How To Renovate

EP75 Dining Spaces That Make You Linger

• Tash South

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Hi I'm your host, Tash South I'm an Interior Designer and Renovation Consultant, and I'm here to help you design, renovate and style your home better. Let's create your dream home together.


Each episode of How To Renovate is short, but brimming with practical advice to help you manage your renovation project with confidence and success.

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Tash South:

Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. It's Tash here, and I want to talk about possibly one of my most favourite things to do ever in my home, and that is hosting people for a meal. So today I want to talk to you about creating a dining space that kind of just makes people want to linger. There is nothing more that I love than having friends or family over cooking a lovely meal for them, and I do love cooking, but you know, it doesn't have to be fancy. I can't remember the last time I went to someone's home for dinner or a meal or that they came to ours where it was all formal and there was and there were three courses and everything was laid out perfectly on your plates. For us, it's more about getting people together, it's very casual, kind of family-style dinners. We have lots of kids between us and our friends, so they always joining in. There's always something involved that the kids can get stuck into as well. And so it's not really about that kind of formal dining party that you used to have in mind, but more of a connection. It's a time where you can get together with your friends and your family, it's something that's easily done, that you can have people over in your home. It doesn't take too much organization, like if you were going out to do something, for example. It's just quite easy and such a lovely thing to do. And so we do it a lot in our home almost every single weekend. We have people coming over, and it's something I really love and enjoy doing as well. And I hope that our guests love it too. They seem to, anyways. So I'd like to talk to you about how we can create these spaces so that they're just more comfortable, more welcoming to spend time in. That's what I really love about having people in my home. So let's get into the episode. So, number one, let's talk about why food and dining together is more than just fuel. So I've kind of touched on it already, but enjoying a meal together or cooking for a group of people really is something much more than just fuel, just eating, isn't it? It's kind of primal. It's how we've always got together over fire, over food. It's always how we've connected. It is come together in a warm place where there is sustenance. And I do feel like it's something we just humanly need in our lives. It's it's good for us, it's good for our soul, it's good for our connection and our relationships with people, whether that be within your own family unit or your wider group of friends and family as well. And then, of course, you can go beyond that. I mean, in our different cultures, food is a cultural experience, it's a social experience, a connection experience. There's just so much to take from the simple act of cooking a meal and gathering people together to enjoy it with you. I think very few of us now have that kind of older-fashioned dedicated dining room. It's all a bit more open now, isn't it? So we generally have the dining space within our kitchen or another area of our homes, which I think is actually great because it then connects onto a bigger space and then further adds to that feeling of everyone being in the same room, connected, the person who's cooking is always around and not in a dark kitchen somewhere in the corner. And so I think that the way we are designing our homes now and the way we want to live also nods to that. It nods to wanting that connection, wanting to be in the same space, wanting to gather. And that is also what I really love about home design and and the direction we're going with it, and how I help other people create those spaces so they can have that connection in their homes. So I just find this whole topic, this whole subject, really enjoyable, whether it's personally for me doing this in my own home or helping a client create that space so that they can get that same enjoyment as well. And it doesn't have to be about just having guests over and having large groups. I think even just as your little family unit, if you have young kids, I think it's a really important thing to do is to try and enjoy a family meal together as many times as you can during the week. I know it's hard. Um I have obviously my own businesses. My husband has a crazy job as well. We have two daughters, one is 12, the other one's seven, and they have their own lives and agendas and different things that they do. So our weeks are busy, our weeks are packed, and on those times where we can sit down together and have a meal together as a family unit, those times are really quite precious, I think, and you make memories there. And even though it might not all be smooth sailing, believe me, it's taken us a really long time to get to a point where you know the kids aren't arguing at the table or one isn't doing cartwheels, or the other one's um looked at the mill and discussed and walked off, and so it's taken us about you know four or five years to get to this point where we can actually just about all sit down together at the table and enjoy a meal