WALTHAM, MASS. – November 6, 2007 –Preparing a home for holiday entertaining needn’t require an entire season – or budget. You can easily put your house in order in just one weekend with the right approach, Davis Remignanti, Lead Design Consultant at Furniture.com (www.furniture.com).

He offers these tips to ready any home for festive gatherings of friends and family:

• Start Fresh: – Before beginning, take a fresh look. Have you outgrown your décor from 5, 10, or 20 years ago? Ask a trusted friend for the honest truth. Then, take action.
  
  
• Go with the Flow: – Create cozy conversation areas by arranging nesting tables to hold guests’ food and drinks. And after the festivities, these space-saving tables will serve a million more uses, for snacks, games, craft projects, and more.
  
  
• Make Small Nooks for Small Talk: - Not everything is going small scale. “A very hot trend is large scale patterns used in fabrics and floor and wall coverings. If you’re choosing a pattern over solid colors, make it big and bold,” he advises.
  
  
• Don’t Crowd: Face the facts: - Ten guests won’t fit around a dining table made to seat four, no matter how you try. Either upgrade to a larger table, or spread out with a more casual buffet. Or, consider a bistro-style dining set to evoke a social atmosphere. The taller-than-standard table height makes it easy for guests to serve themselves drinks, buffet dinner, or even make their own desserts!
  
  
• Mix & Mix: - Give the walls a fresh new color, border, or mix of textures for visual interest. Express who you are with a new piece of artwork that encourages conversation. The most harmonious arrangements take cues from the room. For instance, try hanging pictures in a rolling up and down grouping over a camelback sofa.
  
  
• Create Walls of Inspiration: - A still-strong trend of “a la carte,” mix-and-match interiors has people combining old and new pieces in interesting ways. “Vintage pieces bring a unique energy to a room’s décor. Sometimes it can be hard to tell which pieces are old and which are new,” he says.
  
  
• Add Color: – A little bit of color can go a long way. Bright accent pillows, bold frames and coordinated candles in decorative candleholders can make a dull or sterile room more attractive and welcoming.
  
  
• Light Up Your Life: – Bring a new look to a room by updating the lighting. Coordinate the look by making sure lamp heights are equal throughout, and all have the same color shade.
  
  
• Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize: - Arrange accessories symmetrically for a formal look, or asymmetrically to get creative. Highlight a special item by placing it against a contrasting surface. Reflect the seasons and bring nature indoors with arrangements of leaves, stones and fresh flowers.
  
  
• Don’t Stress: - Forget perfection. Anything “out of place” makes a home more cozy and charming. Go for what feels right. It’s your house – above all else, enjoy the party.

About Furniture.com
Furniture.com (http://www.furniture.com) offers consumers the best of Internet shopping by merging the convenience, accessibility and ease of online shopping with the proven infrastructure of the nation’s largest retail furniture chains.

Notes to Editors:
• Davis Remignanti is available for interview
• High resolution images are available on request

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