Designing a Wood Table for a Gray Dining Room
It is no secret that gray has become homeowner’s favorite neutral when painting and designing their dining spaces. Many people now prefer a soft gray in their dining room to create a calm and serene feeling for guests. Others go for a darker gray to make a more dramatic design statement.
Though it is tempting to design a room using only neutral grays, when everything is pieced together the space can feel cold and uninviting to the eye. Unruh sees many customers come in wanting to design a gray dining table with gray dining chairs to match the gray dining room. The design team at Unruh tries to broaden the options by pointing to some other wood and stain combinations that will be more timeless.
If Not a Gray Table, then What?
The biggest reason designers advise homeowners to stray away from gray when choosing a dining room set, is because gray will not stay a trendy neutral forever. Remember when beige was everyone’s favorite wall color? The transition to gray as the preferred neutral will not stay forever. When buying hardwood furniture that is meant to last a lifetime, you want to choose something that will be timeless and transitional!
When choosing the wood and stain for a dining room table ask yourself: How much contrast already exists in my dining room? If the answer is a little or not a lot, think about choosing a wooden dining table to contrast the neutrals that already exist in the room. With a neutral gray room, you want to design a piece that is warmer in tone to brighten up the space and make the dining room feel home-y and inviting.
When customers choose a gray table for a gray dining room, the furniture tends to blend in with the walls. At Unruh, we want your table to take people’s breath away when they walk into your home! We want your dining room table to be the stand-out piece in your dining room!
For the Dramatic, Contemporary Home
Pictured above is the Rosedale Table, which is a modern dining room table that can be customized to almost any length. The black chairs contrast well with the red tones and dark gray walls to complete the modern-looking dining room.
For a drastic contrast, pick a wood/stain combination that has red tones to make your dining table the dramatic centerpiece of the room. This designer picked Unruh’s Maple wood with the Classic Fir finish to make this dining room in the Atrium House stand out. Cherry wood is also a fantastic option when looking to add red tones to a dining room. This combination might not work as well if you have light gray walls or accents, but if your dining room has blue-gray tones or even navy accents, a red-toned wood will pop perfectly in your space. See below for a better option for lighter gray walls.
For the Laid-Back, Modern Home
Above is the Breckenridge Table, which is popular for modern OR farmhouse-styled homes. The Breckenridge is incredibly versatile and will fit into any setting you put it in. The dining room chairs in this room make the table feel more modern.
If your dining space is already set up with soft, light grays and you don’t want something as dramatic as a red-toned dining table to bring contrast into the room, try wood that is more blonde-toned. Natural wood finishes work with the calm of the gray walls but also give the space the oomph it needs to be inviting and warm. While the Breckenridge Table above is staged as a modern piece, it could easily transition to a farmhouse table without anyone noticing! This is the sign of a transitional piece, which stain plays an important role in. The Unruh Sugar Maple stain or Natural finish is great for lighter gray walls and accents.
For the Traditional, Softspoken Home
The Bakersfield Table above contrasts the light walls to make this dining room feel more formal and traditional. The gray upholstered chairs contrast beautifully while making sure the dining room table remains the centerpiece of this room.
For someone who doesn’t want too much contrast, but still needs to bring that warmth to their space, picking a table with a dark mocha stain will do the trick. This makes for a more traditional-looking dining room but still feels welcoming to friends and family. Unruh’s Deep Mocha stain is a customer favorite because it is so timeless and transitional.
But, When is a Gray Table Appropriate?
Another Breckenridge Table above shows how truly versatile an Unruh dining room table can be. This wood, stain, and even size, makes this modern dining room feel completely different than the dining room above, even though it is the same table!
You may be asking yourself When is a gray dining table appropriate? Well, a gray dining room table is best suited in a room that is already full of warm tones. In the example above there are many different warm-toned woods around the dining table.
A gray stain is a perfect choice to make the Breckenridge Table the centerpiece of the room! Unruh has two different gray-toned finishes, Classic Grey and Weathered Oak. The Weathered Oak stain is more of a wash of gray, whereas Classic Grey is a more full coverage gray stain. Pictured above is Unruh’s Classic Grey stain on Alder wood.
No matter what neutral gray you have in your dining room, Unruh has a table that will make the room feel complete and ready for company!
