katie.lacy@letsgetcoffee.co.uk, Author at Modish Living

How to style dark dining tables beautifully

It could be a family heirloom or a purchase you made some time ago, for whatever reason, the majority of us have at least one piece of dark wood furniture in the home.

As we all know, interior design trends come and go but the basics for each style remain – the Scandinavian, farmhouse and rustic styles, for example, have a commonality in that any wood use, even if it is reclaimed, will be light in shade, whereas the industrial style tends to opt for a reclaimed wood with a darker tone.

Loath to get rid of this dark wood piece that you love, the good news is you don’t have to. And when it comes to a dark wood dining table, we have some great tips for styling it.

The industrial darker wood dining table

As a reclaimed wood dining table, the industrial appeal of this Beam dining table is second to none. Beautifully proportioned, it is no wonder that it is one of our best sellers.

The great thing about dark wood is that it doesn’t need any help to stand out but with the choice of dining chairs, you can either dial up or down the notch of the impact that it has.

With this industrial dining table, why not play devil’s advocate with your choice of chair and opt for a slightly-over-the-top grand finish of a rollback leather dining chair? Or stick with the same chair but opt for velvet dining chairs instead. To stay true to the industrial look, stick with ‘natural’ colours such as tan or darker brown. For a real zap of action, choose modern grey leather dining chairs.

Finesse of the darker wood dining table

Not straying far from the industrial look is the Barclay dining table, with its elegant detailing and fine metal legwork.

Staying true to the industrial styled roots, this table has the glorious patina of darker wood, teamed with the coolness of metal. But it has detailing that marks it out as being different, perfect for softening the sharp angles.

And so, a dining chair that contrasts and complements needs to have a similar finesse and finish. You could opt for leather dining chairs, with a fine metal leg framework to match or you could add a touch of ‘the different’ with upholstered grey dining chairs. The metal work stud detailing contrasts perfectly with the detail at each table end.

The versatile dining table

It may be called the farmhouse table from the English Beam collection but we think the sturdiness of the table top and legs make this almost a piece of industrial style furniture. Its lack of fussy detailing, its cleanliness and angles, as well as the pleasant sturdiness to it, make it a versatile piece.

Suitable for the farmhouse kitchen and the industrial style dining room, the darker wax gives it added depth and drama.

So why detract from that? These grey upholstered dining chairs from the Luxe collection are detailed – the extra wood on the legs, the stud edging and the lighter grey upholstery make them the perfect addition to sitting alongside a darker reclaimed wood table.

Which dining chairs would you choose to sit alongside a dark wood dining table?

How to choose the perfect boardroom furniture for your business

The boardroom is the place where deals are struck, and a business is propelled onto bigger and greater things. It needs to be a versatile space – comfortable, yet stylish, functional and sumptuous. There is no reason why you can’t create an impressive boardroom. And here’s how…

The boardroom table

Its dimensions impressive, its sturdiness sends a message to visitors and potential trade partners – and so you need to choose wisely.

We have some stunning options but two of the most popular (and you’ll see why) are;

The Oldman industrial table

This range is a stunning homage to the industrial style, still popular among customers. And no wonder, the clean, uncomplicated lines are perfect in any home, but they lend themselves well to the boardroom too.

And the Oldman industrial table certainly doesn’t lack character. Like most reclaimed wood furniture, it is an impressive combination between the old and the new. The tabletop bears the scars of its past but this adds to its beauty, rather than detracting.

The ambience of a boardroom is a place where decisions are made, where people collaborate, and progress is made. It needs to be comfortable, not only in practice but is aesthetic too. Wooden floor works well in the industrial styled boardroom and with the Oldman table custom made to any dimensions, you can create the right impression to the room from the moment people arrive.

Great for a boardroom…

… where productivity and comfort are key elements. Team with Allegro leather chairs or Dolomite leather chairs to continue to streamlined but warm approach to styling the boardroom.

