Ask the Decorator: Dining Room Style

by Margarett DeGange, M.Ed.

Question: I use my formal dining room for casual meals with my family and for entertaining major clients. How do I create a look that works for both dining scenarios?

Answer: Go for Casual Elegance—Low maintenance everyday with glamorous accents you can easily incorporate when entertaining. Create a FOCAL POINT using a buffet cabinet. Hang an ornate mirror above it, as wide as the buffet. Store beautiful linens and trays in the cabinet. Top it with an EXQUISITE centerpiece that stays out everyday, flanked by a pair of tall candleholders. Your table may be wood or a surface that can be quickly wiped down after daily meals, but when entertaining, add a GORGEOUS layered table presentation: a custom-fitted table skirt topped with a stunning runner, then transfer the buffet’s centerpiece to the table, leaving the cabinet free for platters of food. Keep the candle holders on the buffet. For parties, add damask or silk “Chair Slips”. For walls, try a metallic faux finish above a chair rail. Pair casual woven-wood Roman shades with lush, interlined silk side panels at the windows, for a burst of textures and glamour fit for easy days and more formal evenings.

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Margarett (Margo) DeGange, M.Ed. is a Success Coach who has helped thousands of design professionals make higher profits, have more free time by working smarter, and create multiple streams of income.

Her business-building products include both onsight and on-line courses in decorating and business, ready-made curriculum for speakers and teachers in decorating, ready-made articles, newsletters, and seminars, trunk show and home show success systems, training kits for creating digital products, and more.
Margo is the Director of The DeGangi School of Interior Decoration and the Executive Director of the Decorators’ Alliance of North America.
Tap into Margo’s resources for design and decorating professionals and speakers who want to build wild success.

Visit www.DeGangiGroup.com , www.DecoratingForProfits.com and www.DecoratingSchool.com for easy to use tools to increase profits quickly.
Visit www.LetsTalkAboutDecorating.com for ready-made seminar kits to make you the local decorating expert. E-Mail her at Margarett@DeGangiGroup.com .