50 Dashing Dining Rooms
Whether you prefer to dine indoors or outdoors, at a table for two, or with a growing family, these homes offer loads of inspiration for breaking bread. We selected an eclectic collection of spaces with materials of all kinds including tile, cement, wallpaper, rich wood, and paint treatments ranging from neutrals to bright hues. Tell us what you think in the comments.
Udechuku and Smith consider the rare rosewood-and-black glass dining set by Joaquim Tenreiro the highlight of their Brazilian Modern exhibition. "It's a true masterpiece, and the only piece I have felt really nervous about using," admits Udechuku.
In the dining room, which opens to the backyard terrace, original tilework on the floors and walls complement decidedly modern counterparts—an original 1938 Butterfly chair
by Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan, and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, and a 1983 TMC floor lamp by Spanish designer Miguel Milá.
Mary Jo Davis, Marja Preston, Jonathan Davis, and Tia Preston gather on the deck. "The community is the biggest selling point," Preston says. "The icing on the cake is sustainability."
The renovated kitchen/dining area boasts views of the garden through sliding doors by IQ Glass. Ultratop flooring by Mapei and custom millwork in Lebanese cedar give the space a practical, industrial quality.
In the dining area of the kitchen, a Mobile Chandelier 3 by Michael Anastassiades is suspended above a table from local cabinetmaker Københavns Møbelsnedkeri. Vintage red dining chairs by Ralf Lindberg mingle with an Ilse Crawford bench for De La Espada. Photos courtesy the Apartment.
A pair of interior architects with a years-in-the-making furniture collection recast an old Belgian factory as a playful family home.
Piet Hein Eek's wooden chairs add a touch of color to the monochromatic Amsterdram apartment of Hunter Hindman and Shelby Carr.
Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba, who work as Ludovica+Roberto Palomba, commissioned a dining table of their own design from Exteta and paired it with Abanica chairs by Oscar Tusquets for Driade.
Graphic wallpaper complements the color scheme and adds visual interest. Adding bench seating and built-in shelves around the La Redoute table helps to delineate this space as a study and dining area within the larger room.
Douglas fir and Alaskan cedar richly line the interior walls, and the flooring is made of Vermont slate. In the kitchen and dining area, a group of Wishbone chairs by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen & Søn surrounds a table by local furniture maker Larry Hepler.
In the outdoor dining room, wire chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll surround a mango wood table made by a local carpenter, Diego Madrazo.
The couple often dine on the patio off the kitchen, warmed by a fireplace from Spark Modern Fires. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.
Vipp's prefab Shelter requires a delivery time of six months and costs $585,000. Pricing includes interior fittings, all by Vipp, including bathroom vanity, lighting, leather daybed, kitchen island, dining table (pictured), bedding, storage, and even kitchen utensils.
The materials palette is similarly restrained, making the only natural piece of wood in the house—the almost 14-foot-long walnut slab in the kitchen—really stand out. "If there was wood everywhere it would lose its gravitas," notes Chris.
The screen porch serves as an auxiliary dining area and is furnished with a Teak outdoor table from Ikea surrounded by three chairs, including two vintage chairs and a silver 1006 Navy chair by Emeco from Design Within Reach.
Adding wood floors to the home proved to be a challenge, both in terms of approval and execution. Since the flat is located in a historic mansion block, the license to alter it was very strict. Once approved, floating oak parquet floors were installed above a high-performance acoustic system to offer sound insulation for the neighbor below. The open dining room exemplifies the clients’ wish for a "fun yet minimalist" home. A copper Habitat pendant lamp hangs above a solid oak dining table fabricated by INTERIOR-iD. A whimsical mustard sofa pops against the blue Tabu veneer wall.
In the dining room, the vintage table and chairs are set off by a Modo Chandelier from Roll & Hill and a vibrantly patterned Anthropologie rug.
Original built-in cabinetry is retained throughout the house. Planner Group side chairs by Paul McCobb surround the dining table.
Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba, who work as Ludovica+Roberto Palomba, commissioned a dining table of their own design from Exteta and paired it with Abanica chairs by Oscar Tusquets for Driade. The ceramic centerpiece is by Emilia Palomba, Roberto’s aunt.
