While kitchens often get the nod as the room that conjures the most memories, I have to vote for the dining room. My grandmother's dining room, in particular, still lingers in my mind because it was always the place of celebrations and ceremony as I was growing up.
My family gathered there for holiday dinners, birthday parties, wedding showers and christening brunches.
The dining room was probably the most elaborately furnished space in my grandmother's small, simple home. She had saved pennies after the Depression to buy the mahogany-veneer set of furniture -- pedestal table, formal chairs, china closet. Everything matching, of course.
The wallpaper changed over the years -- from large cabbage roses to refined stripes to miniature prints. And the rug changed with the seasons -- fake Persian for the winter; sisal for the summer. But the furniture remained the same for nearly three decades.
The table was my grandmother's pride and joy. It had several leaves and when extended to maximum length, all the many family members could crowd around.
We children were relegated to the kitchen table after grace was said, but when we finished eating, we were allowed back into the dining room. And at an appropriate age, say 14 or 15, we found a permanent place in my grandmother's room.
As an adult in my own home, I found myself with a small dining area -- one of those L-shaped spaces that appeared on the architectural scene in force with the advent of the 1950s rancher. I wasted little time converting an old screened porch to a dining room and over the years have tried to celebrate important family events by filling it with the people I love. I think my grandmother would like that.
The '90s dining room
I am not alone in my fondness for dining rooms. Today, interior designers are reporting that dining rooms are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Of course, they never really disappeared, but they did get slightly lost in the great-room phenomenon.
"About 10 or 15 years ago, we were being bombarded with the great room," says interior designer Marie Schwartz. "We were told [by architects that] the formal dining room was passe. Walls were coming down and the kitchen and dining room were being merged with the family room to make one grand space."
The dining room became the dining table, a piece of furniture placed among assorted sofas and chairs, a counter top away from the kitchen.