together and some sort of conversation, but you know, we persevered. Hopefully, we've got there or nearly, and we can continue that way. But I also think that's a really important aspect to consider when you're designing your space about how that can be a place, a little spot, even if it's a small table and just enough chairs for you and your family, that you can sit down and and have that experience as many times as you can manage with your busy lives. But now let's get on to some more practical things. We are number two going to talk about creating that layout for connection and conversation and what you can do with your home and your space to create a space that will kind of help that to happen. So let's get into it. Okay, so if you're like probably most people, your dining table and chairs are probably within another space, like your bigger kitchen diner, perhaps it you have a more spacious living area, and that's where your dining table and chairs are set. So think about where they are placed, and also if you have the opportunity, if you're renovating, to be able to increase the space somehow, to be able to have sightlines through from the dining area through to other rooms, perhaps the kitchen. Um, like I said before, it's always great to have that space where there's a bit more flow, there's just more opportunity for connection, for conversation. If you can see into other rooms, if you can flow, if you can walk through into other rooms quite easily. So, really think about the actual layout of your home when you're at floor planning stage, about where everything's going to go, whether it's your kitchen, your kitchen island, your dining room table. Always make sure you've got enough space between all the elements so that the flow works well, people can circulate really easily, there's enough space to be able to open doors of your kitchen, let's say, or of your kitchen island, but not bashing into the back of a dining chair. So those walkway spaces uh generally about 90 centimetres to a metre is a good space to leave between any in any pathway like that, and then of course, you want to be able to have enough space to be able to pull your chair out, sit down, and then tuck your chair back in again. And usually behind a chair, that's usually between about half a metre, so 50 centimetres upwards, so at a minimum space of about 50 centimetres to be able to comfortably pull the chair out, sit down, and tuck it back in again. So keep those measurements in mind when you're working with your layout for first of all your kitchen cabinetry perhaps or anything else in the room, or secondly, if you're placing furniture, just make sure that there's enough circulation space around because the circulation space will also then determine the size of the dining room table you might want to have in your space. So if you want to have, let's say, a two-meter long dining room table, but it's going to be right up against a wall or make another area seem awkward, perhaps you go for a smaller table, perhaps you go for an extendable table. So think about these things in terms of how your space is going to be used and try and make it as effective as possible and as easy to flow around, move around as possible, because that just stops kind of frustration and bottlenecks as you have as you move through the home and especially when you have more people than usual in your space as well. What I absolutely love to do in a dining area or especially a kitchen diner is to have a little breakout space. I just find that these little breakout spaces work so well, especially if you're having a party or you're having lots of people over for a meal. People always want to join little different parts of conversation, don't they? And so if there's little spaces here and there that two or three people can go off to and have a conversation that's just in a smaller group, I always find that so nice because that kind of gives um another opportunity for connection. Let's say people who perhaps don't know each other that well, and just to have these little breakout spaces where people can go off and make new connections with others. I love including the opportunity for that when I'm working on a floor plan. And so this could come into life in the form of perhaps a window seat. If you're lucky enough to have one of those amazing picture windows, you can put a window seat in there, or it could just be a bench, perhaps it's just a really nice little bench that's upholstered, padded, a couple of cushions tucked against a wall somewhere, or perhaps you are lucky enough to have a separate little room that's connected that you can make into a snug that people can flow in and out of from the dining area. So, really think about how you can just create a little space to sit where two or three people can go off and have a separate conversation. Next, you want to set the mood number three. So I find that the best way to set a mood when it comes to dining spaces and probably the whole of the home really is lighting. So if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that I talk about lighting a lot, especially in terms of when you're renovating from scratch, when you've got the opportunity to add different layers of lighting into your home. Definitely take that because it's going to give you lots of control over how you manage the different lighting levels throughout your home when you need those. So if you need to be being practical and doing tasks, you can adjust for that. If you want to dim the