Contents
It is best to start a picky selection of tables and chairs with determining the style in which the interior of an apartment, a country house or a separate room is sustained. It’s elementary.
Dining tables and chairs
Manufacturers have long simplified our task and offer a choice of furniture only three style directions: classic, modern and country… Of course, such a division is conditional, since the classics, to one degree or another, synthesize elements of other closely related styles, and all modern furnishings, without exception, fall under the definition of modern. However, this approach undoubtedly helps to navigate the sea of proposals.
The next step – area measurementreserved for the dining group. In most dwellings, it is impossible to allocate a separate room for the dining room, which means that this functional area must be combined with the living room or organized in the kitchen. By the way, this situation narrows the search area even more. After all, a classic or modern table you like for eight people can take up the entire volume of a nine-meter kitchen. And therefore, alas, it will have to be abandoned in favor of a modest four-seater piece of furniture (for reference: to accommodate such a compact group, only 4 mXNUMX is required). Some furniture factories take into account the needs of customers and produce models of dining tables in several sizes. But this is more the exception than the rule.
Full set
If the living room area is more than 15 m², the “sofa group” can be squeezed a little. Then the dining room will also fit in the room. In addition to a dining table and a set of chairs, you may need a couple of showcases or sideboards – to store the ceremonial service, glass-crystal and silverware. A more modern option is open hanging shelves or low dressers.
By the way, the dining group is by no means a rigidly fixed system. It will not “fall apart” if you remove some element from it – a table or a set of chairs. Quite the contrary, complex proposals are very rare, they can literally be counted on one hand. They appear when a manufacturer develops a single collection for a separate functional area or for all living rooms at once. Then the line – say, Gray by Gervasoni, Downtown by Selva (Italy); Kristina from Rowico (Sweden); “Caprice” from “Ecomebel” (Russia) is executed in the general style and color, and therefore an object made by another factory and caught in an alien environment will look really inappropriate. In most cases, tables and chairs are sold separately and are selected according to taste. Moreover, the manufacturer makes a decorative accent not on the main object – the table, but on the chairs. They become a real testing ground for design experiments. It is for the chairs that the shape is carefully worked out, the frame material, seat and backrest fillings, and upholstery are selected. The table is rightly considered a purely utilitarian item.
Everyone at the table!
It would be wrong to say that factories have completely discounted the renewal of dining tables and now only produce well-proven models. Although some manufacturers do take a similar position. For example, the Finnish company Artek practically does not develop new products, but produces tables invented by the famous architect Alvar Aalto back in the 1930-1950s. And, it should be noted, it was quite successful. Classic Scandinavian design, high-quality natural materials (birch and ash) – all this only plays into the hands of a small Finnish factory and, in addition, helps it keep prices at a fairly decent level. For example: table 82A, the length and width of which are respectively 150 and 85 cm, costs 29 rubles.
But not all manufacturers are so conservative. Of course, no one is trying to radically change the configuration of the dining table. Countertop almost always performed in the form of a simple geometric figure (square, rectangle, circle, oval) of different thickness and with an edge of different shape (straight or rounded). We said “almost” because they are still trying to experiment. So, recently, the Quadro transforming table appeared in the assortment of the Bonaldo factory (Italy), which, when unfolded, looks like a flower with four petals. Time will show how convenient it will be to use this designer object invented by Karim Rashid. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that, with all the space savings (when folded, the table turns into a square with a side of 40 cm), the petal countertops will cause a lot of trouble for the feet of those who eat.
Basically, experiments affect legs table. They become more elegant and intricate, or, conversely, more massive and simpler. As examples of these polar options, we will cite the Florence tables of the Russian factory Europe (11 rubles) and the Amari of the Danish manufacturer BoConcept (about 985 rubles).
The materials used to make the table tops and legs may or may not be the same. The most common combination is wood and polished (Veima table from Scanwood, Finland, 95 800 rubles) or matt (model “Milan” from the factory “Europe”, 12 463 rubles) metal. In general, the usual materials for countertops are wood or MDF boards. Less common are glass, stone slabs and ceramic tiles, framed in wood or metal. In addition to metal, wood is actively used for the legs, which is often covered with intricate carvings or supplemented with various decorations.
Breakfast on the grass
The dining group will successfully sit on the terrace or veranda of a country house. True, in our climate such a “registration” will be temporary – only for the summer. And in general, for an open area on one side, it is better to use special garden furniture made of moisture-resistant materials, say, plastic, metal, artificial hularo fiber, teak.
Work is underway on options finishing dining tables. The traditional application of colorless and colored varnishes to wood is still widespread. But the assortment of factories is increasingly replenished with tables painted in black (Dint from Nueva Linea, Spain, 84 rubles), gray (Gray from Gervasoni), white (Kristina from Rowico, 000 rubles). The degree of gloss of the coatings is also at the discretion of the manufacturer. Products with a completely matte surface and the so-called high gloss, well known to us from modern kitchen facades, exist on an equal footing. Judge for yourself: for the same Duke table, Calligaris (Italy) has six design options, including matt clear lacquered wood veneer and a high-gloss white finish. There is even such a non-trivial type of decor as artificial or natural leather. It is used, for example, by the Russian factory Dolce Vita for the design of Mambo table legs. Note that such an unusual finish has almost no effect on the price – the model is offered for 30 rubles.
