why this particular style of dining table is the perfect choice. There is glamour, without compromising on the combination of metal and wood.

But if you want to soften the edges some more, add a plush fabric to the mix. The dramatic black fabric of the Luxe Madison velvet dining chairs make the perfect foil to the utilitarianism of the industrial look.

Fundamentally practical, the industrial style is not necessarily about harsh angles or unromantic functionality: it is about the seamless melding function and beauty. There is cohesiveness between the table and the chairs in the shape of matching stainless steel legs, complete with an almost art décor inspired leg frames.

Supporting Furniture to the Look

Every dining room needs to have supporting characters in the shape of other pieces, all chosen and placed with sympathy to the main star of the show, the reclaimed wood dining table complete with polished stainless steel legs.

Display units or even a sideboard are ideal. Perfect for offering much-needed storage, there is no need to compromise on the basics of the industrial style either. Reclaimed wood furniture, including undressed reclaimed wood units, sit perfectly side by side. Just like the velvet dining chairs bringing cohesion with matching legs, it is the romance of reclaimed wood that blends with the reclaimed wood dining table in the room.

And beyond…

This inspiring industrial styled dining landscape can easily spill out into the rest of the home. Versatile, stylishly sharp and beautifully tailored, it is no wonder that many people continue this style into the living.

Cosy without being insipid, many people enjoy the clarity that the industrial and reclaimed style bring to a home. You can soften the edges as much as want using lush soft furnishings, along with similarly styled tall floor lamps to bring about a soft glow to any room, including the living room.

Is this a style that would suit your dining room and home?

Plan a wonderful atmosphere for the two of you this Valentine’s Day

The origins of Valentine’s day that we celebrate on 14^th February each year are shrouded in mystery. For centuries, February has been seen as the month of romance. But this doesn’t just mean celebrating the love, passion and romance between you and your ‘significant other’. It means revelling in the love you have for others too.

And that’s why this Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to get together with all your loved ones and celebrate the relationships and friendships you share. We’ve come up with some great ideas that work just as well for family time or for a romantic interlude between the two of you.

And better still, you don’t have to leave the warmth of your own home…

A Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt indoors is a great way to hide small gifts for your special ones to find. Valentine’s Day is not about giving expensive gifts but about showing people that you care. So, whichever gifts you choose to hide, put plenty of thought into them.

Personal gifts are the best, especially ones that have been made for the person in question. How about these as ideas…?

Create individual IOU notes to completes a pleasant task on their behalf at some point in the next few months, such as breakfast in bed on a Sunday morning.
Make your own presents such as a stack of cookies in their favourite flavour or a pretty box filled with delicious sweets.
Personalised gifts bought online can be expensive but are the type of gifts that people treasure for a long time.

Eat Together (but with a twist!)

You can always create a romantic ambience with a well-set reclaimed wood dining table and pristine upholstered dining chairs, serve up steak and oysters… but again, it isn’t about the expense but spending time with your significant other or others.

So, spread out on the warmth of a large sheepskin rug, serve up nibbles at your living room Valentine’s picnic, choose a film and relax, enjoying the chatter and the love in the room.

Board Games Bonanza

Consider this, when was the last time you played a board game together? The digital age has meant most of us have become welded to our phones and thus, there is a whole generation missing out on learning the rules of Ludo, Monopoly, Mousetrap and not developing dexterity to complete the buzzer game, Operation.

Now is the time, so hop on down to your local toy store, buy a board game and introduce your kids – and reintroduce yourself too – to the fun of a board game. How else can this digital generation learn to really argue with their siblings over fair play?!

Get Out and About

From a hike in the hills (check the weather) to a trip to a local museum or art gallery, to create the perfect atmosphere this Valentine’s, all you need is love and laughter.

In the spotlight: the Valentine’s Day table setting

Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to make more of a fuss of your significant other, and a quiet meal for two is ideal. Cooking up a storm, you want to make sure that the setting is just perfect too. From the table to the ambience, we have it covered with our guide to creating the perfect Valentine’s Day table setting.

Ambience

This is created by the environment in which you enjoy your romantic meal together. And no matter how lovely you make the table setting, the romance of the occasion won’t be as forthcoming if the surrounding environment is cluttered.

