For the New Orleans home of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife, Alden Lovelace, interior designer Tara Shaw conceived a dining room suited to keep pace with the couple’s legendary dinner parties.
Shaw mixed 18th- and 19th-century finds with modern elements for a decor that’s both high-minded and relaxing. “The table is really the anchor,” she says. “And the balance of mid-century or contemporary with antiquity lends a collected-over-time feel to the room.”
A large 18th-century Italian door frame, gilded with silver while retaining its original patina, rests casually against the back wall, fitted with a mirror to visually expand the space. A tiered Baccarat crystal chandelier provides sparkle overhead, complementing a set of 18th-century Swedish dining chairs, 19th-century Italian consoles and carved architectural fragments.
Silverware, serveware and European china amassed by the Lagasses over the years adorn the table, where a sculpture bust paired with live tulips provides a surprising centerpiece.
Despite the pedigree of the furnishings, the space is notably welcoming. “Chairs need to be comfortable — and although these are antiques, I’ve seen people sit for hours in them,” Shaw says. “Just because it’s an antique does not make it impractical or uncomfortable.”
In his former Paris pied-à-terre, in a Haussmannian building from the late 19th century, Timothy Corrigan devised a dining room that celebrated the decorative arts while inviting conversation. With its original paneling, plasterwork, parquet floors and marble fireplace, the space was a sort of salon-cum-gallery for the designer.
“I wanted the entire apartment to serve as a showplace for decorative arts from the 18th through the 20th centuries,” he explains, “but also be a place where I could relax and put my feet up, have a drink and invite friends for an intimate dinner party.”
At the center of the room, a 1970s Italian dining table in black lacquer and polished brass is surrounded by Louis XVI–style chairs upholstered in Corrigan’s Madeleine Velvet and Mandeville fabrics for Schumacher. Behind them, 18th-century Italian urns and illustrations by the Comte de Buffon serve as neoclassical counterpoints to the more modern flourishes.
Corrigan set the table with custom placemats made from the reverse side of his Parc Monceau textile, gold flea-market flatware, embroidered linen napkins and red anemones arranged in gilded vases.
“When you have the luxury of being able to reserve a room for a highly specific function, it opens up a whole realm of aesthetic possibilities,” Corrigan says. “The spaces in which you spend the least amount of time, such as powder rooms and formal dining rooms, are the ones in which you can turn up the design volume and really go for a ‘Wow!’ experience.”
Alessandra Branca channeled the spirit of ancient Greece to design a dining room as timeless as it is tailored in the Chicago home of a bachelor with a passion for classical architecture. “I have always loved Villa Kérylos, and it proved to be an amazing inspiration for this room,” Branca says, referring to the famous early-20th-century Greek Revival house museum on the French Riviera.
The hand-painted wallcovering, which took two years to complete and recalls ancient pottery, sets the scene. Custom window treatments — crafted from wool scrim with a mohair velvet appliqué in a Greek key pattern — enhance the room’s artisanal feel. The stone floors were treated to appear centuries old, underscoring Branca’s vision.
Tabletop elements like Giustiniani dishes, Baccarat glassware and Buccellati silverware add opulent touches while resonating with the classical vibe. “My goal was to create a room that can be comfortable as well as one that continues to inspire,” says Branca. “This room was a great collaboration between us — the client, the architects and the artisans and craftsmen. Everyone did their best work and put in great effort. Those are the best rooms anywhere.”
For the 2021 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas, Corey Damen Jenkins transformed a large area in a Georgian manse in Old Preston Hollow into a bold French imperial dining room. Jenkins tented the space in more than 500 yards of Zoffany and Sanderson fabrics, a nod to the Napoleonic military campaigns.
A 1920s Empire-style chandelier at the peak of the tent hangs in dramatic contrast to abstract art by Jason Trotter. Rather than place one long dining table in the room, Jenkins brought in a pair of four-seaters made from crisp Cambria white quartz. Louis XVI chairs from Embree & Lake with backs upholstered in imperial-sash stripes give the space what Jenkins calls a “saucy moment.”
Chinese export porcelain, an ornate Louis XVI console and custom floors by Parquet de Versailles reinforce the room’s French glamour — an inventive, indulgent take on tradition made whimsical with Jenkins’s unmistakable flair.
For a sailing family, Thomas Jayne partnered with Peter Pennoyer Architects to create a shingle-style house in Liberty, Maine, that draws from the area’s maritime heritage. With its subtle nautical details and antique accents, the interiors exhibit Jayne’s signature blend of historical nods and quiet sophistication.
