Enhancing Your Dining Room for the Holidays

Set Off the Furniture With an Area Rug-Nothing pulls a room together and makes furniture stand out like a textured area rug.

Showcase Your Dish Display-Wallpaper or paint the interior of a shelf unit or hutch to make it pretty and practical.

Add Life With Plants-Take advantage of display space that's often overlooked (like the floor!). Use flowering plants as focal points on windowsills and on the dining table (or tables, as the case may be). For example, you can make a special centerpiece by placing it in an elegant crystal fruit bowl.

Be Creative With the Table Linens-Layer runners or tablecloths, or fold any length of fabric into a long rectangle and place it on the diagonal.

For A Relaxed, Casual Look:

Give a suite of furniture a casual air by surrounding it with lots of unexpected elements (like stacks of books, topiaries and a striped rug).

Here's a Quick Project: You can 'antique' light furniture by wiping on a little white paint, then removing right away. Bear in mind that some paint will stay in thegrain.

Intimate and Inviting

Soften a formal dining room with a mix of patterns. Checked curtains, herringbone cushions and an Oriental rug add warmth and charm.

For a Quick Project to do, you can go for a fresh look every season by recovering chair seats with new fabric. It's very simple: Lay the chair on its back and move any screws or bolts that hold the seat in place.

Then lay the seat Face Down on your fabric (an extra-large napkin will also work) and cut it 4" larger than the seat all around.

Next, beginning at the center of each side, wrap the fabric around the seat, pulling it taut and stapling ot tackling it to the underside.

Finally, pleat the fabric and secure with staples or tacks. Replace the seat.

Or Do You Prefer A Cozy, Charming Environment?

An eclectic mix of furniture adds character to the dining room. Chests (or drawers) from the bedroom can also be used to provide a place to store accessories.

Quick Project-Accent your dining room chairs by using raffia to attach bundles of dried flowers, leaves, berried branches and wheat.