Six dining room decorating ideas to keep your dining area

Six dining room decorating ideas to keep your dining area looking fresh and inviting

Whether your dining room furniture is casual or formal in style, it need not fall into the 'museum look' of never changing dcor. While your dining room furnishings are more or less permanent fixtures, we've got six dining room decorating ideas you can use to keep your dining area looking freshly decorated at all times. This may sound like an audacious claim, but let's explore the possibilities before you pass judgment. Each of these dining room decorating ideas are inexpensive and require little effort!

1.Think seasonal! Seasonal themes are one of the easiest ways to bring a new look to your dining room. Wreaths, decorated for each season, are easily made with items from the crafts store. Buy a wreath made of straw, rattan, grape vines or foam. Ribbons, dried flowers, silk flowers, little faux birdies or fruit, gingerbread men, branches of berries or fresh flowers from your garden are all works of art waiting for you to assemble and disassemble on a moment's notice. Change your ribbons every now and then and swap out faded fresh flowers for new ones. Allocate a spot in the dining room for your wreaths. When summer has passed, bring out your fall themed wreath. Store summer's wreath in a box in the garage.

2.Keep a varied stock of flower vases. For example, a red glass vase makes a fine holiday display case for a mix of holiday greens, holly or poinsettias. A white ceramic vase can showcase a mix of colorful dried flowers. Tiny blue bud vases at each place setting are stunning with a small bunch of marigolds. Keep your eyes open at garage sales and thrift shops for attractive vases. This is one of the least expensive and easiest of dining room decorating ideas to add to your repertoire.

3.House plants are another decorative touch that brings a lively touch to the dining room. Many house plants enjoy a seasonal rotation. That hanging spider plant which thrives in a north facing bedroom during the summer will benefit from some additional light in a south-facing dining room during the winter.

4.If you've got school age children, this dining room decorating idea is sure to be a hit. Designate some wall space in the dining room for the kid's art and craft projects. When they bring home their Halloween, holiday, Valentine or other seasonal craft projects, show them off in the 'kid's corner'. The kids will be proud to see their projects displayed and your dining room has fresh decorations and conversation pieces.

5.Changing your table settings often, everyone has something new to look forward to when they sit down to eat. Start collecting several different sets of place mats. Alternate the use of place mats with brightly patterned, casual tablecloths and reserve a damask linen or two for special occasions.

6.The last of our easy dining room decorating ideas concerns window treatments. Changing from sheer white curtain panels for summer to a heavier drape and valance for fall not only brings a brand new look to the whole dining room, but helps on the energy front too, retaining heat in the cooler months. If your dining room has a bright exposure, a set of neutral colored levelors allows you to adjust for brightness and works for all the seasons. Coordinating the colors of your window treatments with place mats and linens is easy, so combining this strategy can give the impression of a mini-makeover to your whole dining room decorating scheme.

You'll see that each of these dining room decorating ideas can be adapted to casual, formal or whimsical interpretations, with little effort or expense. Simply swapping out a few decorative items now and then keeps your dining room a place where everyone will enjoy congregating for meal time!