The dining room or dining area is often that warm and comfortable room in the home where people gather together with family, friends, and good food on a daily basis and on special occasions. Laughter resounds, news is shared, memories are made.

Such thoughts and memories could be very important in the minds of your potential buyers, so you want to do everything in your power to get it right.

Here are some simple tips in setting up your main dining area to make it inviting to potential buyers:

• Stage the table. The table is the main focal point of any dining room. You want to have the eyes of the potential buyers open wide with pleasure at seeing the table whether in person or in the pictures you post.

You know what it’s like to have that good feeling.

Think about the home furnishing ads or magazines that you have read in the past.

Before getting started, write down your theme and ideas, and then plan accordingly, keeping in mind that adding at least a hint of popping color is going to work magic.

To subconsciously keep up the buyer’s confidence, avoid the use of a table cloth since you don’t have anything to hide there or in the rest of the house.

You have the choice to make it enticingly extravagant or to keep it elegantly simple.

While you may have to hold back your creativity while setting the table for a holiday dinner in order to keep room for the food platters and to keep it comfortable enough for your family and friends to enjoy good conversations, you don’t have to entertain these concerns while staging the table to attract and encourage buyers.

Let your heart sing as you go all out with your full dinner sets, glassware, centerpieces, plants, and whatever else fits your chosen theme. However, while having fun, keep a great sense of order to make sure that your work is pleasant to the eye.

Staging the table is so important that more time needs to be spent on this than any other part of the dining room.

It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it must do its job in helping potential buyers to feel relaxed and at home.

• Blaze a wide trail. Make sure that the walking space in the dining room is comfortable.
• The path around the table should be easily accessible, and the room must be devoid of all clutter. This includes extra arm chairs randomly placed and blocking the pathway that you might find in some people’s dining rooms.

Giving the impression of space is the best, and this could even be done by removing dining chairs altogether if you have a smaller dining room. Rearrange or remove other furniture if needed.

• All systems go!

Has your dining room been used for some other purpose besides dining?

If you have it set up as an office with papers exposed on your desk or table, it’s time to close up shop.

Do you have a computer, extra TV, or gaming systems in your dining room? It’s time to jettison these, captain.

It may be a difficult thing to do if you are staying in your home while it’s on the market, but at least box them up and store them away during an open house or before taking pictures.

If your dining area is incredibly large and you have created a second sitting area for game nights with a large screen tastefully mounted, this is just fine.

However, make sure to separate this area from the dining area in a more defined fashion by using a sofa or other strategically-placed furniture.

• Smooth the surfaces. Tuck away all trinkets and extra clutter.

Since you’re going to be staging the table and don’t want to detract from that focal point, it’s important to take a minimalist approach to the rest of the room and surfaces.

You want to create more space to the eye, yet have enough variety and color to envelope the prospects in the charm of the space as they walk through or view the pictures.

Perhaps a decorative vase, even without flowers, can be placed on the sideboard or corner table.

Two cocktail glasses on a tray with a cocktail shaker create a great, minimal decoration which contributes to the relaxed atmosphere, subtly inspiring the buyer with the desire to entertain guests.

If you choose to have a bowl of colorful fruit, a lamp, or any of the other choices from the plethora of possible decorations, keeping items grouped together in odd numbers creates a more appealing impression on the eye.

• Out with the old. Now, you might really love your house and the charm of having some outdated components, but then again, if you’re selling the house, it’s time to bring some of the less expensive charms up to date.

Look around your dining room. Is the paint dirty or a dingy color? Is the wallpaper peeling or does it have a tacky or busy pattern that’s difficult to compliment?

You can find newer, more neutral wallpaper options and clean, neutral paint colors to easily blend with any furniture or accessories.

Think about big, open space and select the colors according to that. Staying away from dark colors and focusing on light and neutral blues, grays, yellows, and greens will give you the result you’re aiming towards.

If you prefer to go with white, keep it a matte blend and consider an off-tone such as eggshell or ivory.

What about the light fixtures or door handles? Bright and shiny brass or the yellow of so-called gold chandeliers or knobs speak of the tired and forgotten.

Affordable replacement options are available at any home improvement store.

You will notice the trend of brushed nickel or darker, brushed bronze doorknobs and handles, and will also see the elegant but modern chandelier and other light fixture choices.

Take a leap of faith even if you still prefer the older, shiny metal.

Your potential buyers will be more pleased, and in the end, you will win.