The English Beam industrial table

Another stunning example from an industrial style furniture collection, there is a refinement to the English Beam range that makes it hard to ignore.

The table top of the English Beam boardroom table is more refined and worked than the Oldman table finish. There is a delicacy to the wood that is simply gorgeous, but this delicacy is not traded for sturdiness or robustness.

With a slightly more refined edge comes the opportunity to pair it with industrial chairs that have a starker feel to them. The faux leather chairs, for example, continues the cohesion of the style by matching its metal frame with that of the table, but the softness of the smooth upholstery provides a welcome connection with the table top. As a leather office chairs go, this simple chair offers the lumbar support you will look for too.

Again, this table can be made to your exacting requirements, introducing yet more flexibility and versatility to a boardroom.

As well as floorboards, this table and matching chairs works well with a carpeted floor – choose light and natural materials – and with a few finishing touches here and there, it is a boardroom that is stylish and refined.

Great for a boardroom…

… where creativity is essential. Keep accessories simple, offering detail without clutter and let this elegant boardroom table sing in the chorus of supporting pieces.

Industrial style furniture is the perfect choice for the boardroom, so which pieces would you choose?

How to style the best-selling leather sofas and armchairs

Leather Vs PU leather dining chairs – Which side are you on?

Do you opt for leather, a natural material with a unique pattern to each piece or should you rely on its hard-wearing synthetic alternative, PU leather? With pros and cons to both, we thought we would take a look but first, we asked our followers on Houzz and Instagram which option they preferred.

We Asked, You Answered

Which do you prefer, real or faux leather chairs? It is a question that proved divisive with a dead heat between real leather and faux leather but for our Instagram followers, real leather pipped faux leather into second place.

As we offer both options, we thought we would address the pros and cons of both.

1. Cost

For most of us, the cost of something is an important, if not the most important consideration when it comes to investing in an item. We want quality, but we also need to be affordable.

As a natural material, leather furniture tends to be more expensive than its synthetic counterpart. But with all the look of leather, it is hard to tell that the faux leather dining chairs teamed with your industrial dining table are not the real thing.

2. Quality

Both materials are of high quality but as you would expect, as a natural material leather is more susceptible to show signs of ‘nature’. In other words, every hide is different.

For many people, understanding where their products come from is increasingly important. Most leather is cowhide and is a by-product of the meat industry. Even with high prices, breeding cows or any other animal for their hide alone is not cost-effective – and neither is it environmentally friendly to do this.

In other words, for as long as there are cows and as long as they are bred for their beef, there will always be leather.

PU or faux leather as it is sometimes known is manufactured and as such, there is a similarity between one piece and the next. This isn’t a bad thing as some people like the look and feel of uniformity from one piece to the next.

3. Robustness

In essence, when it comes to quality, there is no clear winner but there is when it comes to hard-wearing robustness.

Unfortunately, as yet, PU leather is not as robust as leather and so, in the busy family home, you may find that leather dining chairs and sofas may hold up the rigorous of use better than its synthetic cousin. The material can be treated with a special stain repellent coating so that they remain as pristine looking for as long as possible too.

4. Finish

Over time, leather ages and takes on a something called a patina. This refers to the natural ageing process and how it affects the look and feel of the leather. Looking after it can help it to age gracefully and beautifully – but don’t worry, it takes no more than a wipe over with conditioning wipes or cream every now and then.

Faux leather maintains the same appearance for a long time and again, looking after it by wiping off spills and stains quickly helps it to last longer.

The process of creating faux leather produces a material that looks incredibly like its natural counterpart. It can also act like leather too but opting for leather dining chairs with your reclaimed wood dining table is a decision you won’t regret.

How to choose the perfect leather sofa – Our quick and easy tips

Charlie Leather Chesterfield Sofa and Coffee Table

A leather sofa is a big investment – and one of the most permanent too. Choose a quality leather furniture piece, and it will last for decades, seeing all of life in your home.

