Interior Designers Reveal Their Secrets for Cultivating a Breathtaking Dining Room
Pierre Yovanovitch, Victoria Hagan, and more reveal how they turn entertaining into an art form
Kitchens may feed the body, but dining rooms nourish the soul. Just ask Studio DB founders Damian and Britt Zunino, who envision them as hubs for connection and quality time. “I love a big table where you spread out,” muses Britt, who brought that relaxed sensibility to an Upper East Side dining room for a filmmaker who splits their time between New York and Wyoming. Nothing defines the dining room as much as its hand-painted de Gournay mural, a romantic mountain tableau enveloping the room in washes of yellow and turquoise. It sets a joyful tone for every gathering, providing a painterly horizon against which family dinners, creative meetings, and art projects unfold. To temper its exuberance, the Zuninos layered in stylish contrasts: a linear Apparatus chandelier, streamlined Niels Otto Møller chairs, and a turquoise BDDW credenza. “Some pieces need to be quieter,” Britt says, noting the unfussy exchange gives the space its pulse. “It’s a very active room. You feel like you can just pull up a seat.”
Supper Club
Pierre Yovanovitch insists that dining rooms “must always remain a place of comfort and conviviality, no matter how strong the artistic gestures.” Calling those design moves formidable in a discerning Istanbul home he artfully decorated is hardly an exaggeration—works by Antony Gormley, Alex Katz, and Anish Kapoor are all in close proximity. “These are artworks with a powerful presence, so the furniture had to be sculptural yet understated enough to let the art breathe,” explains the French designer, who conceived a chain of interconnected wooden tables with jagged geometries that move in concert with a glass-disk chandelier and a suite of his Mr. Oops dining chairs.
Warmth and proportion, Yovanovitch believes, form the invisible framework of a successful dining room, choreographing how people gather and connect. “The table must feel generous without being too formal and the seating comfortable without being too distant,” he advises.“Light is crucial. It must create ambience while highlighting the space’s beauty.” To that effect, Ceppo di Gré flooring and natural woods steady an oceanic palette—echoing views of the radiant Bosphorus Strait—while underlining the spirit of craftsmanship that defines Yovanovitch’s interiors. “Collaborating with artisans is about trust and respect,” he says. “They bring incredible savoir faire but also perspective on materials and construction that can push a design further.”
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Seating Plan
Sometimes the simplest logic shapes the most ingenious design moves. “The real secret of why a dinner party lasts is the comfort of the chair,” quips Victoria Hagan, who refreshed a Shingle-style mansion by architect Francis Fleetwood on Long Island, New York, with subtle yet transformative elements. That task involved pairing vintage Gracie wall panels with Liaigre’s upholstered Robinson chairs, relocating a period portrait over the mantel, and replacing a traditional chandelier with Cartwright New York’s branched Otto Luce fixture, which casts a gentle glow and dials up the room’s understated grandeur. “What I love about a dinner party is lots of candlelight,” she adds. “You never want the room too bright.”
Hagan believes a dining room succeeds when each item feels measured and in dialogue with the rest. “The secret sauce is getting scale right and working with traditional details,” she advises. Proportions skew large in Fleetwood homes, so she wove in gestures of thoughtful restraint. For example, curtains were simplified with a subtle east-west stripe to frame the horizon’s sense of openness.
She also suggests mingling eras and reveling in the conversations that ensue. “With a traditional chair and light, you’ve seen that room,” she says. “Play with the mix. I always say you shouldn’t let everyone know who’s coming to your dinner party.”
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House Rules
“How materials sing and dance together is one of my favorite things,” says David Flack, describing his approach to a dining nook in a home overlooking Sydney’s coastline. Seeking an atmosphere that feels uncontrived, the founder of Australian firm Flack Studio devised an easygoing corner that opens onto a sunlit terrace and pool deck. Earthy materials ground the composition, from the Palladiana terrazzo to the oversize leather banquette inspired by classic New York diners.
The client, an avid entertainer, likes to seat guests along the built-in bench to face the water views. Nearby, two commanding artworks—a royal blue sculpture by Nabilah Nordin and a mirrored acrylic painting by Reko Rennie—catch shifting shimmers of light. “You can intensely engage with those pieces from whatever angle,” says Flack, who considers ambience as much as practicality when crafting a dining room. For instance, along the banquette, stone ledges hide wooden trays that lift to reveal recesses for Champagne buckets—an indulgent surprise. “All I really care about is how good my spaces feel.”
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A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Winter issue under the headline “Good Company.” Subscribe to the magazine.