The centralized dining room recalls the wheelhouse of a boat. Jayne lined the curved bay windows with custom banquettes, built low so as not to obstruct the high-perch vista of Penobscot Bay. A trad English dining table is surrounded by early-19th-century neoclassical chairs, which Jayne says are likely Scandinavian. It’s set with pieces from the clients’ collection, including blue-glass candelabras and vintage colored glassware.
“We focused the design around the beautiful water views,” says Jayne, “with the painted chairs, textiles and tableware reflecting a palette of green and blue.
“I always tell clients a dining room is a great luxury — a dedicated place for gathering with friends and family and for celebrating,” he adds. “It provides a sense of occasion and should be decorated with that in mind, although it should also be comfortable.”
In the open-plan living-and-dining area of his self-designed Atlanta home, architect Bobby McAlpine layers old-world elements within a contemporary structure — a style he has dubbed “new romantic modernism.”
Contemporary comforts intermingle with exotic Continental finds evoking the European grand tour. “Contradictions swing the pendulum here,” says McAlpine, who embraces the tension between refinement and patina, symmetry and imperfection.
The dining area features a cage-based pedestal table met by klismos chairs and tall white-upholstered banquettes framed with gold molding. Outsize Venetian-style lanterns loom over terracotta lions, giltwood tables and a giant egg sculpture, heightening the sense of theatricality. “The weathered slatted walls portray the house as a crate holding precious, imperfect objects,” the designer muses.
At last year’s WOW!house exhibition, in London, Ken Fulk concocted a dining room, chock-full of opulent eclecticism, that was inspired by a fictional character.
“We envisioned the home of a grand-dame hostess who was also an eccentric animal lover,” says the San Francisco–based designer and antiques seller. “It was easy to imagine the long, boozy brunches she might host and the cast of characters that would come over for salon-style conversations by the fire.”
Fulk’s A Life Reflected carpet, produced by The Rug Company, was the starting point for the room’s narrative, its blue-and-white pattern recalling 14th-century Delftware and azulejo tilework. On it sits a stately 20th-century mahogany dining table, laid with Sharland England tableware and illuminated by Thierry Jeannot’s undulating chandelier fashioned from recycled clear-plastic bottles.
Fulk packed the space with painterly detail: Linda Fahey’s sculptural works, Fromental wallpaper and other touches in a blue-green palette inspired by William Morris’s Green Dining Room, which resides in the nearby Victoria & Albert museum.
“The dining room encapsulates all of our favorite rituals,” Fulk says. “Special celebrations and unforgettable memories of shared meals, great conversation and beautiful settings.”
In a classic Bahamian Georgian–style home on Florida’s Johns Island, Tom Stringer created a dining room that feels like a journey across time and continents, especially when bathed in an amber glow at night.
“Dining rooms, in my mind, are designed for candlelight and a touch of drama,” says Stringer, who worked with the clients to enliven their existing pieces while layering in time-honored antiques and handcrafted details.
Stringer’s team refurbished the clients’ existing dining table, surrounding it with Dessin Fournir Regency-style armchairs from Baker, Knapp & Tubbs, reupholstered in Brunschwig & Fils’s Lord Byron woven stripe. A Victorian mahogany sideboard, circa 1850, sounds a note of gravitas, while a pair of William IV game tables offer flexibility for entertaining.
For lighting, Stringer deployed Vaughan glass-column lamps with hand-painted shades and a Paul Ferrante iron lantern and wall sconces. Vintage Tiffany candleholders, hand-blown Baccarat crystal glasses and William Yeoward hand-painted porcelain and silverware complete the table settings.
A selection of premodern art introduces a sense of history and worldliness. Two Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) camel sculptures from the Golden Triangle seem to have wandered out of the 19th-century Dutch painting of the Egyptian pyramids behind them. And a series of 18th-century “Hindoos” prints by Edward Orme adds another cultural layer to the hallway beyond.
“Our clients asked for an interior that felt classic and timeless and evoked memories of an elegant era of entertaining,” Stringer says.
Among Bennett Leifer’s many talents, his particular forte is color. Proof? This dining area in a restored Garrison, New York estate the he staged for Bloomingdale’s Mix Masters campaign.
“We wanted to bring the space to life with foliage, green tones and simple profiles,” explains the New York–based designer. “The relatively small room has gorgeous garden views that inspired the interior selections.”
Further enlivening the space are a vintage crystal chandelier, a Caracole table and Calligaris chairs, which together lend it an undeniable allure.
“The inspiration was completely taken from the location,” say the Thorp principals who crafted this cool and beach-friendly Hamptons dining room. “Our aim was to create a coastal home in a contemporary style. We wanted to keep the schemes fresh throughout.”