Leather is a coveted material mainly because it has an air of timeless elegance about it, and more than a touch of the contemporary too. But how do you choose the perfect leather sofa? Is a leather Chesterfield sofa the perfect piece, or do you want something quirkier? We offer some hints and tips…

Look for the signs of quality

For any piece of furniture for your home, look for signs of quality. A leather sofa should have a pleasant and familiar sturdy and heavier feel to it. In fact, with high-quality sofas, you can see this sturdiness – it looks well made, with the leather pulled tightly around the arms and back.

Look at the stitching as well as the quality of the leather itself. Consider any wooden elements on show and don’t forget to ask about the ‘inner workings’ of the sofa. It is coil sprung under the seating area, for example, or a hardwood platform and frame?

You also want to know what the seat and cushion padding is too. A dense foam is better and longer lasting than a less dense, springier foam. It may welcome your curves for the moment but given time, the foam will relax too much, and it stops being such a comfortable seat.

Style

There are various styles of leather sofa from the low-backed Chesterfield sofa with its rolled arms to the high-backed, modern tan leather sofa style with pleasing contours and lines. Bear in mind that whatever style you choose, it will need to be one with a long life in terms of appeal.

Size

Size is important – too big and it will swamp a room, but you also need to have plenty of seating for everyone – one two seater leather sofa won’t fit everyone on after all. In some spaces, choosing two smaller sofas produces a more intimate seating arrangement, better for conversation and interaction.

Top tip – mock up a sofa with empty boxes or mark out the dimensions of the sofa on the floor. How does the size translate in situ?

To make more of space, producing an uncluttered appeal to a room, choose a leather sofa with lower back and arms. Don’t forget, you can vary the height of furniture in the room with a contrasting armchair so that it doesn’t look flat or characterless.

Depth

Not often considered but important in terms of comfort is the depth of the seat. A narrower seat is not so comfy for long, languid afternoon reading the latest bestseller but too deep, and it becomes difficult to get up from the sofa.

Colour

And finally, choosing a colour that suits your home is essential. Leather comes in all kinds of colours and shades but remember, if you plan on keeping the sofa for years, you will be decorating around it deep, cherry red colour for a long time!

Tan or black leather sofas tend to be seen as having more longevity in terms of how well they will ‘fit’ with style and decoration in the future.

Our top tip for buying the best leather sofa is to stretch your budget because you won’t be disappointed.

Daring leather furniture to update your beautiful space

Leather furniture is something which will never go out of style. But, if you are looking for furniture which will make a statement in your home, there are also plenty of options. Here are a few of our favourite leather pieces which are certain to take your breath away.

Bedroom

As the main piece of furniture in your bedroom, your bed can make or break your space in terms of style. If you are looking for something which adds the wow-factor and will bring to life an otherwise understated space, a leather bed may be the perfect option. Carnaby Leather Bed is a beautiful option, upholstered in Aniline leather and featuring a padded, button back. The ultimate bed for sitting and reading or relaxing with a cuppa in the morning.

To let the bed do all the talking, keep the rest of the room light and fresh. Paired with soft coloured walls, sleek dark wooden furniture and bright white bedding, a brown leather bed would look truly divine for a vintage take on modern style.

Living Room

As a room you probably spend a lot of time in, you could be forgiven for wanting to keep it simple in terms of style. Of course, in terms of leather furniture, leather sofas are the obvious choice when it comes to introducing beautiful leather into your home.

However, the living room is a great space to have some fun with when it comes to decor – and to really make an impact on your guests.

Alternatively, a unique take on the classic tub chair may be just the ticket. Our aviation inspired Edward Leather Armchair would certainly create drama in a contemporary space, paired with simple furniture and gorgeous silver accessories to accentuate the sleek curved metal back.

If you really want to make a statement, a large living room rug in a colour like soft grey may just create the perfect pairing.

Office

If you work from home, your home office may just be one of the most important spaces in your home. After all, there is nothing worse than a bland, uninspiring workspace you don’t want to spend time in. If you are looking to update your space, why not pair leather furniture with gorgeous industrial style for a luxe, New York City warehouse aesthetic.

Leather desks are a great alternative to the traditional wooden desk. Different enough to make a beautiful statement, but still wonderfully practical. To add a modern, industrial twist, industrial shelving would look fantastic piled high with your favourite books and trinkets from your travels. A leather desk certainly provides the perfect base to a truly incredible space.

Will you dare to make a statement with leather?

The useful guide on renovating a conservatory

The conservatory is a welcome addition to many homes. The terms sunroom, orangery and conservatory are used interchangeably and although there are differences between the three, they all spell out one thing: more social space.

As a renovation project, it can be one of the most pleasing in which you can really create a stylistic splash. But, like all renovation work, there are pitfalls.

Think through the renovation project by considering;

How will you use the conservatory, sunroom or orangery?

They may have had distinct uses in the past – an orangery was not a social space but rather a hothouse connected to the home – but in modern times, we can use the space for almost anything.

One example of many is the creation of a dining space, complete with reclaimed wood dining table, fabric dining chairs and beautiful accessories that make it a divine spot to eat with family and friends.

But all too often, we don’t consider how we will use the space until after we have built or renovated it.

Does it need to be that big?

In most cases (but check with your local authority planning rules), conservatories are a permitted development providing that they don’t swallow more than a quarter of your outdoor space. Anything bigger will usually need permission.

There is a balance that needs to be struck between how much interior space you gain and whether this detracts from the beauty of your outdoor space. And so, even with your ideal conservatory being the relaxing sunroom, complete with sumptuous furnishings, leather armchair, reclaimed wood coffee table and a unique Louis de Poortere rug, do you really need all that space.

Style starts with the appeal of the conservatory

There are many different examples of fabulous conservatories, sunrooms and orangeries, thus it pays to take your time and get the right style, finish and appeal to your renovated or newly built conservatory.

It can be easy to be swept away in a tide of idealism when it comes to style but to combine everything seamlessly and without effort, you need the conservatory to match the style of your property. If the exterior is slightly off centre, then creating the perfect interior may not be easy to achieve.

Does it flow? Does it combine with the rest of your home?

Cohesion is important in styling your entire home and it is not enough to just opt for everything rustic or industrial or Scandinavian. It needs to be more than just the furniture you choose.

It needs to be the colour of the walls and the lighting – the two factors that combine to give your home its ambience – and it needs to be the flooring options too. When it comes to flowing either choose the same throughout the ground floor of your property or, if this is beyond your budget, create a definite divide between the two spaces with a different colour of flooring.

With the ‘basics’ in situ, you will have renovated your conservatory, sunroom or orangery to be a desirable space.

How to make the most of white bedroom furniture

White bedroom furniture brings crispness and freshness to a bedroom. But is it a favourite choice? We took to our popular Houzz poll to find out…

We Asked, You Answered

We wanted to know – for your bedroom, would you opt for white furniture or stay with tried and tested dark wood bedroom furniture?

We gave four exquisite choices – two from our white bedroom range, the Dorset and Savannah ranges – and two from our darker wood collections, the Winchester and Beam reclaimed wood ranges.

Three-quarters of those that voted – why not join in next time? – were clear: white bedroom furniture held the most allure, with the beautiful stylish Savannah winning the most votes. Of those people that loved the earthiness of darker wood, it was the smooth lines of the Winchester range that attracted them most.

What Influences our Choices?

The results of this poll got us thinking – what influences us when it comes to making a choice about the colour of furniture? Is there a reason why many of us opt for lighter painted or stained items, as opposed to those items that retain their natural patina?

Time of year – light and dark

In the UK, we should have four separate seasons, characterised by both weather and light. We wondered if we asked the same question again in the depths of grey winter, would we get the same result?

