11/4/10

The Acorn Dining Room Set

Or is it Suite?

Here in Texas we say SET! 
Is it China Cabinet or China Hutch?
For me it's a Cabinet.  A Hutch is for Rabbits!  I don't Collect Rabbits!
I Collect China...and other Dishes!
So, before getting deeper into the Shelves, Drawers and Behind the Doors of the Acorn China Cabinet
I thought it best to show you the
Acorn Dining Room Set!


Table Trivia...
  • The word Table is derived from the Latin word Tabula which means a board, a plank or a flat piece.
  • In the Middle Ages, upper class Britons and other European nobility in castles dined in the Great Hall. This was a large multi-function room capable of seating the bulk of the population of the house. The family would sit at the head table on a raised dais, with the rest of the population arrayed in order of diminishing rank away from them. Tables in the great hall would tend to be long trestle tables with benches. The sheer number of people in a Great Hall meant it would probably have had a busy, bustling atmosphere.
  •  The Plauge...Black Death caused the dining room table to become smaller.It is true that the owners of such properties began to develop a taste for more intimate gatherings in smaller 'parlers' or privee parlers' off the main hall but this is thought to be due as much to political and social changes as to the greater comfort afforded by such rooms. In the first instance, the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the 14th Century caused a shortage of labour and this had led to a breakdown in the feudal system. Also the religious persecutions following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII made it unwise to talk freely in front of large numbers of people.
  • Why dining tables took on a more masculine look...
    Toward the beginning of the 18th Century, a pattern emerged where the ladies of the house would withdraw after dinner from the dining room to the drawing room. The gentlemen would remain in the dining room having drinks. The dining room tended to take on a more masculine tenor as a result.
  • Table legs were considered sexy....in Victorian times.
    Did you know that in Victorian times, people were so repressed, that not only was the sight of a female ankle considered scandalous, even the sight of table legs was considered unseemly and indecorous! So it was that table legs were also required to be kept covered and out of sight; they were legs after all!

A typical North American dining room will contain a table with chairs arranged along the sides and ends of the table, as well as other pieces of furniture, (often used for storing formal china), as space permits. Often tables in modern dining rooms will have a removable leaf to allow for the larger number of people present on those special occasions without taking up extra space when not in use.

In modern American and Canadian homes, the dining room is typically adjacent to the living room, being increasingly used only for formal dining with guests or on special occasions.
This was traditionally the case in England, where the dining room would for many families be used only on Sundays, other meals being eaten in the kitchen.


PS...I think my Acorn Dining Room Set is pretty much a Typical North American Dining Room.

However, on some Thanksgiving Holidays it seems more like the Great Hall of the Middle Ages...The Population Part.

5 comments:

  1. I love your dining room set and can't wait for the photos of the china cabinet ( I do say hutch sometimes, but more for open shelves then one's with doors). Love acorns!

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  2. Cozy and inviting, Sue! It looks like you dust on a regular basis. What's THAT like?

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  3. Such a lovely, welcoming room.

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  4. What a beautiful CABINET, that's what I've always called it. Your dining room set is really lovely. Your platter is so pretty to. Do you have a big Thanksgiving Dinner at your house? Our family usually takes turns every 2 or 3 years to host. Have a wonderful autumn day.
    Ann

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  5. Anonymous11/05/2010

    very interesting Sue. I loved the part about the table legs being covered (Victorian times)...LOL....I have never cared for my dining table being covered by a tablecloth....funny! I did just order a long vintage white runner to go down the middle of my Thanksgiving table however. Wonder if I will actually use it? Happy Friday and Happy Weekend and happy Pink Saturday early. :) xo

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