If we speak about sizes dining tables, their height is usually standard – 75 cm, plus or minus 2-3 cm. The width is also not too complicated: this characteristic lies in the range of 70-90 cm. The diameter of round tables varies within 70-155 cm. The length the table is a completely different matter. There really is plenty to choose from: the minimum length can be only 40 cm, and the maximum length is 250 cm.
As we have already said, the production of chairs is a separate topic in the furniture programs of factories, if, of course, the company does not specialize at all in the production of this piece of furniture. Italy, the trendsetter of interior fashion, even hosts an annual international exhibition Promosedia dedicated to this product. There are several reasons for this sympathy. Firstly, one table has at least a couple of chairs, which means that these items are bought in a much larger volume. Secondly, the chair is structurally more complex than a table, and therefore allows the designer to experiment freely with shape and materials. Finally, thirdly, it is cheaper, which is why we often decide to replace it. Of course, in practice it turns out that the total costs for several chairs are higher, but what prevents us from buying not the whole dozen at once, but in parts? Let’s say monthly for a chair. So, gradually, without much damage to the family budget, you can update the whole dining room.
Island life
Not enough space to organize a full-fledged dining room? So, you need to think about its compact version, which can even fit in the kitchen. The optimal solution is an island layout, in which a dining table for several persons is located in the center of the room. By the way, thanks to this, the hostess will have an additional working surface.
Chairs are classified according to several criteria. For example, by degree of rigidity, the presence or absence of upholstery and soft filling, finally, according to materials. The first scheme seems to us to be simpler and more universal. To make it clearer, we will give a description of the chair design. This piece of furniture consists of mandatory (frame) and optional elements (filler, upholstery). If only a frame is available, and it does not matter what material it is made of – wood, metal or plastic, the chair will be rigid. If the seat and / or backrest has fabric or leather upholstery and the filling is polyurethane foam (PU foam), the chair is considered semi-rigid (semi-soft). If, in addition to polyurethane foam, the manufacturer used a spring base or, which happens much more often, a mesh of rubber belts, we have a soft chair in front of us.
What degree of softness to prefer depends only on the wishes of the buyer. After all, a chair is not a mattress, and hardly anyone plans to spend a third of their lives on it. And excessive rigidity or softness is unlikely to affect the condition of the spine. At the same time, a seat that is too hard can be made more comfortable by using a decorative pillow. Just as easily and naturally, a tough model can be “disguised” as a soft one using a cotton or linen cover. Of course, the deception will be quickly revealed, but before the guests sit down to the table, the illusion can be preserved. By the way, the question with covers is still relevant.
For some unknown reason, in our country they are not very widely represented. The range of colors is limited to simple colors: white, natural, turquoise, red. In addition, choosing a suitable cover for an existing chair is quite problematic due to the mismatch in size. It is just right to talk about the reverse sequence of actions: first the covers – then the chairs. And this is not entirely logical. So it remains to be hoped that such an economical way of updating the situation will still receive support from suppliers or domestic manufacturers. Otherwise, we will have to put up with and sew covers to order.
It’s another matter if, following the designers of the factories, we decide to use the chairs as they are as the main decor item. Then the original seat and / or backrest upholstery… In this capacity, a variety of fabrics, artificial and natural leather are now used. Moreover, it cannot be said that manufacturers prefer monochromatic or printed materials. Both are equally represented. True, some trends are too noticeable to be ignored. For example, many factories dress the seats and backs in oriental or baroque fabrics. Such chairs can be found from Calligaris (model Dyna, from 9792 rubles) or the Finnish manufacturer Jusver (chair Lines, from 19 rubles). Another trend is contrasting companion colors. The bet is placed on a win-win classic combination of white and black, or on its more modern version – a combination of natural and dark brown or black. Not only fabrics or leather, but also fabric / leather plus a wooden frame can act as companions.
Either the upholstery (model Amari by BoConcept, from 35 rubles) or wooden elements (chair 500 from Artek, from 611 rubles) are made light. However, with the same success, the chairs are kept in a single color scheme. As an example, we will give the Mudi models from Nueva Linea (from 18 360 rubles) and Trend from the Italian factory GT Tonin (15 700 rubles).
With dimensions chairs are more or less clear. The most suitable height for a seat is considered to be 44–46 cm. The dimensions of the backrest are not so important. Indeed, does it really matter whether the back is slightly higher or slightly lower than the usual? The main thing is that the chair is combined with the environment. The only other thing worth paying attention to is the width and depth of the chair. It happens that in pursuit of functionality and rationality of the environment, a manufacturer or designer gets overly carried away and makes a chair too compact, and therefore suitable only for children. However, we generally do not recommend buying a chair in absentia – from a catalog or through an online store. This piece of furniture should not be purchased “by eye”, seduced by the original shape or upholstery. You need to trust your own feelings. Just sit in a chair and sit for a few minutes. Comfortable? So this chair is made just for you.
Guests on the doorstep
If you are used to big companies, you need to think about buying a sliding table. There are models with central inserts and side folding tabletops. In the first case, the two component parts of the table top move apart, and 1-3 additional elements are installed in the vacant space, which are usually stored inside the structure. In the second, the elements are pulled out from under the table top in different directions, or they are raised and fixed by means of special brackets.
Examples of dining group placement
The editors would like to thank Boconcept, Kraft, Ligne Roset, Maxinterior, WWTS, furniture factories Europe, Zarechye, Ecomebel, Design House Vepsäläinen, Flat for their help in preparing the material.