And so, take advantage of the quick storage solutions you have in the living room and dining room furniture, from the sideboard to the coffee table with storage in which you can hide all kinds of things away.

Adding texture to a room stops it from looking flat and as well as the accessories for the table, consider the room as a whole. For example, deep pile sheepskin rugs in front of the fire are perfect, along with throws hanging gracefully from high-back dining chairs or better yet – fabric dining chairs.

The Table

Creating a theme of love can mean different things to different people but there is no getting away from the fact that red is the colour of love, romance and passion.

Red roses come at a premium price around valentine’s day – as do most flowers – so you can ring the changes by using either your favourite flower or colour for the backdrop.

But no matter what colour you use, a blank canvas allows the table setting to shine and so opting for a white table cover for your dining table. Opt for the best quality you can afford and for a touch of sumptuousness, copy what high-end restaurants do with a double layered tablecloth.

Or you may want to leave the dining table uncovered, and no wonder if you have the smooth elegant surface of the Farringdon extending table or the beautiful grain and lines etched in the surface of the Abbey reclaimed wood dining table.

Setting the Table

Start with cutlery for each course you are serving, remembering that your first course with start with the outer most cutlery. Shine it to a high polish, matching the cutlery where possible. Have the butter knife laying diagonally across the side plate which is placed to the left of the fork. As well as a glass for water, arrange the wine glasses at the head of the knife.

Keep the table piece in keeping with your theme, using colours that suit your love story. As well as red, many people use soft, pastel pinks – why not opt for pink candles in statuesque, tall candle holders, for example?

The finishing touches

With the candle lit, the soft, romantic glow is the perfect setting for the delicious meal you are about to serve. Somehow, you naturally whisper in hushed tones, aware that this is a pleasant interlude for you both. Enjoying the meal perched o high backed dining chairs, there is more than elegance to this table setting – there is genuine romance and long-lasting love.

Host the best party for single people this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is not for everyone. But enjoying the single life doesn’t mean that they are a valentine sceptic – it is possible that someone who is single can enjoy what the romance and closeness that the day is trying to promote.

Throwing a party for couples and singletons is possible, without banning any reference to love and romance! And you can still have plenty of red hearts decorating the place too.

So, what are our suggestions for welcoming single friends to a Valentine’s party? We say go with a dinner party, serving delicious food matched by great company.

Decorate the dining room

Valentine’s is the time to overdose on red paper hearts and Cupid’s arrows and just because you have single people coming on over, doesn’t mean that you can use the basics of this romantic day as part of your decorations.

If hearts are not going to cut it, use plenty of red, mixed with pretty pinks with dashes of dark green as the accent colour.

Adding detail to the small round dining table is a great idea too, and frankly, anything that sparkles we think is a great addition. Buy ‘fake’ gems and table glitter, sprinkling it liberally around an amazing centrepiece. The glow of the candles will pick out the sparkles, creating a perfect setting for the delicious food you are about to serve.

Create a signature cocktail

The most important part of any social gathering or dinner party is the greeting. A warm welcome sets the tone for the evening and so, you need to be on hand to welcome guests and in the best way possible: with a drink in your hand!

Create a signature cocktail – there are loads of ideas online – creating a sublime cocktail that helps your guests unwind and enjoy the food. For non-drinking or driving guests, create a signature non-alcoholic version too.

Serve with an array of nibbles, all served in gorgeous serveware dishes and arranged artistically on your reclaimed wood coffee table in the living room.

Ditch formality

The best dinner parties are those where the food is delicious, but the company is even better. A formal dinner party is great but sometimes, you just need to kick back and do your own thing.

And as it is early February, the evenings still draw in early and the temperature is not climbing much above freezing. So, create something different…

BBQ outside on the patio, ferrying the food to the bar table and chairs, where your guests are super-relaxed with your cocktail signature. Serve up warming dishes alongside BBQ stuff, such as chilli that packs a kick, jacket potatoes with crispy skin and a selection of deeps, some with heat and some with a deep smoky flavour.

Theme it

A theme always makes a party go with a swing and just because you are entertaining singletons at Valentine’s doesn’t mean you have to stick with the ‘red and romance’ look. How about superheroes or ask your guests to come with an imaginary superpower and how they would save the world…

How to celebrate Wine Day like a connoisseur

National Drink Wine Day is celebrated annually in the United States on 18th February, however it looks as though the day may be making its way over to the United Kingdom too!

