Wednesday, July 14, 2010

When You Don't Have a Dining Room...

My first apartment as a single gal, did not have a dining room.  That is a problem in many smaller living spaces.  But there is a wonderful solution, the banquette!  Most banquettes are built into a wall or under a window.  To create a dining area, a table is added with several several chairs opposite the banquette. When not in use as dining seating, many banquettes do double duty as sofas.



Better Homes and Gardens

 
 


















Free standing banquettes can help define a space as a dining area.





But if a banquette is not your style, then take advantage of the solution I used as a single party girl in downtown Chicago.  Buy a slender table and push it to the side when not in use.  And my coffee table made an excellent bench when not covered with cocktails.



-Genevieve

3 comments:

  1. Banquettes are such a good idea. :-) My place doesn't have a dining room either. :-) I will have to see what I can sort out in there. :-)

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  2. I am planning a banquette for the near future. We don't have a dining room,having downsized for our retirement years. We do have a large family and several of our grandchildren are small. Another advantage of the banquette is that we can squeeze more in -- where we have two chairs, three or four of the "littles" could sit. Annie Joy

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  3. YAY! Whoever came up with the idea of "eating area" anyway? I've been eyeing mine, trying to figure out if I could do the banquette thing, but it may even be too small for that. And then where would we put the dog's dishes so we wouldn't trip over them? Maybe I could just knock down this big wall between the kitchen and living room...

    Must investigate... :-)

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