What about 2 outdoor love seats facing each other, small round table in the middle, and a suspended swinging bench from the edge rafter of the patio? Most of the larger swinging benches can seat up to 4. That way, if you have fewer guests and don't need the swinging bench, you can pull it off and maybe swap in some chairs from inside your home and put the bench in your garage to open the space a little more...and if you have kids there, they'll love the swinging bench, as will adults. It's a win-win!

@ Barbara...Oh dear, dear Barb, always sitting on the fence...ha ha...(my turn to say something that I mean but not really say it so to speak....all in the ha ha!) Don't know how you manage to stay on everybody's side as well as your own...you must have a Diploma in diplomacy girl! I could never do it as well since I am afflicted with "foot IN mouth disease"...(that's everybody else's die-ease,) not mine. I appreciate the ability to voice a different opinio and I respect the ability in others.. I dislike black as a decor accent anywhere. The furthest I will go is Charcoal...now THAT'S an interesting shade for a toilet seat! I've seen all colours in ceramic toilets, even sickly purple- pink and all colours in plastic toilet seats including black...mostly black...well ALL black then..some .with an open space at the front for reasons that should be ovbious. Have not seen one of those since the 1940's though. I recall that in those times most vehicles on the road were also black and when my Dad sent from Nauru Island where he worked for some car paint...all there was - was black. Dark Days those! Why bring them back in tpoilet seats? So, now that we've experienced all colours and some lids with embedded artwork, some of it not really good....why not a charcoal toilet seat? Why has it "gotta be white?" Why, Maybelbridges, do you think you can see if its clean ONLY if it is white? Is that why everybody is painting just about everything white? Tis a puzzlement! Having returned to this poll and given due consideration to all comments....I think I will also sit on the fence..(.opps...seat) and say...weeeellll.....what does it matter what colour as long as it keeps a lid on things? And...for me...I'll opt for something to the left, something you can polish to a high sheen with fragrant O'Cedar and say...gimme a warm wooden one any day above all the rest.

Hello Megan, i have read the comments, and I agree practicality is paramount, also it's a large investment and would be not be ideal to have purchased this with an awkward setting. Particularly entertaining. i think the 1200mm diameter table is a great spot. It loses a dinner plate in depth, meaning it's a seated table not a serving one. So it will work to have a shared centrepiece maybe a glass vase of flowers and the pendant over. It will suit your family, it would be an intimate setting, and ideal to have the luxury of an upholstered chair. Certainly far from a compromise. Being that your dining table is only a hop away from the kitchen, the table itself doesn't need to have a large top for serving setting anyway. Yes, centre it, even though you may be tempted to allow more room in the walkway, don't, by having a visual space equal to walk around will make it feel less intrusive in the space, and you will quickly settle into walking around it to suit. Just position your chairs on the diagonal axis meaning so they back out to the corners of the room, so you can get around them easier, they won't block in the space. Having a glass top, it won't look over scaled, and it will make practical use of every square inch of your homeow. Good luck, I'm keeping myself posted on it.

Thanks Louie and Georgi for your comments. Great suggestions for me to think through. Thanks for taking the time to provide that detail. To help see the space a bit better, I've taken out the wine rack and replaced it, temporarily, with a shelf (that was in a different part of the house) that matches the one holding the water filter (the second shelf is to hold our phone and modem - again, due to a small house, it's really the only place the phone and modem can live). Plus, I've extended the table so that I could get a feel for the size table the area could potentially accommodate, now that the wine rack isn't there. The size of the table with the extension is: 1800 x 840. Ignore the look of the current table - regardless of whether we go banquette seating or not, we would like to change the table and perhaps a pedestal table would be best so that it makes it easier to get to the seats at the back. By the way I noticed that when I look at this post on my iPad I don't see all the photos I included like I do when looking at it on my laptop. Hopefully the photos I've included show okay for others looking at this. Thank you.