For lovers of white wine

White wine is easy to pair with most dinners, but it works fantastically with white fish or meat, and root vegetables.

Something like a Thai chicken curry, fish cakes or a goat’s cheese, potato & onion tart would work with a lovely bottle of white wine.

When it comes to desert, a classic like apple crumble and vanilla ice cream will work a treat with white wine.

If red wine is more your thing

Red wine is a delight with hearty, wintery dishes. A Sunday roast with roast beef or lamb, a warming casserole or a tomato based dish will be perfectly accompanied by red wine.

For something relatively stress-free you can assemble and leave to do its own thing in the oven, a fresh lasagne with pesto is a great option. Spaghetti bolognese is another straightforward but delicious choice. If you are looking for a vegetarian option, herby mushroom pasta would be fantastic.

Desserts which incorporate toffees, caramels and chocolates are fantastic with red wine. Something warming like sticky toffee pudding is a great option. Chocolate fudge cake or a caramel cheesecake would also be fantastic. The options are really endless here!

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, for a stress-free evening somewhere you don’t need to book weeks in advance, a relaxing evening with a glass or two of wine and a delicious dinner for two is another great way to celebrate national drink wine day!

Set your reclaimed wood dining table up with candles, flowers or whatever your heart desires, make sure you have some comfy dining chairs (these fabric dining chairs are a great option) and cook a delicious meal. Even if you only have a kitchen bar table in your space, there are plenty of ways to make it work – keep your kitchen tidy as you go so as not to ruin the mood, and perhaps go for a dish which requires as few pots and pans as possible.

Alternatively, if you really love wine or if cooking isn’t your thing, you could even book onto a wine tasting together.

How will you be spending Drink Wine Day?

How to spruce up your dining space

Creating a welcoming, stylish dining space enhances the dining experience, whether it is a mid-week roast with the family or a dinner party with friends. Spruce up your dining space with these fantastic ideas!

Wave goodbye to formality

We often think of dining spaces following formal lines – the wood table in the centre surrounded by matching leather or fabric dining chairs – but sometimes, sprucing up means dialling down the formality of the setting a notch or two.

The rustic interior design look, the rawness and the slightly-less refined appearance of the table, sideboards and so on, is a fantastic style for any home.

Formality and function don’t always make practical bedfellows when it comes to the dining room and so by ridding yourself of the rigidity of dining chairs with a fantastic dining bench, you can say hello to people huddled around your dining table, enjoying good food and vibrant conversation.

But if you are thinking of a long, hard, bum-numbing bench, think again. The majority of the upholstered dining benches in our range can be customised – choose from leather or opt for long-lasting moon wool or the dashing nature of Harris tweed, an ideal finish for the Stanton dining bench with low armrest.

Ramp up storage

A dining room is a well-used space – and not just for eating – and so it makes sense to create a room that is versatile, as well as stylish. A statement piece that is functional is the ideal addition.

The Colette reclaimed wood sideboard is the ideal statement rustic furniture piece, working well with a reclaimed wood dining table and the soft, luxurious moon wool fabric dining chairs.

Mix and match the chairs

Adding a freshness and zing to a dining space is easier than you think and making one key change is all that it needs: the dining chairs.

Mix and match is not a euphemism for adding everything and anything to your dining room in the way of styles and colour of dining chairs but rather, mixing and matching colours in the same style, print and choice of fabric.

Easy to achieve with fabric dining chairs, choose the same Harris Tweed pattern, for example, but some two complementary colours. A great way to add colour and a note of interest.

Or combine Harris Tweed with leather, such as the Scout dining chair, that adds more texture and interest to the dining table.

Choose a pedestal table

Of course, if you are going all out and making a big change in the dining room, a new dining table will be on the cards.

For an on-trend, yet timeless look, consider adding a pedestal table – a round table with a delightful centre leg that not only saves space but adds a sculptural element to the dining room. Take a look at the Abbey round dining table, perfect for sitting alongside fabric or leather dining chairs and other pieces of reclaimed wood furniture.

From adding small accessories to a zing of colour to replacing dining chairs to investing in a new, reclaimed wood dining set, there are many changes you can make that spruce up the dining room. Which ideas will you try?