lighting for a dinner party and make it a bit more atmospheric, you can do that as well. So it's all about having your lighting really well planned out, thinking about the different layers and the different levels. So for me, um, in really simple terms, it's just having different lights on different switches on your wall. So, for example, in my own home, I have all the spotlights on two or three different switches. So, even those, even though they're just one layer of the spotlights, which are the task lighting, so the bright lights we need to have on when we're doing practical practical things, those are even split into three different groups. So one group will come on with one switch and another with another switch, and so on. And that way you don't have to have them all bright, all on at the same time. They can go on in layers, and then on top of that, I've got even more layers. So the light above the kitchen island that's on a separate switch, so we can only have that on and no other lights in the room. Then you could put wall lights on a completely different light switch as well. Then we've also got some LED hidden LED lights, which just form kind of a glow in certain areas. Those have their own switch and they're all on dimmers, so you can see how in that one area I can control the lighting in almost 15 different ways because of all the different switches and all the different dimming levels. So I would really encourage you to think about how you want to light your dining space because it's going to be that thing that kind of gives that coziness and that atmosphere, which does make people always want to linger, chat more, and always this is a great tip, always think about the lighting being flattering as well, because you want your guests to feel good to look good, and the worst thing you could do is put a light right above the head. So if you put lights around your dining table, let's say they're spotlights, and it's a light that's directly above where the person will be sitting, if it's above their head, it's going to cause shadows and all sorts of strangeness in the face if the light's coming directly from above the head. So think carefully about where you place the lighting as well. So a gorgeous pendant or selection of pendants above a dining table is always a really good idea because you're lighting the table, not the people's heads. So you're lighting the table, you're lighting the food in front of them. So, and if you have that on a dimmer, then that's even more beautiful. So, really think about where you're placing the light and how you want to control it, which atmosphere you want to set when you have your guests coming over. And then also for setting the mood, there are different things you can do in the space. Something I actually love doing in a dining space is adding mirror. So it doesn't always have to be just plain old mirror, you can add antiqued mirror where it's got some sort of speckles and it's not just shiny, it's got some character to it. That kind of antique mirror matched with really great lighting that is considered not too bright, perhaps a bit low, so perhaps you have your pendants above your table hung a little bit lower than you would anywhere else. That combination is really a great combo for creating a cozy space and you know a place you really want to sit for longer, chat for longer, and so those can really work well together, the reflection of the mirror as well. And what I find also is if you're using mirror placed really well, you can then reflect other things that your space might not have. Perhaps it's light from another room, perhaps it's the view out of a window or the light from a window, perhaps it's reflecting what you might see out in your garden. So there's ways of kind of bringing in some more atmosphere and some more mood by using mirror really cleverly in your dining space. And if you're not renovating from scratch, there are still ways you can bring this atmosphere and this mood into your dining space. You can add a sideboard and you can add a few lamps, which would still give that feeling of low glowing lighting. You can use candles, you can, of course, still use the mirror. So there are ways you can definitely work with it to still create that mood, even if you're not doing a full-on renovation. Next, let's talk about some colour theory in your dining space. Did you know that they are actually colours that stimulate our appetite? So these are quite unusual colours, and I have to admit I've not used them in dining rooms before, but I love the idea of using these colours in a dining area. And when I was doing my research for this episode, I found that colours like cranberry, plum, um, mauve, warm pinks, they're all known to stimulate not only the appetite but also our emotions. So those would also be really great colours to use in your dining room, and they don't only have to be on the walls. So let's say you're thinking a pink dining room is just all a bit too much for you. You can incorporate those colours into other areas of the room. Perhaps it's the upholstery on your dining chairs, or perhaps it's on the artwork, or on the dishes, on the ceramics that you serve the food on, or vases, or the colours of the flowers that you might put out when you have guests over. So there's various ways of incorporating these colours, and then kind of subconsciously that makes us feel like we're we're ready to connect, we're ready to enjoy the meal. It's stimulating our appetite and really making us want