Lucky you!

Our eight-foot table easily accommodates four chairs per long side plus one at each end. Eight feet seems very long to me, it's the biggest table we've ever had.

Thanks so much for the help Wooderlander.

Seating charts I looked at recommend 10' for four chairs on each side, but that is for chairs that might be a bit larger than yours. Yours are on the narrow side, so I would think an 8' table might be enough to meet your needs.

Lucky you that your DH can make the table!

Thanks for the guidlines Les and the help! I think comfort wise a 9' foot table would be about as big as we'd go. A 10' would fit, but I think the people on the ends might feel a little squeezed when people moved past them, etc.

The tables I've been looking at have a very rustic feel to them. As we've been renovating the house any wood we remove that is still in good shape I've been setting aside, so I have some 12" -15" wide x 11' long rough sawn heart pine planks. I asked DH if we could run them through the surface planer enough to smooth them out, but not take that rustic edge off of them and use them to make a table. After studying the pics he's fairly sure he can build me something. It's nice to be able to recycle the wood thaat way. :)

I haven't ordered the chairs yet, I'm still making sure this is the route I want to go before pulling the trigger. One thing that bothering me a bit is I'm not sure how the table and chairs are going to look with the cubbie we built for the girls which is a very relaxed look. So I'm wondering if I should go with a very relaxed, fun, more colorful, collected look in the dining area?

Here's a mock up of a table ( just the table in the pic ) and chairs ( metal )with the kitchen elements:

Here's the cubbies ( before painting )which are right there next to the eating area .. I have no problem with the cubbies, they'll be totally useful, I'm just wondering if I should go with a more relaxed seating area?

{{!gwi}}

Generally 2ft is recommended per person for bar/island seating. I think doing the 9 ft would allow you a little extra room.

How great that your DH can build you the table.

BTW with the inspiration pic you have I don't think it will be comfortable to sit at the ends as you can't fit your legs underneath there and really pull up a chair to use the table. You need some kind of overhang to be able to use the table. I'd say min 15" although more would be better.

Make sure you plan the cross bar so you can still sit people like you envision.

Wow, what great elements! Just my style.

Our 8' table is fairly new. The guy who made it put the two leaves in the table, then planed the top so that the leaves are absolutely flush and the top is smooth. I thought that was a great idea, though your husband probably already knows about it.

Wouldn't the cubbies look fine near a handmade table? I think so.

Lyfia, thanks for the help! I agree that table isn't set up to seat at the end. I'm using that as a basic inspiration picture, but when we go to make the table I'll sit down and draw up plans for my DH to build from.

Thanks Wooderlander!! :)

zipdee - I figured it was just inspiration, but wanted to mention it just in case. Maybe you could build a mock-up of the end piece only using cardboard to see that the person that sits at the end and the side both have plenty of leg room too, along with chairs not hitting the leg when pushed in to be out of the way.

So when is the kitchen/breakfast nook going to be done? I love all your choices and can't wait to see it finished.

I agree in general NKBA recmomends 24" per diner for island seating so you can use that. Since the chairs would need to span to either side of the cross bar I would think 9' would be a safer bet. I would suggest your draw/graph it out first to see what measurements you need. For instance if you bring the crossbars in to seat off the ends you would then need to place the crossbars between the chairs.

Sounds lovely! Be sure to post some finished pics.

Honestly, love everything but the chairs. Not that I mind the look of them, but they look darn uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time, especially if this is a place to 'hang out'. The dimensions you gave earlier also lead me to believe that the chair seats are on the small side. I think it would be fun to do 50's dinette chairs. Perhaps something like this:

dinette chair

Lyfia, all great points you brought up, it really helps me plan and think. Honestly we have no set time frame for having this project done, since we have an up and running kitchen in the other part of the house and we are working on the new kitchen as time allows. I spent part of this week filling every little brad hole with putty and sanding everything. This weekend we should get a primer on and if dry time allows the walls and ceilings painted. I think we are at the point we are going to put in the cabinet order too. We still have the floor to put down, sand and seal. Tile the whole range wall, put up shelves. The wiring is done, we still need to run plumbing .. which means going under the house in the Summer .. YIKES! We live in copperhead country, not a fun prospect. Last year my DH got bit, we were very fortunate it was a 'dry bite' though!

