How to Set a Nice Dinner Table

You don’t have to get all fancy when setting a nice dinner table, but why not make it pretty. Here are some quick tips to make your table look awesome.

Welcome back my friends! I hope you are having a wonderful week! We’ve had some absolutely amazing weather here in Oregon over the past few days and I’ve been lucky enough to have some time to enjoy it.

I love this time of the year because the days are longer which allows for more hours to spend enjoying evenings and dinners together.

While I think that most dinners should be relaxed and casual with friends and family, it’s still a good thing to set the table – because there’s nothing more inviting than a thoughtfully arranged tablescape.

Setting a dinner table isn’t difficult to do, but here are a few tips to help:

Create unique centerpieces

Centerpieces make the table more inviting and gives everyone something pretty to look at. Often times centerpieces consist of fresh-cut flowers, but you can also get creative and come up with other ideas as well, like a bowl full of citrus fruit, foliage, feathers, candles, photos, etc. You want to make sure that the centerpieces are low enough for guests to see each other over or high enough for guests to view each other under. It’s kind of awkward having a conversation with a dozen roses (if they are blocking your view. 😉 )

Use charger plates

Chargers aren’t technically plates, but they look like them. They are an aesthetic piece that the dinner plate get set on. They can really brighten up a table as they are available in every color imaginable.

Have nice napkins

Like chargers, napkins can also dress up a table. Cloth napkins are great because they are durable and washable, but some disposable napkins are becoming more durable. Napkins are generally folded and placed on top of the dinner plate until you are ready to eat, at which time you unfold the napkin and place it on your lap.

Use at least two styles of glassware

At a formal table setting you’d have multiple glasses on the table for each person. These glasses aren’t just for show; they each serve a different purpose. One glass should always be for water, and the remainder glasses are used for different varietals of wine. To keep it more casual (since we aren’t going to discuss different kinds of glassware today) place two glasses per person at the table if you are serving more than just water. Have one water-glass as well as one wine glass on the table per person. These glasses are placed at about one o’clock  and 2 o’clock from the center of the plate.

Place forks on the left of the plate

If you’ve ever been to a fancy dinner and seen multiple forks it’s because you use a different for different courses. If you’d like to dress your table up a bit, place two forks on the table per person: a salad fork and an entrée fork. Place the entrée fork closest to the plate.

Spoons and knifes on the right

The same goes for spoons and knives as forks. For a nice dinner at home just use one spoon and knife per person.

There are countless other tips to setting a nice dinner table, but these should get you started!

Do you have any other suggestions? Comment below and share!

~Melissa