Making a meal of dining suites...

Dining is a time for socialising and being together.

A kitchen table is often the hub of activity in any home, creating a natural meeting point for all members of the family throughout the day, while separate dining rooms provide a more formal and intimate dining experience.

Choices of dining furniture may often be swayed by practicality but, whatever the intended use or position of your dining furniture, compromising on style is never an option when choosing from Barker and Stonehouse. Take time to choose a table and chairs as the right one will be kept for a lifetime.

If after a few years you want to redecorate, chairs can easy be reupholstered so don't worry about opting for a more contemporary fabric design in the meantime.

If you're going to go for wood flooring, then the dining room is the best place to have it; that way if anything gets spilt it's easy to clean

Dark wood is fashionable at the moment and can look really elegant and lavish in the right setting. To add atmosphere, paint the walls in a rich, bright shade such as deep red, indigo or emerald.

Black is a very good accent colour. Find accessories such as candelabras, picture frames and curtains in rich glossy black to continue the dramatic theme.

You can have lots of fun with table settings – hunt for plates, napkins and other dining accessories in either the same colour as your walls or in black. Mix and match these if you're feeling creative.

The table can also be decorated with a table runner – there are lots of lovely ones available but if you can't find one to suit then try your hand at making one yourself.

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YP MAG 28/8/10