Dining Room Dilema

7 years ago

Hi All We've bought an Arts and Crafts home recently which needs totally renovated. In my search I had decided on no dining room, as we hardly ever used our last one, but the home has a dining room leading on to a conservatory which we will definitely enjoy. I would have preferred if the conservatory had lead off from the kitchen, but can't have everything and cannot make this the kitchen without huge structural expense. The house needs our budget to deal with upgrading electrics , plumbing etc.

I would love any suggestions on what would be a good use of this dining room space to blend seemlessly with the conservatory. You all seem to post some brilliant ideas and I am stuck.

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Comments (4)

Sonia
7 years ago
Could the house be opened up a bit, nothing drastic? Where is the kitchen? I’m a great fan of knocking down walls to create a better flow without having to build an extension. I’m imagining an open plan kitchen diner with the sitting room in the conservatory. Unless you already have a sitting room elsewhere. Some people can be snooty about conservatories, but I think they make cosy sitting rooms to snuggle up with a book or watch tv. I think many Houzzers would appreciate a plan. Some of them are very clever at trying out different layouts! Could you share a plan, even a hand drawn one?
isabel_brown53
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you for your comments. Yes there is a very large sitting room already so i don't need that. We have downsized a bit because in our previous home, we had a sitting room and a living room with TV etc and also a dining kitchen and dining room. We found over time that the dining room and formal sitting room were rarely used, which is why our original plan had no need of a dining room.

The house has a large kitchen and diner that can take up to 8 people. I had thought about removing the wall as the dining room and kitchen sit side by side just to try to reconfigure . There is a chimney breast in between too. If money was no object then i might still have gone down this path , but it would have been a very large space and I worried about it looking too big and a bit soulless as well as the added expense of doing the structural work involved to remove the wall as well as around all the plumbing, electrics etc. It felt like too much so we have already redone the kitchen diner in its original space but with a better layout , new refurbished windows , new kitchen etc. and now keep looking at this dining room and thinking surely there must be an alternate use.

I know we will use this conservatory a great deal, and can see the dining room becoming just a walkway, hence my search for some ideas.

Thanks again for your input. I've seen such great ideas come up in this column.
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I think this room is brilliant (not only because of the potential of the size) because it gives you the chance to have two areas with different purposes. One for sitting on front of the fire/chatting to guests and a second for cosying up with your partner on front of the TV. Agreed with Ellie. On the left side, you could have another sofa (or armchairs) perpendicular to the fireplace, with a coffee table and armchair opposite. I like your idea of having two carpets: One under the coffee table, the other opposite the fireplace on far side. I would add a long side board (maybe an oak cupboard, with 4 freestanding legs) in the left corner for shoes, hats etc. It can change purpose if you decide to move it in future. You could add a fancy coat rack (or wall mounted coat hooks) between the two doors on the right. Are there options to put this beside your front door? In between the fireplaces I think a bookshelf would look lovely. If you’re more a kindle fan than a real book fan, use it for your favourite pictures you haven’t had the chance to hang, and vases and pots. You could map this out before buying more furniture, using newspapers or magazines roughly the same size. (Or use the Houzz feature “view in your room” to test furniture you like on the website in the areas). Also get yourself a measuring tape- this will prove indispensable when looking at furniture before packing it off home to find it doesn’t fit. I realise I rambled off a lot there so I hope this makes sense. I just saw so much potential in this room. Hopefully you manage to get it just how you like.
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Hi, Thank you for the photos, now I have a better understanding of the whole area. Yes, the sofa looks better after turning it around, but if you`re planning to buy a new one (or loveseats), it would be better to think about some modular sofas. They are easy to move in a space and you can match different sizes and colours as well. What do you mean with the option “c) separate the nook area with 3 white wood panels hanging from the beam”? Sorry, but it was clear to me. Regarding the TV nook I was thinking about the option to leave the TV and the cabinet where they are and use the walkthrough path between the column and the half wall as a storage place (see photo). You can place there a shelving system, which can be used from the dining area as well. You mentioned that you don`t like bumping into the sofa after entering the room. What about to create a small hallway and use some room dividers to make it cosy entrance, where you can sit down to take off your shoes and leave the keys and bags on a side table? The room divider should be something massive (wood or metal), but also something transparent to avoid creating dark corners. The playing nook can be placed in the corner next to the seating area (adding extra lounge chair optionally) and the home office on the other side of the dining area . Now I hope that you have enough inspirations and options to think about. Good luck and enjoy your new layout! Regards, Mariann
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Juliet Docherty
7 years ago
Library? It looks be quite dark so it could be a good space to display books, pictures and collectables etc and perhaps have some cosy areas for reading.
Carolina
7 years ago
Study/library? Music room?

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Dining Room Dilema

Comments (4)

Sonia

isabel_brown53
Original Author

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Dining Room Dilema

Comments (4)

Sonia

isabel_brown53Original Author

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isabel_brown53
Original Author