Admit it-your dining table is about as frequently used as your fine china or that electronic card shuffler you got last birthday. It's gathering dust that you only dust off when company comes, which about four times a year. It has now become the letter table, where all those bills you wish to ignore pile up into a white envelope avalanche. And yet there it is, in your dining room, its chairs in place and ready to be sat on. Maybe it's time for a change of pace with a new dining room set.



Think about it: who wants to sit in a busted chair or at a table where one of the fun family games played is "guess how long it takes the table extender to crash and fall". An older dining room set can be small and cramped, giving you virtually no legroom. No wonder no one wants to eat at the dining room table. A new dining room set will add fresh style as well as create a purposeful place to eat and drink. No matter what your tastes are, there are plenty of furniture styles available to suit even the most demanding or picky of people.

Before you start shopping around for new dining room furniture, measure the size of your dining room first. As simple as this may sound, the last thing you want is a table that won't fit. Smaller families will benefit the most from a table with a leaf or extenders, thereby allowing more flexibility. You can add and subtract the amount of table space you need depending on who's visiting for dinner. The rest of the time you can store away leafs and extensions, sometimes even within the table. Thanksgiving dinner calls for more room at the dining table, but that only happens once a year.

Investing in a comfortable dining chair may be the best thing you did to bringing people together at a meal. When you're sitting at a restaurant, the harder the chair, the more likely you want to leave faster. The same principle applies in your home-with some comfy dining chairs, you're more likely to keep the company in their seats and keep them coming back for more. Keep this in mind as you're looking at dining room sets.

Lastly, think of what kind of style and finish you want. Traditional dining room sets are still available in droves, but contemporary dining room furniture is also on the rise. Both are affordable, and newer pieces are built to last, with better construction and durability than older pieces. Arts and Crafts style, Colonial style, and French Provencal style are just a few of the many different kinds of dining room sets you could own. As far as finishes go, keep in mind that lighter hues open up a room and make it seem bigger, whereas darker finishes give a formal appearance.