Modern Dining is Made to Order

In dining rooms of modern design it's the homeowner's style that should stand out.

By Caroline Kooshoian
04 October 2005

The table may still be the focal point of the room, but modern homeowners want their tables to be unique and exhibit their individual tastes. Lately, says interior designer Nancy Hoff Barsotti, this means a glass top table, round or rectangular with a handcrafted base of metal, maybe bronze. She says homeowners are often willing to spend the extra money in order to have a custom artisan crafted piece. European manufacturer Xpand takes the custom trend day by day with their Xpand system dining table, “the table with a built-in sense of space.” A decorative element in the center of the table actually serves to lengthen it, omitting the need for leaves. Its minimal look is great for those with a more restrained aesthetic, but if drama is your bag, try Design Craft’s tables. Air-brushed with customer chosen colors, the buyers create their own entirely different, artisan look.

The trend to customize goes beyond tables to wall treatments, place settings and silverware. Interior designer and artist Alison Rose says, “When people want their dining rooms painted, it’s not enough any more to just pick a paint color. They want some sort of customization, like a darker wall with a textured paint added in stripes of gold or red.”

Made to order walls demand made to order table coverings, and moneyed homeowners are likely to have dinnerware and silverware custom-made by an architect or designer. It’s a trend big enough to make even old-school companies respond. Pfaltzgraff joined the custom fray by launching a new Design Your Own Dinnerware division, Pfz, that lets people with less disposable income to personalize their plates. Jessica Newman, a photography instructor in the Interior Design program at The Art Institute of California-San Diego, says a unique, less costly, modern and recycled option for homeowners looking for a custom look on their dining room tables is traffic light cover plates. As traditional traffic lights are replaced with LED lighting, their signature green, amber, and red plates are being re-purposed as glass tableware, available through www.recycledglassworks.com.

For custom silverware, many people have gone back to sterling silver or pewter pieces. They’re more traditional metals and require more care than the average stainless steel, but they reveal another point about the custom trend: it shows wealth. Clients use the expensive metals to have one-of-a-kind silverware created just for them. Devoid of chunky flowers or fancy curling monograms, these pieces are pared down, straight-lined, and ultra modern. For the same look ready made, shop Janet Torelli’s sterling silver pieces at TheGuild.com. If you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for, go to the site’s Custom Design Center. Just submit your idea to The Guild via their online form, and whether it’s for tableware, jewelry, a sculpture, even a new front door, they’ll find artists to work with your style and your budget.

In a room where details matter, floors have emerged as a favored place to add contrast and have a little fun with wealth. People with hardwood floors are refinishing them in dark, rich tones and adding light colored area rugs below the table. It may be a minimalistic jute, or a soft and sensual silk or woven rug, as long as it looks stark, crisp and expensive. The idea being, says Rose, that “If you can afford to have a white rug beneath the dining table, you can afford the maintenance to go with it.”

The light rugs are right in line with the deep wall colors and crisp white trim of today’s modern dining rooms. For Rose, that could mean rich chocolate brown walls with white woodwork and bright white leather chairs around the table. “Deeper colors look rich and create a feeling of intimacy you don’t get with airy, lighter colors,” agrees Hoff Barsotti. “And people shouldn’t be afraid of going dark in a smaller room, it works especially well for dining.”

White can be pulled in for the window treatments, as well. It keeps the look modern and clean among a mix of colors, textures, and tableware. Most popular are simple white panels that can be pulled open during the day and closed at night to block the black spaces windows will become in a room. For those with extra money to spend, the panels may be mechanical, outfitted with a remote control that drops them down for evening privacy.

Above all, the goal of the custom trend is to create an individualized experience, and for that Hoff Barsotti says, “Lighting, lighting, lighting.” She recommends a mix of a chandelier with side-lights and ambient lighting, all separately controlled by a single panel. This way, she says, when guests come in the lights can be turned up, more upbeat and welcoming. For dinner, they can be dimmed to make the area seem more intimate and let crystal and silver shine to the fullest. If possible, Hoff Barsotti would put a single recessed low-voltage halogen light above each place setting, and adjust lights to shine on different artwork around the room. The secret to good lighting though, she says, is to allow people to see the warmth and glow of the light without knowing where it’s coming from.

Especially in lighting, the custom trend is amping up what were once smaller objects. Alison Rose explains, “There’s a huge trend in dining room lighting right now that of course celebrities are doing and everyone else wants. Chandeliers are fantastic beyond the typical, they’re being done on grand scales with crystals and colors as a focal point. People are finding old colored glass and bringing it to a lighting designer to make these huge bright glowing lantern types of lights.” For an unexpected punch of color, try Murano glass. The venerable Italian manufacturer may be as traditional as the country itself, but its contemporary lighting fixtures are anything but. In bright hues of reds, blues and greens, these swirling Dale Chihuly-like shapes are sure to make an impact in any space. The Cellula chandelier by Nunzia Carbone and Tiziano Vudafieri for Anthologie Quartett, gives traditional crystal a new modern style in a single row of light-reflecting prisms. Replacing old fixtures is an easy way to update a dining room and add a sense of luxury, and for now, almost anything goes. Says Rose, “Lighting now is anything you can imagine but done on a much larger, more dramatic scale.” Her tip for lighting the modern dining room—a lamp, whether you need it or not, will really pull a space together.

Renewed interest in dining rooms is happening along with a growing acceptance of drama and glamour, words not often associated with the straight lines and minimalist aesthetic of modern. But in dining rooms, use of luxurious fabrics like velvets, silks, and mohairs for anything from placemats to chair coverings, is done with restraint, so that it doesn’t appear fussy or overdone. Take tablecloths, for instance. “They’re too much. No one is using them any more,” says Rose. But luxurious elements will always have their place in a room created for upscale relaxation, comfort, and camaraderie. As Hoff Barsotti says, “It’s a wonderful gesture to invite someone into your home and give them a meal that’s been thoughtfully prepared, with carefully chosen wine. Guests really enjoy that and having a lush, rich room with unique pieces, art and interesting tableware for them to look at just adds to their experience.”

Caroline Kooshoian is an Editor at PURE CONTEMPORARY.