Balance Dining Room or Living Room Décor With an Oak Sideboard
Posted on April 4, 2011 by AdminAn oak sideboard is an eye-catching piece of furniture that can serve many purposes. Whether incorporated as part of dining room décor or added for finishing touch in your living room, sideboards provide storage space, a display area, or a place to lay out food when entertaining. The solid presence of an oak sideboard draws attention and helps to balance out other oak furniture in the room.
Sideboards are traditionally part of a full dining room set up. In use since the 18th century, sideboards were the fashionable evolution of a serving table called a “slab table,” used in English homes as a place to cut and serve food. You can still use an oak sideboard for this today, especially when serving food at a party, holiday gathering, or other event where it may be difficult to fit a large meal on the main dining room table along with all the settings required for guests. Sideboards are also useful for buffet-style meals, providing an attractive place to set out many different dishes and let guests help themselves.
The presence of an oak sideboard can enhance living room décor as well. Instead of being a place to serve food, a sideboard in your living area becomes both a display case and attractive storage space. Models are available in many sizes with various combinations of doors and drawers that allow you to store everything from extra dishes to back issues of your favourite magazines.
The size of oak sideboard you choose will depend on how much storage you need, how much space is in the room, and how prominent you wish the piece to be. If you wish to use your sideboard to display family photos or other treasures, consider the model that will give you the best platform for this without distracting the eye from the display items themselves.
The natural look of the wood makes an oak sideboard particularly stunning. Strong and sturdy with a fine grain, oak brings a commanding presence to whatever room it’s placed in. Since sideboards tend to be large pieces, it’s important to choose a style that makes the best of the inherent properties of oak wood. The natural grain shows through with almost any shade of stain, so no matter what the basic décor of your dining room or living area, you can find an oak sideboard that will fit right in.
