You’ve moved into your new home, and now it’s time to fill the empty space in your dining area where your family and friends will gather to create some wonderful memories. Choosing the right dining table is an important step, especially since there are so many different ways that different families end up using theirs. This New York Times article from Tim McKeough offers some advice from a well-know event planner on selecting the right kind of dining table for you.
When you’ve produced elaborate events for high-profile clients like Katy Perry, Stephen King and Jann Wenner, as Jung Lee has, you know something about dining tables – and what it takes to make people feel comfortable sitting elbow-to-elbow for hours. But Ms. Lee, 43, a co-owner of the event-planning firm Fête, pointed out that finding the right table to use at home can be just as challenging as choosing tables for a wedding on the beach at St. Barts or a party at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. And if you live in a big city, where most people don’t have lots of space, it’s even trickier, she said, because then “a dining table needs to do a lot of things – you might need them to expand and get smaller, to serve as a cocktail table or to double as a worktable.”
Her advice? Before you go shopping, consider a few things:
- If the table will be used strictly for dining, what’s the maximum number of guests you’ll have? If you have big dinner parties, expandability should be your first concern.
- Will you be using the table for other things as well – as a work space, maybe, or as a buffet? Think about getting a freestanding base with an interchangeable top, so the table can be moved around and modified easily.
- How long do you plan to keep it? “You have to ask yourself,” Ms. Lee said, “‘Can I see myself, five years from now, having Thanksgiving or a dinner party on this table?’” If you’re not ready for a long-term commitment, budget accordingly.