to linger in that space and really enjoy being there. Okay, let's move on to the last point here, everybody. Number five, choose great furniture. Such a big one when it comes to choosing your dining furniture. And it may seem simple because you know, lots of um shops and stores they just sell dining sets. So you buy the chair and the table together, and that's that. But I would really encourage you to test drive everything before you buy because there are different levels of chairs and tables that really make us feel right and make us feel comfortable when we're sitting in them and we've got a table in front of us. There are specific heights that between the two that make it feel just right, and you really have to test it out to feel this. I don't know if you've ever had that feeling before. Perhaps you've gone to a restaurant or you've gone to someone's home, and I have this quite a lot because I'm quite short, but you kind of sit on the chair and the table's kind of up here, um, and it feels like you're you're a kid sitting at a grown-up's table, and I just hate that. It makes me feel so small, even smaller than I actually am. And I feel like when I'm eating, my elbows are up to my ears nearly trying to cut the food. And so, really think about this when you're choosing your your tables and chairs. Go and test out as many as you can. Make sure that those heights are right for your height, but also just in general, that your chairs aren't too low for your table, or your table's not too high for your chairs. So make sure that you get that right. And if it's not quite right and you found a table that you love, maybe you start there. If the table's too high, can the legs be adjusted slightly, or can you get slightly higher chairs so that the table doesn't feel too high? So there's not much more I can say here except just go and test it out, sit in the chairs, see how you feel, pretend you're eating a meal, and just see how it all feels to you. It should feel natural and comfortable. And then also the comfort, so important. I find this a lot with chairs actually. Um, I don't know if you've noticed, but there are so many designer chairs out there, and actually not that many of them are comfortable. And so, really, again, this is a all you can do is go and sit in them for a little while and and see if they feel comfortable to you and the correct hype for your table, but just kind of test it out. Something that looks absolutely stunning might not feel comfortable to sit in. So just be really picky about what you choose and always make sure you're testing it out. And if you're choosing upholstered chairs, of course, these are a lot more comfortable than to sit in than um just plain wooden ones or plastic ones. And another thing to consider obviously is the type of upholstery, if it can be cleaned, the colour of it, if it suits your your lifestyle, if you have kids or pets, do you even want to have upholstered furniture, or it needs to be a colour or material that can be cleaned properly and easily? So consider all those things as well when you're choosing your dining furniture. And something that I find always catches people out when they're choosing their table and chairs separately, or even sometimes together, and this is particularly important if you have a smaller space, is that if you choose a chair with armrests, sometimes the armrests are too high to tuck completely underneath the table or as far in as you need it to go, which means that your dining set, your chairs and tables together, actually measures quite wide or quite long. So if you can't tuck your chairs in as much as you need them to, that can cause an issue when it comes to your space planning and your layout planning. So always make sure that if you need that extra space, if you need that extra flow around your dining table or that clearance area or your pathways, that you want your chairs to tuck in underneath your dining table. It doesn't mean you can't have armrests. Um, some people love having armrests on their chairs, and again, it's more comfortable, it makes people linger more if your chair is comfy. But if you need it to tuck in, you may need to adjust something. You may you may need to find a chair with lower armrests, and so just think about that as well when you're choosing your dining room furniture. So, top tip here is test drive everything. Test drive your chairs, test drive the heights of your table. But that brings us to the end, everybody. That brings us to the end of this episode. I hope it's provided some value for you. I hope that it's encouraged you to create a lovely dining space that you can have people over and connect in, or even if it's just your family on those random weeknight meals. But that's it. That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to see you in the next episode. It's bye for now. For more information on my five-pillar process for successful renovation, you can go directly to southplacestudio.com forward slash pillars where you'll find an introduction to the process which covers each of the pillars and what they cover. We also have a number of other free renovation resources. Go now to southplacestudio.com forward slash freebies. I have created some amazing freebies for you there. There is one on the process, like we just said. There is one on um planning permission, there is one on kitchen design, there is another one on lighting planning. Go and check those out. There's so much free information there to help you with your renovation.