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Dining Room Table

The Country Dining Room

 
 

Good ideas from the past on how to plan and design an attractive, easy-to-build and easy-to-maintain home in the country.

 
 
There is nothing more essential to the comfort, and consequently to the happiness, of the family, than that the dining-room should be, of all the apartments of the house, the most pleasant and the most attractive. And, to this end, the first requisite is, that it should be properly placed. In building, or in the occupation of the residence already constructed, let that room be selected for the purpose into which the morning sun at least shall throw its cheerful rays. In a cold climate, at no time is its presence more welcome than at the breakfast-table. If practicable, let both the morning and evening sunlight illuminate the room. These points can be attained by the choice of the southeastern exposure.

George E. Woodward, Cottages and Farm Houses, 1867

 

Bad Table Manners

Bad Manners: 1-Tips back his chair; 2-Eats with his mouth too full; 3-Feeds a dog at the table; 4- Holds his knife improperly; 5-Engages in a violent argument at the meal-time; 6-Lounges upon the table; 7-Brings a cross child to the table; 8-Drinks from the saucer and laps to the last drop from the plate; 9-Comes to the table with his shirt-sleeves and puts his feet beside his chair; 10-Picks his teeth with his fingers; 11-Scratches her head and is frequently unnecessarily getting up from the table.

 

 
 

 

 
 

Illustrations from Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms, 1886, "Gentility in the Dining Room," top and "Bad Manners at the Table," above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Articles:

Country Property

Country Home Design

Country Interiors

Cabins

Barns & Backbuildings

How to Build in the Country

Country Landscaping

The Kitchen Garden

Homestead Hints

American Folk Architecture

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                                                      Site designed by Christopher Berg    Edited by Donald J. Berg, AIA    Copyright 2009