Whether it is a four-bed house or a two-bedroom flat, there is always one room in the home which represents its very heart. The dining room. When thinking about designing a dining room, often we can be guilty of overlooking the importance it brings.
Traditionally, the dining room is a place for the family to eat, but since its conception it has become far more integral than that. It’s unusual for any people to take their dinner into the dining room, eat the dinner in silence and then immediately go their separate ways elsewhere in the house. They are rooms for conversation, laughter, and time well spent.
In Fact, The Dining Room Represents Something Far More
Quite apart from this, the dining room is a place to open up. To talk, to laugh, to tell stories and share memories. It’s the place where children can talk about their day at school. They can giggle and grin as they recall a joke from their science class, or they can cry and find support for an incident with the school bully in the gym. Parents can come together with friends and extended family, the silverware on the table sparkling before a deliciously prepared meal.
Over holidays, the dining room plays host to the making of those memories that will eventually be shared. It is filled with food and festivities, with candles and wine glasses. It is decorated beautifully for the reason of the feast. Take the Passover, for instance. Imagine the smells of roasted chicken, soup with matzo balls, or beautifully braided challah floating up into the air as a family come together to celebrate. Israeli judaica art is admired by guests as they gather in their faith. After the holiday is over the art is kept there, the tinsel tangled around the frame for months, with the frays still tingling with echoes of joyous voices and popping corks. When it is taken down, there is quiet again, but not for the lack of trying.
The Heart Of The Home Continues To Beat
Family nights-in fill the table with board games and card tournaments, cloudy weekends before school cover it in books and homework, with children frantically staring at their dog in the corner and wondering how easy it would be to pull off the old ‘dog ate my homework’ trick. It is used again and again, with stories shared around it every night, until the next holiday starts and even more celebratory memories are made.
If the house is the body of a family, then the dining room is the heart. It is the constant cycle of moments and memories, the soul of so many stories and occasions. If you are planning on renovating or decorating your dining room, then all of this has to be taken into account. The dining room is so much more than just another room. If there is one place in the house to take care of and decorate according to its spirit, then the dining room has to be it.
