Simple things can refresh dining room before guests arrive

The countdown is on for the holiday season. It’s time to take a good, hard look at your dining room and assess its readiness for entertaining from now until New Year’s Day.

It might be time for a minor facelift before the relatives arrive. Because dining rooms are often multi-tasking spaces, and because many families eat most of their meals in the kitchen, the room designated for dining is often neglected. Perhaps it could use a style boost.

We asked designers for tips to revive a dining room without spending a lot of time or money. Use these ideas to make several changes, or choose just one.

Either way, your home will feel refreshed and you will feel prepared when the first of many guests walks through your door.


Lovely linens

Now is the time to check your tablecloth and napkin supply. Are they free of cranberry stains and rips? Are they starched, ironed and ready for the table? If it’s time for a new cloth, consider Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen, which has been weaving damask linen in Ireland since 1854. Washington designer Terry Sullivan likes the Web site’s traditional Oakleaf design for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you have a favorite vintage textile or piece of fabric you’ve inherited or unearthed at a flea market, hem it and have it cleaned. You can layer it on top of a simple white tablecloth, says D.C. designer Nestor Santa-Cruz, to create a rich texture on your dining table. Use with simple white china and add goblets in a color picked from the fabric.


Choosing centerpieces

Instead of flowers, D.C. floral designer Sue Bluford recommends arranging fruits, vegetables or gourds down the center of a dining table. Artichokes, ornamental kale, squash and mini pumpkins can be piled in bowls or fashioned as a free-form runner. The more you use, the more dramatic the look: For a recent party, Bluford amassed 200 mini pumpkins down the middle of a long table.

Later in the holiday season, switch to persimmons, oranges, tangerines and pomegranates (cut a few open to display the insides, but be careful not to stain your tablecloth). Other options: Go for a natural look by using pine cones, evergreens and magnolia leaves, or be decorative and use lots of monochromatic ornaments.

No fancy footwork is necessary to achieve these looks, says Bluford, “just lay them down on the table.”

Another idea: Los Angeles designer Michael S. Smith suggests using amber votive candles on the table to cast a warm glow.


Sitting pretty

Before the holidays, the workroom of Upholstery Restoration & Select Fabrics in Kensington, Md., a favorite of D.C. designer Stan Kelly, becomes jammed with dining chairs in for a tuneup: fresh fabric on the seats and regluing.

Owner O’B O’Brien has a simple test to see if your dining chair needs its joints attended to: Facing the chair, put your knee on the seat and put your left arm on the back of the chair, then pull back and forth. If it wiggles or wobbles, it needs attention.

For $50 to $75 a chair, O’Brien will take apart the loose joints, clean off the old glue, apply new glue and put clamps on the chair for 24 hours. The firm will re-cover a standard dining chair slip seat for $45. You’ll need to provide one yard of fabric to upholster two seats. If your chair padding could use a boost, they’ll add high-density foam for $10 a chair.

For the DIY crowd, it’s possible to change the fabric on your chair seats yourself using a staple gun.

If you end up with additional guests and no more matching dining chairs, no worries. Nestor Santa-Cruz, a design director at Gensler in Washington, has a go-to favorite from Ikea with a lot of style for a low price: the $12.99 Nisse chair in citrus yellow. (For the color shy, it also comes in black.)


Look at lighting

Ondine Karady, a designer in Washington and New York, says her first holiday impulse is to create a fabulous centerpiece. But the truth is, many flower and fruit arrangements are removed from the table to make room for the meal. Instead, she says, “move the centerpiece above the table and decorate the chandelier.” Karady likes to decorate with fresh garland, berries and acorns, adding ornaments as the season progresses.

If your builder’s-grade brass chandelier could use an upgrade, consider something more modern, such as an oversize lantern, says designer Dee Thornton of Houseworks Interiors in Alexandria, Va. Hang a chandelier between 30 and 38 inches above the table, depending on the table’s size, the diameter of the chandelier and the ceiling height. If the chandelier is large, says Thornton, test it before permanently installing it to make sure it doesn’t hit anyone on the head.