Dining Room Buying Guide: Dining in Style

This dining room buying guide from Raft is the secret to dining in style. Making your home a haven for hosting, Raft's dining room buying guide shares everything from the best dining tables and chairs to other dining room ideas. The kitchen is the heart of the home, supplying food and memories. The place that always bustles with life and happy, hungry family and friends, your dining room requires care.

Create an inviting ambiance in your dining room to transform the allure of your home. Mealtimes are special, representing both an affirmation of routine and an opportunity to try new things. Our dining room buying guide demonstrates the importance of making your dining room a special place. This is the infrastructure for a happy, hosting home.

"Our family dinner table was my first platform – every dinner was all about sharing stories and jokes and points of view" Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Striking the balance between creating an optimal dining environment for breakfast, lunch and dinner is somewhat of an art. Getting the ambiance of your dining room right is all about creating a space that is accessible, appropriately lit, warm and cosy... whilst still maintaining the type of effortless sophistication that is achieved by your favourite local bistro.

Dining Room Buying Guide: Essential Staples

Dining Room Lighting

As with most interior design questions, lighting is the answer. Dining rooms with natural lighting create a lovely daytime/sunset dining experience. For this reason, we love South facing dining room spaces. However, if your dining room is North facing, then opting for warmer toned wall colours with golden undertones will be effective when it comes to maximising the little natural light that your room gets.

In the evening, the way to create the bistro-esque atmosphere that's been missing from your dining experience is by implementing dimmed, moody lighting, warm toned colours and a blend of textures and materials that will strip a room of any harshness. To achieve the dining room lighting of your dreams, candles and stylish lamps are the answer. Our Sera Candle Holder has been designed with this in mind. The geometric design of the candle holder makes a statement in black providing the perfect Scandi accessory. Place four candle sticks in the holder and let the compliments roll in. Our Onyx Candle Holders are a beautiful place to house T Lights for a gorgeous dinnertime glow. The unique marbling of the sustainably sourced onyx is sure to bring a unique charm to your dining table set up.

A centrepiece-worthy dining table

A teak dining table is a great way to introduce softness and warmth of texture and colour, whilst establishing a timeless, yet modern, aesthetic. Executing interiors that strike a balance between modernity and homeliness is the sign of an Instagram-worthy dining room.   

Above is our Megan Dining Table

We love the authenticity of reclaimed teak dining tables because the grain of the wood is unique in each piece. The decision to place a teak dining table at the centre of your space promises to add character to a room dedicated to conversation and making memories.

Comfortable dining chairs

A mistake so many people make when designing their dining room is neglecting the importance of dining table chairs. If you want your dining room to be a place for lounging and relaxation beyond the formality of eating a meal, invest in chairs that can withstand after-dinner drinks, games and chats for years to come.

Above are our Adelaide Chairs. 

Although wooden chairs seem the obvious companion to a teak dinner table, upholstered chairs can be very effective. Beyond physical comfort, introducing soft textures will add depth to the aesthetic of your room and provide scope to experiment with feature colours and prints.

A Dining Bench

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