The palette of soft grays and blues offers the perfect backdrop for the standout piece: a bespoke polished-wood dining table commissioned from Rupert Bevan. The antique chairs are from James Graham Stewart.
For the dining room in a 1930s home in Atlanta, Melanie Turner took a “fresh approach to a classical design.”
Lavender accents bring a feminine flair to the more traditional mid-century glassware, antique oushak rug and de Gournay silk wallpaper.
“The indoor and outdoor spaces of this gracious, relaxing compound are perfect for intimate and large-scale gatherings alike,” says Pamela Katch, describing the home on Sag Harbor’s waterfront her firm designed to accommodate three generations of one family. “Simple, contemporary furniture forms combine with an array of textural, natural materials to create an environment of ease, warmth and hospitality.”
In the dining room, Katch set the stage for entertaining with china by Mud Australia and Roman and Williams Guild, which also designed the striped runner, and a candleholder by Dina No.
In crafting this dining room of a Parisian-style San Francisco residence, JKA Design’s John K. Anderson aimed for a certain aesthetic tension.
“It was to be modern within the classic envelope of the home, which we took in a Parisian direction during the renovation,” says Anderson. He brought the decor up-to-date with an Alexander McQueen rug and Richard Learoyd painting.
“Our inspiration was the client’s love for cooking and entertaining,” Kristen Nix says, referring to the dining area of a home in Austin’s Pemberton Heights neighborhood. “This room was more in her territory, with the opportunity to be more feminine.” Seizing the opportunity, she deployed a pastel palette, adorning the walls, for instance, with a Catherine Booker Jones painting and a Chinoiserie-inspired print from Miles Redd’s collaboration with Schumacher.
Nix is particularly proud of the light fixture. “It’s J. Randall Powers for Circa Lighting,” she explains. “We were lucky to get the last one before it was discontinued.” She also points to the antique chairs and table — laid with plates by Bordallo Pinheiro — which the homeowners purchased with the house. It was cool, Nix notes “to incorporate something that had been in the house for over 20 years.”
Like many designers, Sofia Joelsson takes cues from the surrounding landscape in crafting her interiors. And this dining room in a Miami Beach penthouse is no exception.
“The Fosali glass light fixture was designed to resemble jellyfish in the water like an organic constellation,” she says. “The sculptural Gallotti & Radice dining chairs are soft movements of the ocean making marks in the sand.”
This stunning dining room may be in a historic Maine cottage, but in designing it, Kathryn Davis looked to Italy for inspiration. “The homeowners honeymooned in Venice and return there often,” she explains. “In fact, they had the chandelier custom made at a glass factory in Murano on their first trip to Venice.”
Most eye-catching element? It’s a close race between the Bungalow 5 chairs and the landscape by well-known Cranberry Island artist Henry Isaacs.
An Upper East Side woman who harbors escaped zoo animals in her stylish apartment. That’s who Ken Fulk pictured in outfitting his designated space in New York’s Kips Bay Showhouse, the second-floor dining room, in a twist similar to what he later designed for WOW!house.
With this fictional muse in mind, the ultra-maximalist arrayed the space in plush textures and mesmerizing patterns. The plethora of colors all come together in the custom hand-painted silk de Gournay wallpaper, which serves as backdrop to a slew of antiques from Newel.
For the Tribeca home of Lord Justin Portman and his now ex-wife, Casa Q’s Erin Quiros ordered every single element, including the windows and flooring, directly from Italy.
“The couple was accustomed to spending many months on the island,” of Sardenia, Quiros explains, “and had grown very fond of the juxtaposition of its sleek and contemporary architecture and the warm inviting interiors.”
To emulate this coveted vibe, she outfitted the massive dining area, with its blazing hearth, in both rich- and cool-toned woods and clean-lined pieces.
“I wanted something like an orangerie, with the double exposure,” says Robert Couturier, describing this dining room in a Connecticut country home.
Couturier hung the French doors with Lesage linen curtains custom embroidered in a Mughal motif, softening the natural light that floods in. The 17th-century chandelier is Dutch, and the chairs are Louis XIV.
“Given that this was a converted cowshed, the interior had to speak to its organic roots,” says Samantha Todhunter, explaining her design for this room in a repurposed barn in Dorset, England. “Nothing could be too precious or overdesigned. Our intention was to create an easy, relaxed, informal living-dining space for as many or as few people as needed.”
To accommodate the upper limit, Todhunter opted for a large vintage farmhouse-style table and chairs from the Battersea Decorative Antiques & Textiles fair. And she surrounded these with colorful pieces. “Collections of plates are always lovely arranged on a wall as an alternative to artwork,” she notes. “Puglian pottery or Solimene from Sorento is always wonderful.”
