I was recently in the new home that my friend Leslie and her husband had built. It's in one of the new subdivisions outside the city limits, and it is in a very nice (although not particularly quiet) neighborhood. he reason is it snot very quiet is because everyone wants to build in the same new area, so, you get an influx of traffic by both the families that have recently purchases homes there as well as an onslaught of motor and foot traffic of people that either wish to purchase and build at the site, or wish they could.
She gave me a tour of the new home, and I will admit that it is beautiful. New homes have that 'new home smell' of fresh construction, and this one was no different. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 and a half bath multi-story home with a semi open floor plan. The kitchen, although small for a two thousand square foot home, is beautifully lit with plenty of natural light thanks to some big windows.
The dining room on the other hand, well, is a disaster.
Let me back up a bit and say that Leslie had wanted an elegant, 'formal' dining room that would fit her new 10 person oak table and chair set. It seems to me that the designers had spent to much space on the family room, which I assume is the normal since that's where many families spend most of their time together. The problem is, the house was designed to sacrifice space from the kitchen and dining room in order to obtain it. This makes the dining room appear crowded (which it is).
Well this actually presents two problems. For starters, the dining room table is way to big for the room. This is hampered even more by a rug that is too small for the table. When choosing a dining room rug it is important that the rug is big enough to cover the area of the table and the chairs. This one was clearly not. Another problem was the flooring. She went with an irregular pattern tile floor that was not uniform as far as height goes. This is an issue as far as cleaning is concerned, as well holding the rug in place as well as the table balance.
If you are going for an elegant look, the only material you should consider is wood flooring. The reason for this is that it matches almost any decor, and wood floors will last longer then tile under heavy foot traffic. Again, this is all subjective, but something to keep in mind when you are building a new home.
