Dining in Style

The dining room is maybe the most unused room in your house, right?  Tucked away with a closed door until Christmas or the odd dinner party.  But that is no excuse to have a boring space, instead they should scream hospitality and style.  Here are some of my favourite styles at the moment for a decadent space...

I love everything about this room:  the plush carpet, the stylish furniture and the fun accessories, and the bowls of apples add that pop of colour in an informal way.

Lighting is so important in any room, but especially in the entertaining space in your home.  This statement chandelier gives the room an added wow factor, and those plush velvet chairs against the dark wood are sublime.  

I'm all about a round table at the moment, and I am on the hunt for the perfect one.  I love the idea of a glass top, but frankly with a baby on the way and a man with a severe cleaning disorder (fingerprints anyone), I think this might push us over the edge but keep Pledge in business!  But in theory, this style is 'the one'.  So instead I am looking for a table with a pedestal base or something 'unique', and I think this suite below is just gorgeous! 

I think a dining room is a great space to experiment with colour (I know, I know says the girl with the grey...white...sometimes taupe house!).  But a bold colour works very well in a dining room, just see below...

A roaring fire is the dream in a dining room, especially for festive entertaining.  I had to showcase this dining room below simply for the stunning, albeit modern, fire place.  It sits perfectly against a traditional table and chairs.   

A pop of colour but this time not on the walls!  These chairs work perfectly against the lacquered black table and vibrant violet flowers. 

What is your dream dining room like?

Dining Room Decadence

The dining room is a room that, lets face it, is used pretty infrequently if you have a kitchen/diner.  However, it always adds a sense of occasion when you use this room, as it is earmarked for special occasions - Christmas, dinner parties and birthday's.  I always remember my mother's dining room, shut off from everyday use, with cabinets full of her best china and crystal, with the walnut table glossed to an inch of its life, the smell of polish overwhelming!  However, I think dining room's should be embraced as an everyday room and I have been inspired by some absolutely gorgeous images.  The images below still have an air of formality and celebration but are absolutely liveable...

So, the table is very important.  At the moment I love the idea of a large round table, they add a point of difference compared to your usual rectangular option but are also a lot more sociable, as a table full of guests can interact with each other a lot easier.  

Gorgeous chandelier hanging over the round table

Sometimes a dining room can conjure up images of dark, serious rooms.  However, here at Butterfly Lane we are about light and airy spaces, sophisticated but completely liveable.  By using beautiful accessories, like sparkling chandeliers, glassware, candle holders and fresh flowers it will individualise the room and create a space that is liveable and welcoming but with will still have that important design twist.  

Great lights add interest to a simple table

Perfectly set for a dinner party with ample of fresh flowers

A simple room with minimal accessories

This dining room has a little more 'quirk' to it and the lights that hang over the table are such a statement.  The green tone add warmth and welcome, and the contrasting fabric on the two carver chairs adds an individual twist on the otherwise simple room.  

Make your dining room an everyday space and try not to lock it away waiting for a special occasion.  


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Platters at the Ready

As we approach the Spring (we are in March after all) my mind has started to wander on to the summery dresses, floaty blouses and floral trousers that are filling our shops online, and otherwise, as I type away.  So I have decided to step away from the winter stodge fest that I have been consuming night after night...after night, for as long as I can remember.  My 'it's so cold outside, I deserve something cakey, something indulgent' mentality is behind me!  In order to get body ready for summer time dressing I have whipped up a tried and tested healthy dinner that is super easy and delicious at the same time.  The recipe is also ideal if you're entertaining a group of friends, it's definitely a crowd pleaser.  





Recipe Idea:  Italian Baked Sea Bass:

BBC Good Food


Ingredients:

• About 290g jar whole roasted peppers, drained and sliced
• 1 red onions, sliced in to thin wedges
• drizzle of olive oil
• 4 garlic gloves, unpeeled
• 3 fat slices of lemons (the rest cut in to wedges to serve)
• 2 sea bass
• 15 black olives
• 25g toasted pine nuts
• handful of roughly chopped parsley

Method:

1.  Heat oven to 200C/180C, fan/gas 6.   Toss the peppers and onions with seasoning plus a small drizzle of olive oil.  Spread on a baking tray and cook for 5 minutes

2.  Toss in the lemon and garlic with the onions and peppers.  Sit on the sea bass, brush fish with a little more oil, season the fish and roast for 15 minutes

3.  Stir the olives and pine nuts in to the veg and roast for 5 minutes more until the fish is just cooked through.  Squeeze over some lemon juice and scatter with parsley to serve.

Finally, accompany with a summery salad and voila, dinner is served!


I adore cooking and creating a feast for my family and friends, but I also love the opportunity of using all of my plates, platters, bowls and jugs that I have collected over the years.  I have something of a problem, who needs umpteenth platters?  Well, I do!  So here are Butterfly Lane's top three designs to get you through a successful dinner party with ease and elegance.  

The White Company always have an amazing and simple selection, and this one is particularly lovely. 

The White Company, £40

Astier de Vilatte have a stunning selection, they have a larger price tag but are so timeless.

Astier de Vilatte, £120

This Colbert Long Platter is elegant and simply exquisite.  It would make a wonderful table centre piece for any occasion.

  

Colbert Long Platter, £199 

Happy shopping...X