How to Create a Casually Elegant Dining Room-Part 2

Not sitting down to a formal dinner as much as you used to? You’re not alone. In fact, casual dining is a growing trend in dining room furniture these days. In part 1 of, “How to Create a Casually Elegant Dining Room,” we offered several ideas to help you blend both sophistication and relaxation at mealtime. Here are more tips to help you have a dining room that harmoniously brings together rustic and refined style:

• Choose a buffet or cabinet with open storage shelves above. They’re a refreshing alternative to glass china cabinets. Open shelves let you casually store dinner dishes in open view, or artfully mix them with books, pillar candles or woven bins.

• Think buffet parties as much as formal dinners. A buffet, sideboard or china cabinet with counter-height serving surface is a handy feature in a home where fancy sit-down dinners are the exception, not the rule. An open surface lets you lay out food platters, plug in warming trays or create a self-serve drink counter for parties.

• Choose a long table, or keep the leaf permanently in the table. It’s true, a table for eight eats up more space than a compact dining table for four or six. But a longer dining table feels communal and neighborly. Just looking at it evokes enjoyable evenings spent with a generous assortment of favorite friends and family. At 84” long, the Legends dining table is longer than a kitchen table, but shorter than a formal dining table. It easily fits 8 people without needing an extra leaf (or showing a seam). Between meals, you’ll love the extra length to sprawl out your projects, puzzles and paraphernalia. But at just 38” wide, it’s hardly a space hog.

• Add extra functionality. Adding a lounge quality to your dining room adds extra elegance. Doubling it as a work space adds casual informality. Look for unique pieces that add these extra features. The Legends’ credenza tucks two wood bar stools at either end – perfect for a quick snack or for use as a casual lap top table. With storage drawers that pull out on either side, you can use this piece as a room divider, a bar counter or serving surface. Or use the open shelves on the china hutch to house books instead of china; it creates a sound-absorbing, library-style ambiance.

• Use quiet colors. Neutral colors with just a hint of color are casual and elegant. Choose city-inspired cool neutrals (gray and taupe tones) for an urban, chic sophistication. Choose casual warm neutrals (sand, bark and coffee tones) for an earthy, rustic sophistication. Subtle color value contrasts (fewer extremely light and dark colors used together) feel most organic and relaxing. High color value contrasts (mostly extreme light and dark colors used together) feel most modern and energetic. Choose the mood that’s right for you.

Today, we don’t have to give up sophistication for a casual lifestyle! Transitional furniture and subtle choices in color, texture and furniture create the perfect middle ground.

Legends is one of the dining collections on sale now during Hooker Furniture’s National Factory-Authorized Dining Furniture Sale Oct. 8-25. Browse all dining collections currently on sale, and Find Participating Retailers. You can even Win a dual function dining/TV console here.