How to Set Up a Dining Room Table for Guests

Whether you're hosting a casual dinner with friends or a formal holiday gathering, your dining room table setting sets the tone for your event as a whole. To create a truly unique and welcoming display, combine several ideas to create a dining room setting that is welcoming to guests at all times. With some ingenuity and household items, you can create a distinctive table setting for every occasion, no matter what your budget may be.

Instructions

1

Place linens on your table to act as a background for the rest of your decorations. If you want to accent the natural wood of your table instead, align a table runner down the table's center or arrange place mats at every seat instead of a full tablecloth. Alternatively, a tablecloth can be used in combination with a runner or place mats.

2

Lay out the plates you will use. For a formal effect, layer a large plate under a smaller one at each place. To create a mix-and-match look, combine patterned dinner plates with solidly colored accent plates. For a simple dinner, use only one plate per setting. While the plates should coordinate in color with the table linens you have chosen, they should not be exactly the same.

3

Add silverware and napkins to the arrangement. Place forks to the left of the plates and knives and spoons to the right. Place napkins under the forks, on top of the plates or even under the plates, allowing them to hang down over the edge of the table.

4

Create a centerpiece. Fill clear glass vases and goblets with fresh in-season fruits or vegetables as inexpensive, colorful and fragrant centerpieces. Alternatively, fill the bowls with holiday-themed items, such as ornaments at Christmas or heart-shaped candies and roses on Valentine's Day. The same clear glass containers can be used for multiple different dinner parties when you fill them with different objects each time.

5

Make place cards for each guest. Put the place card directly on top of each plate or just above it on the table itself. A simple piece of card stock folded in half and displaying a hand-written name will suffice. To take this idea up a notch further, pin or tie the place cards to a natural element, like a pine cone or piece of fruit, or cut the card stock into shapes that represent the season or holiday.

6

Light candles to provide ambient lighting options other than overhead, harshly bright lights. Use plain, white candles to create an atmosphere of simplicity or elegance, or coordinate the color of your candles to the colors of your table linens and dishes. Avoid scented candles as they may interfere with the fragrance of the food itself. Wrap candlesticks with printed scrapbooking papers or satin ribbons to coordinate them with your theme.