Dining Room

Tough one. I had thought of this as a symmetrical, roughly square room. Two things are axial in the room: the circulation path from living to kitchen and the dining room table. If I give the table primacy, the circulation will have to go around the table. On the other hand, to keep an aisle up the middle of the room, I'd have to have two lunch counters on either side instead of a table.

A similar conundrum is the relationship between this room, the kitchen, and the living room. There are two extremes here: I could have walls between the three rooms, with a central door, like a railroad flat. Or, I can pretend that the whole 36' width is "open plan," from the back of the couch in the living room, across the dining table, and on to the kitchen counter. 

Expensive Design Within Reach steel table

The other question is dining room chairs. They will be clutter in the circulation. The table pretty much fades away, but the chairs say a lot about the target style and design consistency. What kind of chairs are they? 

Simple parsons chairs--four legs, solid back in same material as the seat--works. Any kind of traditional look (Windsor, cross back) leads quickly to "farmhouse." Likewise, a stained wood top on a white painted frame is farmhouse. Wayfair has a wicker chair with a muslin cushion that is very "coastal."

Coastal chair by Wayfair

Or, just go with muslin

Espiye by Wayfair. 4 parsons chairs, simple table

Or, we lean in to the modern side. An outre design complements the living room couch.

Orren Ellis Weldon chair by Wayfair

I'm thinking that the way to handle the table vs circulation path issue is to have the table near the window with a chair at each end and two at the window. No chairs in the circulation, which arcs south from the living to the kitchen. We can build in a lowboy hutch on the south wall and give it a quartz countertop that matches the kitchen.

This is working, modulo better furniture choices (I don't like the table base, for example). The lowboy hutch-slash-kitchen cabinet can act as a buffet or a bar. It encourages circulation into the kitchen. The table gets out of the way of circulation, but it can be made more symmetrical and formal if need be.

24" hutch could be 18". Add wall cabinets?

I have to keep reminding myself that we're staging an open house, not making choices for my personal nest.

For the benefit of further Dining Room design, here's the reverse pov: