How to Create a Library With a Dining Room Table

Have you decided that you are better off saving space by changing a formal dining room into a room that you can use every day? The trade off is that when it is your turn to host Thanksgiving dinner, you have no place to serve a lovely meal for a dozen people. The solution is to make your dining room a multi-purpose room: a library for comfortable reading and studying that can quickly be changed back into a dining room when company comes.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring tape
• Paint and painting supplies
• Furniture (bookcases, dining room set, comfortable chair, console and end tables)
• Lighting (chandelier, floor lamp, desk lamp)
• Artwork

1. Clear everything out of your dining room so you can measure the room and assess its architectural strengths and weaknesses. Think about the feeling you want the room to have. Should it be heavy and masculine, with dark wood and brass fittings, or lighter and more feminine? Do you prefer a traditional, country, or modern style? Decide where bookcases will fit best (for example, symmetrically placed flanking a window or doorway, or lined up across an entire interior wall) and measure carefully so you can buy the right size.

2. Choose your paint colors and paint the room and trim. The best color for your library/dining room is a color that you love that fits your style. If the rest of your house is painted in creamy neutrals, don't choose burgundy paint just because it provides a traditional home library feel.

3. Bring the furniture in. Position the bookcases in the spots you decided on earlier. Use your previous dining room table if it still fits; store any leaves elsewhere, and use only four chairs (two on each long side). Position a comfortable club chair or wingback chair in a corner with a small end table next to it. If there is still space, place a console table with drawers against a wall. Use it to store writing supplies and well as table linens.

4. Make sure there is enough light in the room for reading. Place a tall lamp behind the comfortable chair to provide light for reading, and a small desk lamp on the console table for task lighting. Keep your existing chandelier over the table, or buy a new one that fits your new decor. Make sure the chandelier provides enough light to work by at the table; put bulbs of the maximum wattage in the chandelier if it is hooked to a dimmer switch.

5. Hang artwork to finish the room. Frame botanical prints from old books for inexpensive artwork in a feminine-feeling room, or hang antique maps if your style is masculine and traditional. For a country-style room, hang a display of decorative plates.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep the dining table bare when you are using the room as a library; gentle wear will make the table feel homey. Throw a tablecloth on when using the room for dining, so guests don't see scratches.
• If your library/dining room is very large, consider using two square tables instead of one rectangular one. Smaller tables are easier to move, and one could be set off to the side as a game table, while the other could be used as a desk elsewhere in the room. Push them together in the center of the room for dining.
• Don't try to cram too much furniture into your room. If having stately bookcases means that you can't pass behind someone seated at the table, the room will feel too cramped. Consider hanging bookshelves instead, which take up less floor space, or getting a narrower dining table.

References

• New Decorating Book; Denise L. Caringer, ed.; 2003