The term “dining room” brings memories of family, friends, good conversation and memorable meals. The dining room table, the centerpiece of the room, has certainly evolved in function and style over the centuries. Today, collectors scour antique shows, garage sales, auctions and wherever they feel there might be hope to find the antique dining tables that will complete their collection and possibly, their bank account.
Eighteenth century American dining included the extensive use of mahogany as the wood of choice. Dining tables tended to be large, up to eight feet in length. They were massive and largely unadorned except for veneer work on the top. Sideboards became a familiar part of the dining room during this era. They were a useful, not a decorative piece for a variety of purposes. Urns were stored on the top, silverware in the drawers and some even had metal lined drawers to keep the plates warm.
Art Nouveau emerged in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The pieces of unique, elaborate and beautiful design were created mainly for homes, hotels and public buildings. The essence of the style was curves that mimicked nature, such as grass blowing or bending with the wind. The theme was to make you see nature in the piece; a branch growing from a tree or a flower reaching for the sun. Keeping with the theme, carvings included insects, birds or plants. Patterns of curving lines make you visualize a cascading waterfall or clouds rushing through the sky. These stunningly beautiful pieces of antique dining tables are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars today to those who are lucky enough to own one.
Art Deco entered the dining world in the 1930-1940’s with the help of Hollywood, which featured rooms dominated with these pieces in every Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie. As they danced around leather high-back chairs, swept by lacquered and veneered antique dining room cocktail tables and served as the center of brightly colored Japanese room screens, fans tried to imitate their decoration style. Art Deco brought mass produced, inexpensive dining furniture to everyday Americans. The dining style was bold yet elegant with simple straight or geometric lines.
Who can forget the homey feeling of the diners in the fifties? The Formica countertops and tabletops were a familiar sight along with the plastic coated benches. This led to what we now refer to a retro style for dining in our own homes. Scandinavian or Danish was the style for the dining table and chairs. The blond wood was the predominantly used wood. Furniture at this time was more functional and had less status as in previous years.
Today, all of these time periods contain antique dining tables that today can be worth thousands of dollars. Antique dining tables can add comfort, class, or nostalgia to any home and make meals an enjoyable thing, if one dares to put food on such a valuable piece of furniture!
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