A former magazine editor. Freelance writer. Content creator. Obsessive reader. And wannabe baker. Elizabeth is a Southern lifestyle writer with more than fifteen years of experience. Her work covering Southern food, arts and culture, travel, and interiors has appeared in the pages of national publications, including Southern Living, Coastal Living, Garden & Gun, and The New York Times, among others. See her work at www.hutchcreativeco.com.
The image of my grandmother’s formal dining table decked out for Christmas dinner is one of those core holiday memories—the kind that sticks with you well into adulthood. My grandmother spent weeks leading up to the holiday assembling the perfect table. Starching the linens. Waxing the table. Polishing the silver. Trotting out the once-a-year Christmas china. And shopping for ornaments to personalize each place setting. China Uk Fair Pu Dining Chair
I’d always imagined doing the same, and while my aunt inherited my grandmother’s actual table, my in-laws recently gifted us their gorgeous antique dining table. Without a separate dining room—our dining space is part of a larger do-it-all-style living room adjacent to the kitchen—the table felt too formal for our more casual, transitional space. Making a family heirloom your own is tricky no matter the piece, but inherited dining tables, especially traditional dining sets, can be particularly hard to pull off. For tips on updating and softening the look as well as blending an antique into a more contemporary space, we asked a handful of Southern designers for their advice.
Designer Mary Heyward Eudailey of Birmingham, Alabama, believes there are a lot of ways to make a traditional table your own. Her first thought? Updating the chairs.
"I’m helping a friend who inherited table and chairs, and instead of replacing the chairs, we are going to slipcover them in two pieces. There’s a piece that drops over the back of the chair and a piece that sits over the seat and ties at the back," says Eudailey. "We chose a fun contemporary fabric, and we’re going Scotch Guard it, so she’ll be able to throw the slipcovers in the wash on a gentle cycle. It really softens the overall look of the table. Upholstered chairs are another option if you’re buying new. Just remember, comfort is important."
She also recommends honoring any scratches, dings, or dents. "Don’t be shy to use your table. Keep putting signs of life on it. It can be so intimidating to sit at someone’s table that looks too perfect," she says.
Beyond the furniture itself, Molly Basile of Charleston, South Carolina, suggests looking at updates to other areas of your room.
“My immediate thought is to choose a light fixture that’s a little more updated—something transitional or modern," she suggests. "If you have a more formal dining room, try a contemporary glass fixture with clean lines instead of a traditional crystal chandelier. Glass and brass are a great combo."
Texture and scale are important factors too. Basile warns to avoid fixtures wider than your table, and aim for your piece to fall about 36-inches from the top of the table.
Designer Catherine Branstetter of Nashville, Tennessee, isn't one to typically design with a dining set, but she knows the power of an antique. She suggests pairing the classic look with fresh patterns and artwork to bring your own personality to the space.
"I think having an antique piece or two in every room is very important, but the mix is key. I love good old-fashioned brown furniture but with more youthful patterns and artwork," she says. "Artwork can completely transform a room and can arguably make the biggest impact in a space. It doesn't necessarily need to 'match' the space perfectly but rather let it complement and tell a story."
For Tilden Hart of Elizabeth Stuart in Charleston, South Carolina, it's all about having fun with the finish. She brings a new life to inherited pieces by stripping and bleaching the wood
“Updating an inherited piece is something we love to do. One thing that we have done to update a matching dining set is to strip the tables back to their original wood finish and then bleach the wood. It gives a fun twist on the family heirloom," says Hart. "Every wood species is different, and no stripping and bleaching project turns out quite the same, which is the fun part."
The process can be a bit different for each piece too. After a piece is stripped, she'll review bleaching samples to determine how many coats of bleach are needed to get the desired finish. "Depending on where the piece is going, we sometimes add a clear coat but oftentimes like to leave the wood with a raw or matte finish,” she says.
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