How to make a formal dining hall in your home
For most parties you can put out food and people can go where they want, chat it up and eat. But there are times in your life when you just need a formal sit down meal. What I’m about to say is going against everything I have ever said. Have a garage party! Hang in there with me. Here is the final result:
If you’re going to just leave garage surroundings up and throw down some folding tables, don’t bother. But, if you are willing to make an effort and go all out, wait till you see what you can do. We always do a Lee Douglas employee holiday party and the business just keeps growing and growing. In past years, we have gone to a restaurant and returned to our home for gifts, dessert, and drinks. We have so much more fun when we are all together, so I fed 43 people elegantly in my garage last weekend.
STEP BY STEP:
1_WALLS
I ordered in pipe and drape from local rental company, AAA. The pipes and drapes became my walls. I set up the pipe and bases around the room and draped the cross pipes with the back curtains.
2_LIGHTING
I found a large, old root of an evergreen tree and stripped it down. It looked like an antler chandelier so we lit it up with Christmas lights and used it to light the center table.
For the other lights, I found 4 matching old pendants and decided to use them to hang over the 4 outer tables. Doug added an electrical plug to the ends of them so we had flexibility on where to hang them. Using a great Edison bulb gave them a golden glow, but still provided enough dining light.
3_FLOOR
Restaurants today often use concrete floors on purpose, so I scrubbed mine, added a rug at the head table (which I will talk about later) and called it a day.
4_DÉCOR
Although we had our dinner catered, I still set up a head table for visual interest. At the head table, I did a bar, hor d’oeuvres and a dessert bar. In addition, I set up a couple other bars in different areas, to move people around the space (my team follows the liquor pretty well).
I added some accessories for interest on the head table including a garland and ribbon above, I spelled out some messages with metal letters, added pillows, candles, and some other visually interesting pieces.
5_UP AND DOWN
I always add height for interest on the dining tables, but I also varied the heights of serving dishes on the head table. I used these great platters, added a tree bark deer head that was filled with greens and seed pods from my yard, wired it to the vase and topped it off with an artificial evergreen ball and that was my centerpiece. The large platter housed the wine glasses and the smaller platter held shrimp over ice.
6_TABLE AND CHAIRS
We set up 5 round tables some with 8 and some with 9 seats. We added tablecloths, candles for more ambiance, and then alternated chair styles and place settings so the room had an overall unified look.
When everyone arrived, we welcomed them to the Lee Douglas Dining Hall and the party was a success! I used this as an example because you can be so creative with space. Don’t be limited to what the space is, or has in it. Here are some other ideas to get the wheels turning:
- Empty out any room of furniture and set it up as a dining hall
- In the summer we always do long tables across the patio and under the arbor. We use the arbor to hang candles in mason jars, old antiques converted to chandeliers, light bulbs strung back and forth etc.
- If you don’t have a room to sacrifice, be creative with how you lay out the tables within your space for example; if you are expecting 12 for dinner, don’t put 6 at your existing table and set up a second folding table for 6. Think about making a square out of 4’ folding tables and put 3 chairs on each side. You instant create a dining table that everyone will be able to eat at together. This is memorable. This gets you the WOW!
Whatever you choose, be creative and look around your house for a space that will occupy the number of guests you have confirmed. Tables don’t have to be tables, they can be almost anything that allows landing space for food and drink. People love a great party with great food and drinks, so make yours the one they will remember.