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Where do you buy your furniture? How do you make a decision? What is your experience with dining room tables and chairs? We ordered this lovely table a couple weeks ago. It was delivered just before Mother’s Day. But it looks like we will return it.
I like the dark wood and it is just the right size: 74″ not extended, 108″ fully extended–which is just what we were looking for. I didn’t seek out something quite so ornate, but if I were going to get something like that, this is the design I would pick.
The chairs that match the table are HUGE. They are really big, really wide, and really heavy. They are also noticeably uncomfortable to sit in. They wouldn’t offer any support while you were eating–they angle backwards. And if you did lean back against the back of the chair, the pretty pattern turns out to be a pretty pain.
I’m curious: Do you have dining chairs that look nice and are comfortable? Or am I in search of a unicorn?
Also, we have three youngish children. 1) Not only do the chairs not fit them (since none of us are tall they actually don’t fit any of us) but they would not even be able to scoot themselves in for the foreseeable future. 2) This table is mostly solid wood, but the top is a veneer. Veneer = child does something awful, table is ruined. We would prefer to get a table that was all solid wood (no veneer), but several salespeople have claimed that formal tables don’t come that way. (You can get oak, but we don’t want oak). My mother in law has a beautiful formal solid wood table, but it was made about 100 years ago. Do they really not make them that way any more?
In your opinion, how long is it worth it to look for or wait for the perfect table? I am frightened to have them come pick this back up because I am afraid that I will never see a table I like so much again. On the other hand, I am terrified not have them picking it up, because I know these chairs are a mistake!
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8 Responses to “Dining Room Decision”
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So… is it a set where you have to take the chairs? If so, send it all back! If not, send the chairs back and find some others that are more comfortable and functional. My dining room actually has four smallish, pretty, Great-Grandma chairs and four regular sized, comfy, Ethan Allen chairs I bought used. I always feel guilty sitting people in the grandma chairs. You need better chairs — you could probably put three in the space of the giant two… and I’m all about more people at the table.
As for table: If you love it and can keep it, get some urethane or whatever and coat it five or six times. Or send it all back and keep checking on Craigslist or KSL whatever you have out there. Formal dining rooms are not as popular as they once were and you may find a great old one.
I haven’t tried these personally but I have been eying this particular table for years now. One of these days I am just gonna rent a truck and go buy it! After I special order it months in advance of course. My mother had a drop leaf like this that I adore. And i am almost positive these are solid wood.
http://www.amish-peddler.com/table_drop_leaf.htm
I had a dining room set that I absolutely loved–it actually looked similar to yours, but the chairs were padded on the middle of the back as well, so they were comfortable. They were heavy, though, and small kids would have trouble scooting themselves in. I think it was a veneer, but since it was in our formal dining room, we rarely actually used it. It was more for looks. When we did sit in the dining room, we almost always had guests, so we brought in folding chairs, which the kids sat in. (BTW, my youngest was 6 when we got the set.) I also was particular about placemats and pads for all the serving dishes on the table or would use a table cloth. We had it a couple years and it still looked brand new. Unfortunately, we moved to a home with no formal dining room, and my table set had to go.
Ours came from a store in Texas called Rooms to Go. They are all over the south.
I would say if you got the set for a really good price, you might not find anything like it any time soon in the same price range. On the other hand, I would never pay a lot of money for and keep furniture I wasn’t absolutely in love with. A nice dining set should last you forever, and you don’t want to regret your decision every time you sit down to eat at it.
Sharon, does the polyurethane really work? We have recently bought a new table with a veneer top and I am already getting upset about the dings and scratches on it. I wonder why they don’t just do that when they make them. I’m sure the reason they use veneers in formal tables is because they can make those interesting designs on the surface, which you either couldn’t do with a solid top, or would you would pay a bundle for. Have you looked at Ethan Allen? I am not that into the over the top ornate look so much either, but I think Ethan Allen’s stuff manages to look classy and elegant without being to froufy (no, that probably isn’t a real word).
Well, we love Lofgrens, but it may not be your taste. The chairs are really wonderful-at least all of them that I sat in. you can check them out online and see if there is anything you like. I would keep looking, especially for chairs.
We got a dark wood table and chairs we love from Down East, and ordered a piece of glass to fit on top that we use to protect the table top while the kids are young (we put a tablecloth under the glass like at a Chinese restaurant
But that’s actually in our kitchen, and our dining room has the piano. So I say do what works for your family!
I haven’t ever done the polyurethane… have heard friends do it. And now my kitchen table is ruined ruined. I tell myself its a kitchen table. And if I ever redo the top I will coat is a million times. My sister’s friend’s dad made a kitchen table for her and he coated it six times. That’s what they do to floors, so there must be something to it…
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