Lighter coloured furniture, like a white bed frame from the Savannah range, plays along with the natural light of spring and summer, whilst the darker tones of dark wood furniture such as the wooden side table may be more welcome when we want to feel cosy in our homes in winter.

Style

There is no denying that personal choice, as well as our chosen style, is a major influence on whether we opt for painted bedroom furniture or darker wood tones.

The rustic style, for example, is always a popular choice. Practical, functional but with a twist of elegance, it makes the perfect statement in any room. And it is a versatile style and one in which both white and dark furniture works.

Take the Savannah range, for example, easily the most popular among voters. There is a crispness that is delightful but with soft furnishings softening the edges, it is perfect for the rustic or even the nautical styled bedroom.

For those that want a sense of country or farmhouse in their rustic style, the rawness of reclaimed dark wood, as in the English Beam collection is ideal. The Winchester collection adds a smoothness, and more refinement to the rustic style, perfect for anyone wanting to add even more elegance to a room. Just look at the sleigh bed, and you’ll see what we mean.

Using painted bedroom furniture or dark wood furniture in the remainder of the room allows for a sense of cohesion. Or to ring the changes and add a touch of the unexpected, why not mix and match, using a painted chest of drawers, for example, to stand out against darker furniture in the bedroom?

It’s your choice so which would you choose, white bedroom furniture or darker wood items?

Is a kitchen island for you?

Grey Upholstered Dining Chairs in Kitchen

For a larger, spacious kitchen, a central island is an obvious choice. For smaller kitchens, however, the kitchen island as a fixed, immovable feature can bring more problems than it solves. A strategically placed kitchen table, however, is the solution that you need. And here’s why:

Adds Character

For the industrial styled or modern rustic kitchen, there is no denying the character that a kitchen table brings to the space. A longer table helps the eye to see the smaller kitchen as ‘longer’ too, a perfect illusion to create or a smaller kitchen table takes up less space, but because it is moveable, allows for more versatility.

If you plan to chop, knead and slice at the kitchen table as you would an island, choose a higher than average one, like this Rough Swan extendable kitchen table, a piece of furniture that can be made to your exact needs, from height to size. Add style and aplomb with bar stools, like these industrial-styled button back leather bar stools, with detailed leg frames or these oak bar stools for the rustic kitchen.

Encourages a sense of openness

The kitchen is a busy room, but the kitchen island brings welcome extra worktop space to the smaller kitchen. Take a look at other storage alternatives, maximise cupboard space and source clever storage solutions that use the kitchen walls.

For example, wall mounting the microwave is a logical solution as it a ‘maiden’ for hanging pots, pans and cooking utensils above the cooking area. If you have a small area that could double as storage space, a small ladder unit would add welcome storage shelves, great for the rustic kitchen.

Adds Style

A kitchen island is, in many ways, not to be missed but its fixed structure is not for everyone. There is no reason why the kitchen table cannot be practical and functional as a food prep bench, as well as a suave, sophisticated dining table.

With elegant dining accessories, it can be transformed into something magnificent and with fabric dining chairs too – choose any style or colour that makes a statement for you! – you can see how a reclaimed wood table turns from workhorse to elegant dining feature.

Versatile

A kitchen island is fixed. Get it wrong, and the calamity will great you every time you walk in the kitchen. The small kitchen table can be replaced, modernised, updated, painted… its versatility knows no bounds, especially when you consider that by changing the seating arrangement – why not opt for a dining bench, for example? – you breathe new life into the kitchen (and the table).

Tradition or Not?

There is a suggestion, the source of which is lost in time, that the kitchen and the way we use it should follow rules. But there is no rule that says you can only peel veg stood at a worktop or whisking eggs can only happen whilst you remain upright. Sit at the table, peel, chop and knead whilst you remain comfortably seated at a beautiful kitchen table.