Valinsv, thanks for the help and suggestions, they are very helpful!

Les, I love those 50's dinette chairs and if I was going to do a booth, I'd be all over them. I honestly don't think with a very rustic table I'd be happy with them ... even though they look super cushy to sit on. :) If I do go with these chairs I'd have seat pads made for them. I still haven't put my chair order in, I was all ready to go, now I'm hemming and hawing over details again. Part of me wants to go this way, part can really see everyone sacked out in a comfy booth and chairs playing board games and drinking coco.

I know that everyone brought up very valid reasons to stay away from a booth, like people being inconvenienced by having to move to let the inside people out, etc. The thing is though we don't have those types of sit down and eat parties where I see it being a problem. When we entertain adults it's normally in a relaxed, casual setting outside on the deck or around the pool area, where we have large tables in each area. When it's just the five of us here, there would be plenty of seating that we could all spread out. I'm lucky that my girls really do get along, there is not alot of she's looking at me, touching me, breathing my air problems. *LOL* I grew up with 3 siblings, I know how that goes, we spent a lot of time bickering. ;) When it's the kids and their friends having snacks, I don't see it being a problem where the kids would feel inconvenienced.

So in short I'm still stuck, I think! *LOL* Sometimes I can see right away the path I want to follow, sometimes I start second guessing myself. *sigh* Normally my Husband will chime in with his feeling on the matter and we'll work it out in a way that we are both relatively happy .. this time he really doesn't seem to care, well other than wanting me to make a plan so we know how to finish the room. ;)

zipdee - ouch on the copperheads. What is a 'dry bite'? I sure hope ya'll can manage to get the plumbing done without any bites.

Have you thought about using wooden chairs and maybe use different colors on the chairs. There is a lady from another board that I visit that has done that and I love the look. She has a blog and I think might have some pics in there. Let me see if I can find it.

Scroll down towards the end where you see kitchen and breakfast nook pics

Back Porch Musings: March 2008

Lyfia, thanks for the link, when I get a chance I'll take a look at it .. today has been crazy! A dry bit is where the snake strikes but doesn't inject venom.

I probably won't be getting back to this post for a while and I wanted to let you guys know since I really appreciate everyone's time and help, I just didn't want to vanish.

This morning one of my Basset Hounds started having a hard time lifting his back legs to walk. By the time I could get a hold of the vet he couldn't bear weight at all on his leg. The girls and I brought him in and he's rupture a disc which causing his back legs to be paralyzed.

He's now at an Emergency Animal ER/Hospital and they will be doing surgery on him tonight .. we just got home a bit ago. After doing the MRI, they think it's just a genetic weakness. He has a 90 % chance of recovery though, but will be off his feet for 1 - 2 months and will need physical therapy. As you guys can imagine this will be costly, so I think that I'm going to hold off on more kitchen expenditures for a bit.

Thanks so much on everyone continued help through my projects!

zipdee so sorry about your "pup" - I hope for his sake he recovers quickly. My dachshund mix had a lot of back issues and we even sold a house and bought a one story to accomodate him.

Lyfia, thanks so much for the well wishes for Kirby! He made it through surgery just fine last night. The surgeon said that the ruptured disk was in the middle part of his back, but it went well and looks like he's going to recover just fine. They're supposed to call me this morning with an update. if he's doing well they'll let me back to visit and check on him later today. Poor little guy, this was really just out of the blue.

I'm sorry to hear your dachshund mix has back problems too. I know all the breeds with the long spines are prone towards back issues. I can understand you guys selling to accomodate him, they become very much part of the family!!