A dining room for everyday meals and guests in La Cala de Mijas

A dining space used by two people during the week may need to welcome a larger gathering at the weekend. When choosing furniture for your home in La Cala de Mijas, plan for both situations. The table needs to work when you are on your own and when every chair is occupied.

The photographs in this guide are catalogue settings. Individual furniture, finishes and table mechanisms must be confirmed; a photograph alone does not establish seating capacity or whether a table extends.

Start with the people who eat there every day

Write down your everyday number of diners and how many guests you occasionally invite. Then consider the other jobs this space does: working on a laptop, drawing, serving food or putting things down when you arrive home. A larger surface is not always worthwhile if it makes the rest of the living room harder to reach every day.

If dining and seating share a room, mark out the two areas before adding furniture. Our small living and dining room layout guide can help. The table should fit into that plan rather than dictate the whole arrangement.

Allow for occupied chairs and serving food

It is easy to measure a tabletop and forget the chairs. Place a real chair in each proposed position and try sitting down, pulling it back and walking behind it. Test the route from the kitchen with a tray too, particularly where it crosses the way to the terrace.

Legs, crossbars and central supports can restrict places that look available when you only consider the top. Try the chairs you intend to use; seat width and arms matter just as much as the length of the table.

If you need extra space, check the complete process

An extending table may be an option, but first confirm that the particular design offers that function. Ask for its closed and open dimensions, how the mechanism works and where the extensions are stored. Draw both arrangements on your plan, including the extra chairs.

Think about where those chairs will live between visits. If extending the table means blocking a doorway or moving a heavy cabinet, another arrangement may be more practical. Our guide to dining tables and chairs in La Cala de Mijas explains how to choose the pieces together.

Plan a dining space for your La Cala home

Bring photographs taken from each doorway, the dimensions of the dining area and measurements of any chairs you are keeping. Tell us how many guests you invite and how often. We can then compare options around your routine, without assuming that everything in a catalogue photograph belongs in the proposal.

Explore the dining room gallery and learn about MÁXIMO's interior design service in Mijas. For a home in the neighbouring town, see our Fuengirola interior design service. Visit our La Cala de Mijas showroom at Calle Cártama 11, Local A to discuss your room.