Factors to consider when purchasing dining room tables.
The dining room is a usually a few steps more formal than any other eating area you have in your home. The room is multipurpose and is the place you seat friends and family together for holidays, formal dinners, and even daily meals. Without a doubt, the focal point of a dining room is the table. Since everything else in the room works around the style, shape, and footprint of the table, carefully researching dining room tables will help you choose among the many possibilities that are available to you.
The Size of the Table
Understanding the space you have available for your table is your first priority. Measure your room and the space where the table will fit. When you are doing your measurements, leave space considerations for chairs that sit around the table with the chairs pulled out. Think about how many people will be sitting at the table on a regular table and then on rarer special occasions. If the number of people who will eat at the table regularly is smaller than the number who will be seated on special occasions, look at dining room tables that have leafs that you can be taken in and out. It will be less expensive and give you more flexibility to have a table that seats six regularly and can expand to twelve or eighteen when necessary.
Dining Room Table Style Options
Depending on the style of your home and your personal tastes, you can choose among three main styles that most dining tables fall into.
Contemporary - Modern dining room tables are made from wood, metal and glass, but often it is a mix of different materials. You know you are looking at modern style when the top is glass, and the legs and framework are metal. Chairs that work with these tables are made from the same materials as the legs or the base.
Classic - Traditional dining room tables are built entirely out of wood. The type of wood can range from pine, cherry, oak, mahogany, and any combination of more than one kind of wood. Although the style is classic, the shape is not restricted, and you can find traditional tables that are round, square, oval and rectangular. Depending on the period that it is from, you can find intricate carvings and designs on the table legs or all around the edges.