While some of us like to change the décor of the home regularly, others may not be so enterprising – the friendliness of your layout and the fact that you and your family are so used to the being just where it has been for the past ten years, is too much to shake you out of your lethargy. Yet, I will still advocate – Move yourself and that piece of furniture, and you will have a freshness about your home, a new look that will make the effort well worth ‘wasting’ a lazy Sunday morning.

So how do you go about revamping that antique look of your rooms that has been around for as long as you can remember? Let’s start with the place of all daily family get-togethers – the Dining Room. Just as half the taste of a good dish lies in it’s layout and garnishing, the fun and pleasure of doing up your dining room is equally well rewarded by the increased quality time spent in ambivient surroundings.

The first thing to do is to make a plan. Don’t over extend your mental faculties and put it on paper – draw it out, preferably to scale. It will give you a holistic view of your plan, and make it easier to discuss with an expert or your spouse.

Looking at the space available will give you a broad idea of arranging your dining room furniture. Also see the furniture pieces you have available – Dining table, , dining table pad etc.

The size of the table should be adequate to allow seating your entire family at one go, and if that is not possible (large family), at least the elders. Generally most family come in sizes with even seating capacity – two, four, six, eight or more. Assuming you have the right size, plan to leave enough space around to allow free movement. A couple of feet is the bare minimum for comfortable passage, and more may be left if you have a larger sized room.

Shake things up with the placement of the chairs. The typical dining room table has four or six side chairs pushed up to it and two armchairs at the ends, but you can break the mold by moving the armchairs elsewhere, perhaps flanking a window or sideboard.

Place a drop-leaf table near the window sill for those extra guests or for the kids to have their own little corner meal once in a while.

Use cloth covers to cover the dining chairs for that touch of elegance. And don’t worry about them getting dirty – after all, when is your washing machine going to work out for its living? Wash and re-use, or buy new ones when the old ones get worn out. They come pretty cheap for the ambience they provide, and are widely available at all upholstery stores.

Add some interesting lighting. Instead of using the plain vanilla glass lampshade, dig out that exotic paper or traditional cloth one you picked up during your last holiday. Combine it with a low wattage diffused light, and it will add a dash of color and romance to your setting.

A potted plant or two never fails to add to the sophisticated look. Take care, however, to keep tall plants in the corners, and short ones at other places.

So don’t just sit there reading this article. Get up and get cracking to surprise yourself and your family!