If you’re having friends over for dinner, your family for the holidays, or any event involving food the chances are that you’re going to need your dining room to look its best. The dining room is a social center for your home.

For this reason, many homeowners will take extra special care when decorating this room. To learn how you can take your dining room decor to the next level read on.

1. Lighting is key

When it comes to any room having a single overhead light is a bad idea. You need to make sure that you have many smaller light sources as well. This layered the light and provides a more intimate mood and flattering lighting for all.

This approach also gives you the ability to adjust the amount of light in the room so that you can adapt it to any purpose. This is very useful as the dining room table can then be used for supervising the children when they do their homework and quickly adjusted for mood lighting when your guests arrive.

For the overhead lighting, you have some options. There are many different designs of chandelier to choose from. The one that will be right for your dining room will depend greatly on the space that you have to work with and the style you’re looking for. It is best to look at a lot of different options before making your final decision.

2. The table is very important too

You need to have a dining table that can seat at least 6 people. Without this, the room is just another room. You will need to think about the size of the table that the room can comfortably accommodate. There will need to be enough room for the chairs to be moved out from under the table and your guests to be able to sit down with ease.

There are tables that allow you to extend the size of for larger groups. This can be very useful when you have family over for special occasions and the holidays.

3. Give yourself options

If you like to decorate your home throughout the year so that the decor is seasonally appropriate, you should keep this in mind when you assemble your dining room.

What looks great now, may not look so good in the fall or spring. Every season, you can try browsing the new seasonal collections on dining room retailers for inspiration and ideas.

To give yourself options, all that you need to do is design your dining room in such a way that you can easily swap out some of the colours to match each season’s palette. This can be something as simple as a new runner and coasters too much more elaborate solutions.

4. Don’t neglect the walls

When it comes to the look of your dining room you should plan to have some artwork on your walls. This doesn’t need to be too expensive, just something to add a little extra style.

Even if you are going for a minimalist look, there are some things that you can do with the walls that will add to the overall charm of the room without adding clutter to the space.

5. The little things

There are some wonderful little additions that you should not forget to include. These can be vases or other decorative objects that really finish off the look that you’re going for.

If you think that the room is missing something you may be surprised by how far a small addition can go. Depending on the size of your dining table you may want one large centerpiece or two or three smaller ones.