Plan Out The Dining Room Arrange your dining room to match your entertaining needs with consideration to the shape and size of the room. If the room is long and narrow, put a long and narrow table there. A square room can contain a round or a square table. Drop-leaf or foldable table is a great space-saver, and will offer additional seating for extra guests. Purchase benches that can be stored under the table and be  used for extra guests. You can store foldable tables and chairs in the living room if your dining room is too small. They can be taken out for a crowded dinner and become part of dining room and living room. Plan out your dining room so that it has enough room for extra guests. Measure the room and think about how many people will fit around the table. Rectangular tables limit the amount of people. Round tables that have pedestal bases let more people crowd around the table. Have enough space around the table so that the chairs can be pulled out easily. Before purchasing a dining table, make sure you will be able to move it into your house. Measure it to see if it will fit through the doors and if you can carry the table up  the stairs. For this purpose, foldable chairs or ones with removable legs will make your job easier. To maximize your space, consider a glass top table. It will visually shrink the table. A drop-leaf table is flexible when it comes to size. Replace bulky dining room cabinets with thin, long shelves. The shelves should be wide enough to hold dishes. Anchor them to the wall to support weight. The positioning of the table is very important. The traffic has to freely flow around it. In most dining rooms the best place for the table is in the middle. Leave enough room to walk around the table without bumping into a china cabinet or a sideboard. For a dining room with a portable table, get lighting that can also be moved around. In this case, strong accent lights, a chandelier with extra length of cord or a floor lamp can solve the lighting problems. | 
