The table is the largest piece and the one you walk around every day. Leave about 90 cm between its edge and a wall or a sideboard, so a chair can come out and someone can pass behind. 75 cm is the tight minimum. A 160 x 90 cm table therefore needs a floor of roughly 340 x 270 cm. Tape the outline on the floor before you order; how to choose a dining table has the rest.
How do you furnish a dining room?
Start with the table, size it to the room, then add chairs, light, a rug and, last, the things on the walls.
Which table shape suits the room?
A long table for a rectangular room or an open plan, a round one for a square room or a small one.
Chairs, benches and the seat count
Chairs that push all the way in make a small room look twice as big between meals.
Our tables have 73 cm under the top, so any seat of 46 to 50 cm fits, and armrests below 73 cm slide in. A bench along a wall seats more people in less floor. Put the set together in dining table and chairs, and count the seats in how many chairs fit around a dining table.
How high should a pendant hang over a dining table?
Typically 60 to 80 cm between the tabletop and the bottom of the shade. Start at about 70 cm and adjust until nobody seated looks into the bulb.
On a 76 cm table, that puts the bottom of the shade about 135 to 155 cm from the floor. Go nearer 60 cm for a close, warm pool of light over a small table, nearer 80 cm with a wide shade or tall people at the table.
This is the standard lighting guidance, not a product of ours: we do not make lamps. Check the fitting's own instructions and use an electrician for the ceiling point.
How wide should the lamp over a dining table be?
A shade about half to two thirds of the table's width is the usual range, and the light should cover the length of the table.
One lamp over a 280 cm table lights the middle and leaves the ends in the dark. Warm white on a dimmer suits a table that is a desk at four and a dinner table at eight.
| Table | Typical lighting |
|---|---|
| Luna ø110 cm | One pendant, about 55 to 70 cm across, centred |
| Luna ø140 cm | One larger pendant, centred |
| 160 x 90 cm | One pendant about 45 to 60 cm across, or two small ones |
| 240 or 280 cm | Two or three pendants in a row, or one long linear light |
Candlelight at the dining table
Keep the candles on the table low and let floor candle holders beside it carry the height.
Tall candles in the middle of the table block faces, like a tall vase. A row of hurricane holders down a long table keeps the flame in glass and out of reach of sleeves: Tom stands 17, 20.5 and 24 cm tall. Beside the table, floor candle holders put the light at eye level: Thomas is 95, 105 and 115 cm tall with the flame in glass; Vera is an open flame, so keep it away from curtains and draughts.
Never leave a candle burning unattended. For a festive table, see the Christmas table with candles.
What size rug under a dining table?
About 60 cm wider than the table on every side, so a chair pulled out still stands on it.
That makes about 280 x 210 cm for a 160 x 90 cm table and a round rug of about 230 cm for Luna ø110. A flat weave or short pile lets chairs slide. If the room cannot take that, go without. The dining table size guide has every size.
Small dining room ideas
Go round or go narrow, push one side against the wall, and keep the floor visible under the furniture.
Luna ø110 cm seats four in a square corner. A 160 cm Ann along a wall, with a bench on the wall side, seats four to five in a galley. Steel frames such as Melker, Diana and Luna look lighter than four timber legs. One pendant, low over the table, makes the corner a room of its own. More in dining tables for small rooms.
A dining area in an open-plan room
Mark the zone with light and a rug, not walls.
A pendant over the table and a rug under it tell the eye where the dining room starts, even in one long room with the kitchen and the sofa. Put the table between the kitchen and the living area, so plates travel a short way. Repeat one material across the zones, the oak of the table on the coffee table or the black of the frames on a lamp, so the open plan reads as one home.
From the table outwards
- Table height
- 76 cm
- Shade width
- half to two thirds of the table
- Candles
- low on the table
