Dining room table

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The Dining Room Table That Fits
When shopping for dining room tables, it's easy to get caught in the bigger-is-better trap: The larger the table, the more people you can invite over for Thanksgiving and Game of Thrones-themed dinner parties. What's really worth keeping in mind, though, is how large you can go before you force your guests to suck in their stomachs and shuffle against the wall to get to their seats. Interior designer Shoshana Gosselin recommends choosing a 36-inch wide table—giving you enough space for your place settings, silverware and that peony tablescape—and leaving a 42-inch clearance between the chairs and the wall so that everyone can move around easily. If you're on the fence about a certain size, try folding a bed sheet to the table's dimensions and placing it on the floor of the room. That will give you a good feel for how much space the table will really take up.