NEW FOR SUMMER
These summery underplates come in sets of four and fit into a useful round tray. Price for a set is £43. We also have sets of rectangular tablemats and round coasters patterned with hydrangeas or blue and white flowers, which come in matching containers. These come in sets of six with a price of £42 for the tablemats and £24 for the coasters.

Summery underplates, tablemats and coasters.

LOVELY DENMARK
Kate has recently been to Denmark to give a lecture about the history of the English dining table. The lecture was given in a beautiful Jutland castle, Gammel Estrup, which was built in the late l6th century. It was interesting to compare the table laying etiquette of the Danish and the English.

NEW CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC FURNITURE
Coloured formal dining room furniture is very much in fashion at the moment.

The Dining Room Shop is making a smart round pedestal table, with clean lines and finished in black or other colours to order. It can be made any size and with leaves. The sample dining table in the shop has a diameter of 5 ft, which is comfortable for eight people.

Our new circular black contemporary dining table and upholstered chairs

KITCHEN TABLES AND CHAIRS
With the current fashion for big family kitchens, The Dining Room Shop is busy making large 10 and 12 seater sturdy tables to customers` own designs of all sorts in different sizes and timbers to order. The shop has various ranges to offer, starting with modestly priced pine or painted tables and going through to beautiful hand made versions in finest quality timber.

A painted table and chairs made by The Dining Room Shop for a family kitchen

“More and more of our customers are converting their houses in order to make comfortable large family rooms, which incorporate cooking, eating and sitting areas,” says Kate Dyson. “So they enjoy being able to commission a special table in a size large enough to suit their particular needs.”

Finely carved dining chair circa 1700 at Gammel Estrup.

Both countries were greatly influenced by France in the design of their porcelain and silver, especially in the l8th century rococo period. However, from the writings of the late l8th century, it would appear that French visitors to London thought that the English table manners left a lot to be desired. In Denmark, their table manners were more refined.

RARE ANTIQUE DAMASK COLLECTION
Rare and fine quality antique damask is hard to find. We are happy to have tracked down a wonderful selection, which is now on sale in The Dining Room Shop.

The beautiful double damask tablecloths and napkins have a fascinating history, dating from 1917. The original owner was Owen Crosby

Phillips, Viscount Kylsant, whose nickname was “The Lord of The Seven Seas”. He owned 10% of

British shipping in the early 1900s, including the White Star Line of Titanic fame. The line failed after Kylsant was jailed for accounting fraud in 1927. During the case, his son-in-law, the Earl of Coventry, made an unscheduled court appearance to defend Kylsant`s name.

But to no avail and Kylsant was sentenced to a year in Wormwood Scrubs. He went there by taxi and had meals sent in daily from one of London`s top restaurants, thought to be Scotts. On his release Kylsant disappeared from public life, went to live in Wales, and died in 1937.

This pale oak table with matching benches is ideal for big family kitchens.

Extending tables are particularly popular for families. The tables can be made to seat six to eight or more people and then extensions added to enlarge them. The shop makes round tables that turn into larger circles, and rectangular or square tables that grow in various ways, depending on what individual clients require.

Coome, embroidered on many of the pieces, was the name of his Wales estate, now a Leonard Cheshire home. The linen was given to his daughter, the Countess of Coventry and kept at Croome Park, Worcestershire, the Coventry seat.

This unique house, now undergoing restoration by the National Trust, is the site of Capability Brown`s first landscaped park. Rare tapestries and an Adam-designed room from this house were sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in the 1970s.

The Coventry line came to an end with the recent death of the Dowager Countess of Coventry, who was Kylsant`s grand daughter. The linen described has come from her estate.

The double damask in the collection was made by the Belfast company, Walpole and Co.

Its woven design is typical of the era. Interwoven patterns in the damask depict guinea fowl and sporting birds.There are scrolling designs, floral designs and others with ribbons and garland. The collection is dated in red embroidery, and much of it bears embroidered monograms in white. Many of the tablecloths also have their sizes embroidered in red and much of it is completely unused. There are 10 ft and 13ft cloths, sets of generously sized napkins, as well as kitchen, hall, and tea cloths as well as blue and white check dust sheets.

While there is always a tempting range of antique tables, suitable for kitchens and dining rooms, the specially made ones in both traditional and contemporary styles are growing in popularity.

Customers can also choose from a wide range of chairs, both painted and polished, as well as upholstered.

ANTIQUE SHELL CABINET
We couldn't resist this fascinating and rare antique shell cabinet. It is a late 19th century piece, quite mad, and nothing to do with dining rooms! The mahogany case is decorated with chandelier

crystals. The shells are displayed in a faux grotto decorated with cut wool in the colours of coral and the sea. It contains an interesting and decorative collection of tropical shells of the kind that beachcombers could discover easily in the late l800s.

 

Antique shell cabinet.

PARKING UPDATE
New parking rules in White Hart Lane are making it much easier to come in a car.There is controlled parking from 9 - 11 from Mondays to Fridays and free parking on Saturdays. This means that if you come before 11 you need to find a short stay slot. After 11 in the morning it is easy and you can park on the residents` bays in White Hart Lane and the adjoining small streets.

Public transport is also much improved with many more 209 buses from Hammersmith and more frequent trains from Waterloo to Barnes Bridge.

INTERIOR DECORATING WORK
More and more interior design commissions are keeping The Dining Room Shop increasingly busy. “People come in looking for a table and chairs first. We find something for them and then often progress to interior decoration work,” David Hur says. “We made a table for one of our customers a few years ago, then a wardrobe and now are working on her new country estate.”

At the moment David is refurbishing a Belgravia apartment and putting in a new kitchen and bathroom. He is working on a Surrey house and a Putney house. While Kate is doing the third house for a client in Essex, plus a Hampstead apartment for another client, and furnishing a Cornish house with antiques.