Our house has an open floor plan. I love our open floor plan. But the long front room (designed to be a dining and living room) attached to the dining nook and kitchen can often feel too table-y. Upon walking in the front door, you see tables:
- Dining Room Table.
- Console Table.
- Coffee Table.
- TV Table.
- Side Tables.
I love this table - it's sturdy and classic, but it doesn't seem to fit. The blonde wood top might be the problem in our darker wood house. The lack of rug to define the space might be another problem. Too many tables may be yet another. But I can't see using this space for anything but an eat-in kitchen nook.Which brings me to the conundrum at hand.
First things first, this room needs a rug to break up all the wood. Kind of like this.
or this:
Should I stain the top of the table and chairs (tedious) to make the black less stark and to help it blend with our darker wood floors and dark kitchen cabinets? B and I have been in love with this Crate and Barrel table for years, but can't justify buying an almost identical table and new chairs to the ones we own for a darker wood top and seats and wine storage.
Should we look for a new table? I'm enamored with counter-height tables now - I think it would add some height and dimension to our table-y house. But are counter-height tables a fleeting trend? G&D convinced me months ago that they're practical, now I just need to decide if they're trendy. Although, at this price (and quality!), who really cares?
Canopy's Tall Dining Table
Or should I leave it as is and hope that an area rug handles it?I would love to hear your thoughts. And as far as rugs go - what shape should I go with for a round table? Square? Round? I'm area rug challenged.
I really like the table and chairs in that space. I think it looks nice and would look great with a rug (I prefer the first one).
ReplyDeleteI think it could look great with the darker stain on top, though. If anyone can transform a table - you can. =)
The chairs are beautiful - seriously, if you decide to let them go, I'll be the first in line. I think a square rug would be great. Did you see on Just Beachy, she just painted her table black and it changed the place completely?
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what I'm talking about - good luck.
Square or round rug for sure!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think the light wood top will blend better with a rug breaking up the floor. But I also see it all a dark color, even painted white or black...or even robin egg blue or green but I know that is pushing it :)
I love pub tables but one thing that made us decide against is if you ever need to seat one more person or a chair breaks, a regular 'ol chair won't work!
stain/paint the top black to match the legs and get colorful cushions for the chairs ( stain the seats too!) I like teh stripped rug
ReplyDeletetake care
I think staining would work. Personally, I don't like to put in that much effort, so I'd just keep a table cloth on all the time!
ReplyDeleteI would go with a rectangular rug for a little shape contrast with the circular table. But perhaps a rug that has some circular patterns in it?
ReplyDeleteAlso, leave the chairs until you see what the rug can do on its own. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Oh, I LOVE the PB rug! In fact, you *may* have found my new family room rug!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like the lighter wood contrast, but if you wanted something that would blend better, I think I would paint the top black, rather than stain it darker. A darker wood tone might work with the rest of the space, but I don't know if a darker wood tone would work with a black contrast. What would you do with the seat bottoms? Would you paint them as well?
I think that you should get your choice of rug in there first...both are beautiful! I am lusting after that Pottery Barn one :) Then maybe add some curtains to see what changes to the table/chairs you need. Right now it just looks a little empty - like a blank slate ready for the touch.a.la.emily :)
ReplyDeleteOoh, I love the idea of painting the table top black or a darker stain. I think the table set you have now is perfect, so don't get rid of it!
ReplyDelete(I also once fell off a pub table chair after too much wine, so......)
As for a rug, either shape would work well but I always have a hard time finding a round rug.
Hmm, I am not good at this- but if you added something to the walls it might help to break up the rooms by breaking up the long wall spaces. just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI like the 2nd rug with strips. I would go with a square rug.
ReplyDeleteI am area rug challenged. I find ones I like, but I never want to pay the price for them.
ReplyDeleteI like your table and chairs, but I love the ones from Crate and Barrel. I also love the pub type tables, but sometimes I think they aren't practical. My question for you is: what kind of style do you want for the area? The rugs seem kind of less formal while the Crate and Barrel table seems a little more formal to me. Plus, I always see darker wood to be more formal. Overall, I think the rug might fix it. :)
i love the rugs but is it just me or is there a lot of that lemongrass green in your house??? :) maybe a contrasting color to coordinate but offset the green?? maybe not an issue with the rugs... i love the striped one though!
ReplyDeletei don't like the taller tables for the same reason as the comment below-you can't just throw a folding chair in when you have an extra guest. also, not very family friendly-it's a long way to fall and it's higher than high chairs or boosters-i know there aren't kids yet, but how often do we buy new tables, really?
Hmmm...a conundrum for sure. I'd get a rug first and then decide where (if anywhere!) you need to go from there with the table. I think a rug will make a big difference.
ReplyDeleteWow really nice collection of Counter Height Tables...
ReplyDelete