In the words of one of the most charming and exonerated writers, Charles Dickens; "Please, Sir, I want some more!" Do your dinner guests metaphorically speaking, ask the same of you?
Dinner parties that leave guests contentedly sleepy, stuffed and ready for bed!
Who isn't familiar with that famous scene when dearest sweet little Oliver requests with a desperate and fragile tone for more gruel to fill his little hungering belly?
Don't worry we're not about to discuss Victorian workhouses of the 1800's, we'll leave that to historians of British social history! Nor are we about to discuss what exactly gruel is either! Does anyone this side of the world even know what gruel is anyway? Hardly many, and gratefully too I would imagine. 'So what is the topic?' I hear you contend impatiently as I witter on!
Pretend Every Evening Is A Dinner Party Evening!
Let's start with a question, as it's a very good place to start! Do we leave our guests wanting more? More of our two or three course dinner? More of our Rioja Blanco or finest full bodied Pinotage? Well, it's true, most always want a dribble more of that! But do our guests linger, soaking up the ambience we've lovingly laboured over? Table runners, cloth linen napkins, vases heavy with flowers, accompanied by our finest cut crystal glassware that twinkles and sparkles in our warm candlelit room. Cheese boards of blue and soft Camembert, ripe and warm from the heat of our kitchen oven that's spent the evening roasting away a choice pink cut of lamb, seasoned with our favourite herbs and trimmings! Are you salivating yet? I hope so. I'm off to the kitchen when I've finished this!
The scenario is that we often go to a lot of trouble and expense to put on evening dinner party's for guests over at the weekends. It's time to catch up, switch off, pretend we don't work a 9 to 5, pretend we don't have children, pretend about a lot of things! Well just for a short while. It's a time to pretend that every evening is a dinner party evening. Who has that life? - Well, 'The Great Gatsby' did for a while! It's a moment in our hectic lifestyles where we seem to stop worrying excessively about anything and everything. We jump off the treadmill and take our ease. Ah, how lovely. Welcome to 21st century living!
Somehow at dinner parties, it's true, the human psyche has this inane but priceless ability to throw all of our concerns and distractions out of the window for just those few precious hours. That's why we end up creating such lavish tables laden with food and drink that we wouldn't normally exert ourselves over at any other time. Maybe date night... of course! It's an occasion to indulge and share conversation and laughter with the people we love and who doesn't love that?
So why am I talking excessively about food? Because we all love food? No, although that is indeed true. But what does this all have to do with our homes? Simply put, our home and decor helps create this lovely cocoon of comfort and warmth that makes our guests request; "Please, I want some more!" An environment that persuades our guest's to linger. How we structure our kitchen/dining area, you may laugh, does have a subliminal effect on how people feel, it certainly creates atmosphere. Of course, I agree, it's more about good company and the wonderful joy of saturating our arteries with tasty varieties of food fundamentally.
Create A Cocoon Of Comfort and Warmth!
But notice how restaurants, bars and cafe's put much thought into design and furnishings depending on the feel and clientele they wish to appeal to. Take for instance Caffe Nero. I use this as an example because I'm fond of it so! But if you're a fellow customer, recall to mind their furnishings, colours and even their seductive choice of music. If not, then listen carefully. They've got soft comfortable sluggish Italian leather chairs that embrace you, dark warm mahogany woods that ooze warmth, heavy base tones of Herbie Hancock and John Coltrane pouring out of their speakers. And that's before we've even made mention of robusta coffee bean aroma's of central Sub-Saharan Africa tickling your nostrils, rushing up to your pituitary gland & hypothalamus and releasing those adorable addictive endorphins! How can you not be seduced? Well, it is possible that every inch of you may loathe Jazz!
But next time you venture into one of these coffee joints, recall this article you're reading and observe what you find around you. You'll find people relaxed as if they're happily sat at home, tapping away at their iPad keyboards, immersing themselves in a good book or just watching the world go by through a window. It's a venue that embraces their loyal customers, encourages them to slow down, breathe in and out and spend their precious earned pounds on expensive coffee and cake and simply wile away the time without ever being disturbed!
Contentedly Sleepy, Stuffed and Ready for Bed!
So why can we not steal these principles that have cost companies millions of pounds in market research and take them into our very homes? Create a room that engenders the senses, that helps guests relax, be themselves, feel at home, and feel the urge to linger a little more! Is that not one of the greatest compliments our guests could ever pay us? When they want more food, more conversation and eventually meander out of our front door contentedly sleepy, stuffed and ready for bed? Our job is done! We've accomplished no meagre task of assisting the stressed and weary to wind down and dismiss their cares for a few joyful hours around our kitchen dining table. We've made lasting good memories to look back on. A success and worth every exertion!
So what next? Have a peak at some inspirational ideas to help translate these principles into our homes, making our dinner party one to be remembered with fondness! Click on the link below;
Find D K Joinery on Houzz via the link below.
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