Holiday Dining Room Makeover

Put your dining room in the holiday spirit with these easy, colorful projects.

By Debra Wittrup

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Get Ready to Entertain

Set the Table

Craft Napkin Rings

Make a Festive Centerpiece

Dress Up Your Chairs

Hang Holiday Artwork

Make a Candy Wreath

Decorate a Basic Vase

Elevate the Buffet

Enhance Your Furnishings

Add Glamour to Windows

Make a Cookie-Cutter Wreath

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Get Ready to Entertain

Give your dining room a completely new look with easy-to-make accents and a coordinated Christmas color scheme. The holiday decor was inspired by the black-and-white slipcovers, which slide over each dining chair. The bold and high-contrast graphic pattern calls for a strong third color. We chose red for our makeover, but lime green or peacock blue would also make a cheery color scheme.

Set the Table

Use neutral colors for table linens and the accents will take center stage. A white quilted tablecloth adds texture and a touch of luxury. Spread a contrasting black runner or square cloth to add visual interest and put place settings on black plates or chargers. Colored glassware and flatware emphasize the color scheme, while a green napkin ties the wall color into our palette.

Craft Napkin Rings

Make festive napkin rings with dotted grosgrain ribbon. Form a ring with ribbon and secure with hot glue or fabric glue. Embellish the ring with cheerful holiday elements, such as our charming cardinals or red buttons (as seen in the previous slide), using a hot-glue gun.

Make a Festive Centerpiece

Cranberries take center stage on the Christmas table. Using half toothpicks (or silk pins, if you prefer), skewer cranberries to foam balls of various sizes, covering the foam balls completely. Raise them to new heights with candlesticks and holders of different sizes. Group them on a silver tray and fill in with votive candles, loose berries, and greenery.

Dress Up Your Chairs

Small wreaths dangle like jewelry from the backs of slipcovered chairs. Glue clusters of red buttons onto a wreath shape made from heavy cardstock. Continue to glue on buttons with hot glue until you have a round shape. A variety of button sizes, shapes, and materials make each wreath a tiny work of art. Cut a strip of grosgrain ribbon and loop through the wreath, bringing one end together about 3 inches down from the other end. Pin the ribbon to the chair slipcover and let the reverse of the long end dangle over the pin.

Hang Holiday Artwork

Deck your walls with seasonal pieces of art you create. Purchase a selection of frames in matching finishes. Find online clip-art images of snowflakes and evergreen trees or scan your own images or drawings. Enlarge as necessary to fit your frames and print on quality white paper or parchment. Group your framed art around a central wreath for a balanced arrangement. We added red ribbon from the two largest prints to the crown molding to simulate a picture rail.

Make a Candy Wreath

This sweet wreath is a snap to make. Using hot glue, attach unwrapped candy canes to a foam wreath form until the form is completely covered. Glue red Christmas baubles around the wreath in a balanced arrangement. Finish the wreath with a tone-on-tone bow.

Decorate a Basic Vase

Reflect the symmetry of your wall art arrangement on your sideboard with twin floral bouquets. Use a pair of plain glass rectangular vases and surround each with rows of peppermint sticks; adhere the candy with hot glue. When dry, wrap the sticks with a ribbon and tie in a bow. Add water carefully -- you don't want those candy sticks to dissolve! -- and fill with a bunch of fresh red roses.

Elevate the Buffet

When it's time to serve food, create a stunning display that will provide a feast for the eyes as well. Top the sideboard with a white lace runner. Use colorful glass compotes, platters, vases, and bowls to present your menu. Turn them upside down to make graceful pedestals, varying the heights for visual appeal. Tuck greenery between and around the bases of the dishes.

Enhance Your Furnishings

Dress up all the elements of your room for the holidays. Switch out your chandelier shades with dramatic black ones and wrap the chandelier with a garland of seasonal berries around the arms (use faux berries for a season-long and fuss-free accent). Weave in some greenery and ribbon for a fuller look. Add colorful ceramics and glassware and silvered candlesticks to cabinetry.

Add Glamour to Windows

Jazz up your windows with a special treatment. Add a black band to a panel of white lace with fusible tape or stitch the band in place. Cut a 1-1/2-inch strip of white fabric the length of the lace panel from the hanging pocket to the top of the black band. Fold the vertical right sides together and sew with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Turn the tube inside out, press, and stitch each side of the tube down the center of the panel back. Cut lacing to twice the length of the panel, fold in half, and stitch the fold to the top of the tube. Secure the ends of the lacing with a large safety pin and run through the tube to the end of the panel. Remove the safety pin, push the panel up from the center while holding the lacings, and tie in a bow at the desired height.

Make a Cookie-Cutter Wreath

Purchase a bag of seasonal cookie cutters for a few dollars and turn them into a clever Christmas wreath. Form the shapes into a circle, then wire the pieces together. Attach a pretty striped bow with hot glue and hang the wreath from a nail.

Holiday Dining Room Makeover

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