Seven Ideas for Dining Joy

Celebrate everyday life by adding glamour, elegance, and excitement to a shared meal.  These seven dining room ideas help you create a joy-filled memory.

1. Dining Table Shapes

Less formal round dining tables enable full conversations, with everyone participating. Without a head to the table, guests feel important–treated more respectfully.

If you have an oval or rectangular shaped table, consider placing guests at the head of the table or honoring a child for good behavior occasionally.

2. Dining Table Coverings

Dark wood absorbs light for intimate dining, keeping the room moody and romantic. Simply changing the colors and textures for the season or occasion makes each meal seem more festive and important. White and light-colored tablecloths reflect light upwards providing more illumination for large parties.

Eye-catching tissue lamé fabric never fails to impress with its tiny pattern of metallic hexagons shimmering and rippling like flowing liquid. Gold or silver lamé fabric sparkles under lace tablecloths.

3. Seating for Longer Conversations

For comfortable dining, the seat height feels best when it is nine inches from the tabletop. Padded seats invite leisurely dining. Compare soft to hard seats purposely used in fast food restaurants where management wants you to eat and leave.

Placing dining chairs close together makes some feel uncomfortable with little personal space; however, touching elbows and knees gives your sense of touch pleasure and spurs feelings of bonding, especially good for families… or groups you want to work together.

4. Glass and Crystal Sparkles

Stemware gives a buoyant, bubbly, and upbeat feeling. Heavy cut glass, even for young families (liquids taste better in glass than in plastic), encourages manners by teaching carefulness, with proper, polite, and refined behaviors.

5. Fine Tableware

Fine tableware creates memories and traditions that last a lifetime. I’ve found delightful porcelain china dinnerware designed to instill an impact at thrift stores and yard sales. Besides being fun to play house with, alternating tableware and decorations makes every meal unique.

6. Surprise Ornamentation

Take a look at your decorations and accessories around your home. Have fun mixing a favorite trinket, figurine, sculpture, mirror, icon, jewelry…

7. Luminous Lighting

When people feel pretty, they feel happier. Soft lighting enhances beauty and makes eyes stand out. Avoid fluorescent lighting during daylight dining. Opt for light bulbs designed to replicate natural daylight, frequently labeled full spectrum, light bulbs which produce light similar to the bluish-white tint seen by the human eye. Decorative lighting and candlelight make an ordinary meal taste scrumptious.

Live life fully. Celebrate the joys of dining with your friends and family!