Making Your Formal Dining Room Less Formal
For those lucky enough to have a large home with a formal dining room, these spaces should really be utilized more. Many people only use them for holidays or fancy dinner parties. The rest of the year, they sit empty. But it is usable room in your home and your family really should use it more often. Making it more family friendly could be a good start.
For those with a small family, a great way to make this room a little more welcoming is by adding round dining room sets. You can buy a table that has leaves that can be added to expand the table for larger dinner parties. But the smaller table will make the room less intimidating for families to use.
Transforming the rooms decor from fancy to a less formal look can draw people into this area. People feel less nervous about eating in the room and will grow to use it more often. Perhaps an informal party for your child is a good place to start. Baking parties are all the rage. Set up a kitchen hand mixer, some rolling pins and lots of goodies to decorate the cookies. Kids will have a tasty treat to take home after the party.
When you change your dining room to a less formal space, you can actually bring your family closer. Utilizing the good china and silver can be fun for children. It will also teach them proper behavior for dining out. Show your children how fun it is to sit together as a family and enjoy a fancy dinner in a room that is not often used.
Eating dinner together brings a family closer, and many families today don't bother because of busy schedules. But eating together just once or twice a week is better than nothing. It is a great place to start.
For people with already expensive dining room table sets, you may be weary to use it if you have small children or even a clumsy spouse. A great idea is to purchase removable seat covers and a table cloth. Chair covers will help protect your entire chair from accidents as will the table cloth. Everything can later be tossed into the washer and replaced when they become soiled. This will save expensive furniture and make it more usable.
For those who cant bring themselves to transform their dining room into an everyday eating room, a good alternative is trying to eat in that room once a week or even once a month. Or perhaps make a date night with your spouse. Dress up and have a candlelight dinner in your formal dining room and enjoy some quiet time together. This is a great way to utilize a room that sees little action.
