The line between residential and commercial interiors is becoming increasingly blurred.

Boardrooms are warmer and more considered. Home dining rooms are larger, more architectural, and increasingly designed to accommodate everything from family dinners to working from home.

So, can the same table genuinely work in both?

With the right proportions, materials, and flexibility, absolutely.

The Quinn Double Extension Metal Base Dining Table by Thomas and Hurley is a perfect example. With its architectural metal base, contemporary timber top, and ability to extend from 250cm to an impressive 350cm, Quinn has the scale to command a boardroom and the warmth to feel completely at home in a dining room.

What Makes a Dining Table Work in a Boardroom?

The difference between a dining table and a boardroom table is often much smaller than you might think.

Both need generous proportions, comfortable seating, adequate space for movement, and a surface large enough for people to gather without feeling crowded.

The biggest difference is usually aesthetic.

Traditional boardroom furniture can feel overtly corporate, while contemporary workplaces are increasingly embracing warmer materials and more residential influences.

This is where a table like Quinn becomes particularly interesting.

Its sculptural metal base gives it the architectural presence expected in a commercial setting, while the timber top introduces the warmth and character normally associated with residential interiors.

At 120cm deep, it also offers a generous surface for meetings, laptops, documents and presentations.

How Big Should a Boardroom or Large Dining Table Be?

Whether you're furnishing a boardroom or dining room, one of the most important considerations is how many people actually need to sit around the table.

The Quinn Double Extension Table offers three configurations:

250cm closed

300cm with one extension

350cm fully extended

This flexibility allows Quinn to comfortably accommodate approximately 8 to 14 people depending on the arrangement, making it equally suited to everyday dining, larger dinner parties, team meetings, and conference spaces.

Rather than choosing a permanently oversized table, an extendable dining table allows the furniture to adapt to the number of people using the space.

From Business to Pleasure

Perhaps the most interesting thing about multifunctional furniture is how completely its personality can change depending on what surrounds it.

Place Quinn in a contemporary boardroom with structured seating and restrained styling and its architectural metal base immediately takes centre stage.

Move the same table into a light filled dining room with upholstered chairs, natural textures, and softer styling and it feels entirely different.

This idea of furniture performing more than one role is increasingly relevant to modern interiors. House & Garden recently highlighted the value of multipurpose furniture when discussing spaces that need to function as dining rooms, living spaces and occasional offices, including tables that can adapt between everyday use and larger gatherings.

Good furniture doesn't necessarily need to belong to one room or serve one purpose.

Sometimes versatility is what makes a piece truly timeless.

Choosing Chairs Changes Everything

One of the easiest ways to shift a table from corporate to residential is through the chairs you place around it.

For a contemporary dining room, upholstered chairs introduce softness and help balance the stronger architectural lines of a metal base.

The Stanton Dining Chair is particularly well suited to this approach. Its softly upholstered backrest and brushed oak legs introduce warmth and gentle curves alongside a more structured table.

Alternatively, the Stuttgart Dining Chair offers a generously padded seat, curved backrest, and natural timber legs, creating a softer and more relaxed dining environment.

The table provides the architecture. The chairs determine the mood.

Not Every Large Table Needs to Feel Corporate

Scale doesn't automatically mean formality.

A large dining table can still feel warm and inviting when materials, proportions, and surrounding furniture are carefully considered.

For homes that favour natural materials over metal, the Hamilton Extendable Oak Dining Table offers another approach to large scale dining.

Its natural oak construction and architectural twin pedestal design give it substantial presence, while its double extension mechanism allows it to move between 220cm, 285cm and 350cm configurations.

For something slightly more restrained in scale, the Sandringham Double Extension Dining Table extends from 210cm to 260cm and finally 310cm, comfortably accommodating approximately 8 to 12 guests.

The common thread is flexibility: furniture designed around how a space is actually used rather than a single fixed purpose.

Why Multifunctional Furniture Makes Sense

Modern interiors are being asked to work harder.

Dining rooms become temporary workspaces. Home offices become meeting rooms. Boardrooms host lunches and events. Large tables become places to work, gather, entertain and connect.

The best furniture responds to this naturally.

Rather than designing spaces around furniture that serves only one purpose, choosing adaptable pieces allows a room to evolve throughout the day and over the years.

The Thomas and Hurley dining table collection includes both fixed and extendable designs created around this balance of form and function.

One Table. Two Worlds.

The Quinn Double Extension Table proves that commercial practicality and residential design don't need to exist separately.

In the boardroom, its scale and architectural base create presence.

At home, timber, upholstery and natural light reveal a warmer side.

And when more people arrive, the double extension system simply makes room.

From Monday morning meetings to Saturday night dinner, perhaps the best furniture isn't defined by where it belongs.

It's defined by how well it adapts.

Ready to dine differently?