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Dining Room
Dining room furniture developed over this period. Long heavy and permanently positioned tables replaced the Tudor tables made from wooden planks supported on trestles. New dining rooms were smaller than the traditional eating halls and the new table reflected this decreased use of space. They might be round or rectangular but they had leaves and gatelegs to allow them to be extended or retracted according to how many people were to be sat around them. A table carpet was placed on the table top for protection and a table cloth on top of this. As in the drawing room there might have been several side and occasional tables. These might range from the tripod table, for one or two people, to a round table large enough to seat four to six people. Around this time, English cabinet making came into it’s own. Cabinets provided storage space for crockery and wine (and it’s associated accessories.) It also displayed the family wealth and silver plate. Chairs traditionally had high backs and wide seats to accommodate frock coats and bustled dresses. They would be pushed up against the sides of the room when not in use. A chair rail might run around the room at a height of 3’6” to protect the wall decoration from scuffing by the chairs. Chippendale and Hepplewhite chairs are both very appropriate in a Georgian dining room. Seats were upholstered but chair backs were not. The Georgians were the first to put sofas in dining rooms. They also stood up against the wall when not in use. Dining room accessories in a Georgian dolls house might include:-
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The act of eating and eating well became a chief source of entertainment during the eighteenth century. Spode and Wedgewood produced dinner china for the middle classes. It was available in both quantity and variety. Although it was not cheap it was new and novel and for a while replaced silver. 