The dining room is adjacent to the open-plan living area and shares the view out over the deck and garden to bushland. Throughout the house, the floorboards are made from recycled blackbutt timber.
In the dining room, a Poul Henningsen lamp hovers over a table by Philipp Mainzer for E15, surrounded by Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs. The artwork is by Maria Sanchez. The designer added a Banco kitchen by Dada with Jasper Morrison stools.
Throughout the house, Curtiss mixed natural materials with industrial ones. Downstairs, fir and cedar wood on the doors and open-joisted ceiling balance the colder, industrial feel of the concrete floor and steel staircase railing. In the dining room, a pendant lamp from RLM Lighting hangs above a table that combines Cherner table legs with a new white laminate top. The yellow chairs are by Tolix.
Wardle’s firm also designed the dining table, where up to ten guests can gaze out at the Southern Ocean. The solid-oak Hiroshima chairs are designed by Maruni.
Custom skylights by Berkeley’s DeFauw Design+Fabrication set above scissor trusses let in the sunlight.
Wire stair balustrades create an airy vibe while reinforcing the linear wood detailing throughout. In the dining area, a Sputnik-style chandelier by Rewire in Los Angeles hangs above an oxidized maple table from BDDW and Clifford Pascoe chairs from Metropolis Modern.
The family's activity centers around the open-plan dining room, which does triple-duty as a living room and kitchen. Susanna prefers a motley set of dining chairs over a coordinated set; that way guests can pick their favorite when they sit.
In a couple’s Mexico City apartment designed by David Levy of Flexform, a Murano chandelier hangs above a marble-topped dining table from the showroom.
In this Portland home, design firm Made arranged individually carved white-oak planks in a geometric pattern on the ceiling that repeats itself throughout the house. Beat Light pendant lamps by Tom Dixon hang above a custom dining table, also by Made.
A pendant lamp by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen & Søn hangs above a custom dining table by Cabinet. The paint is Cloud White by Benjamin Moore, and the painting, titled Meshed, is by Anna Yuschuk.
In the dining area are a Gamma table by Cappellini, Eames molded plastic chairs, and a Flotation pendant by Ingo Maurer.
A quartet of red paints (Raspberry Truffle, Million Dollar Red, Vermillion, Arroyo Red), all by Benjamin Moore, make the built-in shelving in the dining area pop. The table is a custom design made of bookmatched walnut slabs joined by lacquered butterflies. The chairs are vintage Paul McCobb lacquered in turquoise (Benjamin Moore's Aruba Blue). The Ligne Roset Ruché sofa, designed by Inga Sempé, separates the living and dining spaces. The chandelier is by David Weeks Studio.
An assortment of dining chairs, including vintage iterations on the Eames shell chair by Charles and Ray Eames and Stokke's Tripp Trapp chair, are clustered around a table lit by a pendant lamp by Coco Flip Design Studio.
The interior scheme prevents clutter in a variety of creative ways, including concealing a heat pump in the walls and installing flush-fitting LED spotlights. The architects explain, "Since the redesign, the prevailing impression is one of spaciousness, the suffusion of light and simple elegance."
A statement-making Hope Suspension Light by Luceplan is an elegant addition to the living area. The table, which was designed by the architects and fabricated by VHB Memmingen, is surrounded by CH24 Wishbone Chairs by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son.
The dining room. Much of the furniture was purchased from vintage modern home stores in L.A. The furnishings represent an attitude—whenever possible, recycle, reuse, and support local manufacturers—as well as a strong sense of aesthetics at home.
In the formal dining area, guests are invited to make themselves at home. The floor-to-ceiling bookcases create an intimate dining experience, which sits under original decorative ceiling details.
A dining nook sits just inside the entrance of Andrea Maffei and Rossella Acierno’s 850-square-foot residence.
A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in the garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a white-granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini.
With the home’s glass walls pulled open, the patio becomes an extension of the dining room. A trio of Panton chairs surround a fire pit should guests choose to congregate outside.
Angled openings in the roofline function as both windows and vents, allowing views and cross-breezes. A dining table completes the nearly all-wood room.
The Mourtzouchoses entertain constantly, which means that food is rarely far from anyone’s mind. Alexia sets a Tio table (with matching chairs) by Massproductions, over which hangs a thatch of dried palm fronds.
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