Raising a young family often means compromising style for substance. Anita Yokota gets the best of both worlds with her Sunbrella seating.
Anita Yokota, a licensed family and marriage therapist turned interior designer, recently completed a dining room renovation with the help of family-friendly Sunbrella fabrics.
A Holistic Approach
Yokota’s signature style is rooted in her history in therapy: she purposely develops intentional designs that emphasize wellness from the inside out. “My holistic approach incorporates both aesthetic principles and the relational interactions of the family to create thoughtful spaces that empower residents to live their best lives,” Yokota said.
These aesthetic principles can be found in Yokota’s preference for clean lines, California Casual accents, and ability to flawlessly layer and add depth to designs through textiles. Yokota said, “Since 2016, my relatable, positive energy and intuitive, distinctive eye for great design has attracted a passionate audience across Instagram, Pinterest and my website.”
A Purposeful Transition
Yokota brilliantly used an L-shaped bench for more corner seating around her family’s dining area.
Yokota’s combined living space has gone through several aesthetic transformations since she and her family purchased the home a decade ago. “This time around I wanted to make this room meaningful for my family once and for all,” said Yokota. “I design banquette dining benches all the time for clients to save space. I thought, why not for here?”
Yokota’s first challenge was to proportion the dining table and furniture to the space: “It must fit the people who are living and using that space 24/7, every day,” she noted. “We maximized the space by the window with a bench and now we are basking in sunshine every day. With a regular table, we wouldn’t have this design bonus.”
Yokota also utilized L-shaped seating to increase the amount of people who can use the table, along with a wide table surface that allows her family to eat together, while also providing enough room for work and homework, arts and crafts. “It is important to turn each space into a multipurpose area,” Yokota smartly noted.
Modern Multifunctionality
Yokota’s choice of Sunbrella seating fabric adds a touch of modern style with a trendy tie-dye pattern.
This multifunctionality led Yokota to choose Sunbrella for her seating fabric. “The seating mandated high-performance fabrics only. There was no other option,” she said. “I chose the Authentic Indigo for a pop of color and visual interest. It is a lifestyle change for us to start eating in here instead of the squished table by the kitchen, so I wanted to make sure it visually invited us over.”
Yokota’s dining room transformation has left her family and home space completely transformed. Modern space usage calls for modern fabric choices, and we were happy to see how Sunbrella elevated Yokota’s new multi-purpose space.
Anita Yokota’s Top Tips for Creating a Family-Friendly Dining Space:
- Pick high-performance fabrics so that you won’t stress or worry about stains and messes. Instead of picking metal or wood chairs, it’s possible to have fabric cushioned chairs. It just has to be stain- and water-resistant.
- Think outside the box and maximize seating, like building an L-shaped bench.
- Consider what your activities will be in the dining space and pick the right lighting, furniture and seating for it!
