Color It Bold

Adapt to Familial Needs

Regional Differences

While home owners should use rooms according to their needs, certain geographic areas and price ranges may inspire different uses. New York designer Mindy Miles Greenberg of Encore Décor says that most of her clients who are fortunate to have a separate dining room want to use them as such. “It’s a feather in their cap to have the luxury of so much space [in New York] and most want to show it off as such,” she says. That usually means decorating it traditionally with patterned wallpaper, chair railing, crystal chandelier, china cabinet, area rug, puddled curtains, silver- or gold-leafed ceiling paper, and a formal, sometimes inherited table and chair. “We try to use what we can,” Greenberg says.
Throughout the Northeast, dining rooms are important for families on weekends and holidays because outside dining is restricted usually to summer, says Anne Millians-Roche, e-Pro, president, cofounder, and qualifying broker of Owens Realty Network in Winter Park, Fla. But in the South, where the climate is warmer, buyers usually prefer large outdoor areas to entertain. “The interior formal room is considered wasted space,” she says.
In the more traditional Midwest, St. Louis-based designer Denise Fogarty tries to break out of expected staidness by painting walls a nonneutral color and upholstering host and hostess chairs, sometimes with different fabrics on front and back.
And in more casual California, Christopher J. Grubb, owner of Arch-Interiors Design Group Inc. in Beverly Hills, says many clients want a room that seats eight to 10 people but looks untraditional so they’re not afraid to use it. Instead of crystal chandeliers and Persian rugs, he might meld black and white family photos, contemporary light bulbs strung on a wire, plants, upholstered seating, and an audio system. If the room is meant to occasionally serve another function, such as an office, he suggests concealing a work surface.
Designer Kimba Hills, owner of Rhumba, a design store and firm in Santa Monica, Calif., follows a similar strategy. She might mix a 19th century dining table with 20th century upholstered chairs and add bookshelves and a modern chandelier hung low for intimacy. She recommends a round table where possible because it’s more conducive to conversations and eliminates favored seating. “You never have a bad seat at a round table,” she says.
Garden City
Floral Park

Malverne

West Hempstead

Roslyn