In traditional dining room decorating the most important things to consider are the focal point, or the central piece of furniture, and the other items that are used with it. When traditional dining room decorating is carried out there is very little thought given to the rest of the decor of the room. While this can sometimes be a successful way of working as the room is being decorated, in many cases it results in a room that looks cold and clinical.
The main difficulty when traditional dining room decorating is that there is very little variation between traditional and modern styles. With traditional furniture the most obvious changes are the range of materials used and the materials that are chosen for construction. For example, it used to be the norm to find traditional dining room furniture that was made from oak, with the table being often left hand carved. Nowadays these tables are often found in a more utilitarian style where the wood is an ecologically friendly hardwood from sustainable forests that would otherwise be destroyed if the table was not made from a sustainable wood source. It is interesting to note that many of the manufacturers of traditional wooden furniture still use the traditional construction method, and use raw wood as well as veneer.
Another challenge with traditional dining room decorating is the choice of table cloths. In traditional dining rooms the main choices were white, cream colored. Of course there were also traditional floral prints, but these were very subdued. Today we have many options of vibrant colorful table cloths that really stand out in a room. But when you are choosing the cloth for traditional dining room decorating remember that if you are using a lot of patterns on the tablecloth then the room can appear too busy and chaotic.
One of the challenges of traditional dining room decorating is that the traditional dining room furniture does not tend to be a focal point of the decorating scheme. For example you may choose traditional dining room table and chairs, but you then find that the traditional chair backs have been placed towards the back of the room, away from where people will be sitting. This means that the eye’s attention drifts elsewhere causing the design to lose focus. This means that when it comes to coordinating traditional furniture with new, modern design ideas it can be more difficult than with other traditional designs. The good news is that when you combine traditional and modern furniture you do tend to achieve a balance that makes the room look well balanced. However there is still a danger that the more traditional elements are lost in favor of the more modern.
If you are thinking about traditional dining room decorating, there are some key areas that you need to pay close attention to. The first thing is to pay attention to the table linen. In many cases, if the table is to be traditional then you should choose traditional dining room table cloths. In fact this may well be the only way that you can create a traditional dining room decorating scheme. The problem here is that traditional dining room table cloths can also be quite expensive and may therefore only be affordable by the very affluent.
Another area that you need to pay close attention to when considering traditional dining room decorating is the choice of traditional dining room table furniture. Again you are likely to be restricted by the availability of traditional dining room table furniture pieces. You could perhaps have a traditional dining room table that you simply love, however if this piece of traditional furniture is out of your budget then you may have to compromise and go for modern contemporary alternatives.
As I mentioned above it is important to select traditional furniture pieces as a starting point. It would be a mistake to simply go for a traditional dining set and then hope that this will give you a traditional style decorating scheme. It is much better if you choose one traditional piece and build on it using various different and interesting modern designs. In fact you should build your scheme around one or two main design features of a traditional dining set. This way you are sure to have a stylish looking but still traditional dining room interior design.
The idea is to mix traditional with modern furniture and create a look that combines traditional beauty with the modern sophistication of contemporary design. This is easier said than done and there are several challenges that you will face. However, if you persevere and find a way to overcome these challenges you are likely to end up with a really stylish dining set that will add style and elegance to your dining room.