Ten Tips for Festive Dining Rooms

Are you hosting a meal for friends and family this Christmas?  Here are ten tips to make your dining room sparkle for the festive season:-

1. If you are re-decorating consider using oranges, reds and pinks in your colour scheme.  These are good colours to create a warm atmosphere in rooms where you eat and drink.
2. A central display on the table will act as a focal point.  It needs to be high enough to make an impact but low enough so your guests can see each other comfortably across the table.
3. An interior design trick is to place something out of context in a room as a surprise element.  Find something you love from another room in the house and use this in your table display. 
4. Make every guest feel special with a place name.  Get the scissors and glue out and be creative!  Tie the name tag to a wine glass or a napkin ring with some pretty ribbon or string.
5. The best place to display family photographs is in the dining room because this is where you celebrate together.  Group your photos and make a feature of them on the wall or on the sideboard.
6. A large mirror on the wall not only doubles the space visually but also makes the party seem twice as large.
7. Candles are a firm favourite at Christmas time but keep the scented variety for other rooms in the house.  Let the aromas of the food and wine work their magic without competition.
8. Achieve a sense of extravagance by layering tablecloths on the table.  Overlap them however you like but let each one have a piece of the limelight.  You can use little cloths on top – sometimes they are the prettiest!
9. Check the view from each seat – does every guest have something beautifully festive to look at?
10. Finally, have a trial run at setting the scene – don’t leave it till Christmas morning – you will be too rushed to enjoy it. 

Be creative, have some fun and above all plan ahead.