GET DIRECTIONS
The holidays are almost here, and whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner for twelve or a casual friendsgiving on the patio, your home is about to become the venue. And just like any great venue, the way your space is set up matters as much as what’s on the menu.
This edition of Design Class is all about preparing your home for holiday entertaining. We’re not talking about centerpieces and table linens (though those matter too). We’re talking about the furniture decisions that shape how a gathering actually feels: where people sit, how they move through the room, where they set their drinks, and whether the space invites them to stay or sends them looking for somewhere more comfortable. A few smart moves now can make every gathering this season feel effortless.
The Dining Table as Command Center
If you’re hosting a sit down meal, the dining table is the centerpiece of the entire event. It’s where the food goes, where the conversations happen, and where memories get made. Getting this right is worth the effort.
Start with the table itself. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading, now is the time. A solid wood table from Stickley or Canadel is more than beautiful. It’s built to handle the reality of a holiday dinner. Hot dishes, spilled wine, elbows on the table for hours. These are tables designed for exactly that kind of life. If your current table has leaves, use them. If you’re shopping for a new one, look for extension options that give you flexibility without sacrificing the look of the table when it’s closed.
Seating is where most hosts run into trouble. You need enough chairs for everyone, but you don’t want the room to feel like a banquet hall. Mix it up. Pair traditional dining chairs with an upholstered bench on one side for a more relaxed, modern feel. Canadel’s customizable collections make this easy because you can match wood finishes across different chair styles and bench options. Add a couple of accent chairs from CR Laine or Rowe at the head and foot of the table, and suddenly your dining room feels curated instead of crammed.
Don’t forget the surface area around the table. A sideboard or buffet near the dining area gives you a landing zone for dishes, platters, and bottles so the table itself stays clean enough for people to actually eat at.
Create Conversation Zones
Here’s a mistake even experienced hosts make: they leave the living room set up for everyday life instead of for a party. Your usual sofa-facing-the-TV layout is fine for a Tuesday night, but for a gathering you want people facing each other, not a screen.
Think about conversation zones. A conversation zone is a small grouping of seating, usually three to five pieces, arranged so everyone can see and talk to each other comfortably. You might have one around the coffee table, another in a corner with a pair of accent chairs and a side table, and a third near the fireplace.
A sectional from Rowe gives you the anchor for your primary zone. Position it so it opens toward the room rather than boxing people into a corner. Then pull in a couple of accent chairs from CR Laine or American Leather to complete the circle. The chairs should be light enough to move around if someone wants to shift positions throughout the evening.
Pathways matter just as much as seating. Guests need to be able to move from the front door to the kitchen to the living room to the patio without squeezing past furniture. Walk the route yourself before the party. If you bump into something, so will your guests. Move it.
The goal is a room that feels full without feeling tight. People should be able to sit, stand, and move without thinking about it.
The Bar and Beverage Station
One of the easiest ways to take pressure off yourself as a host is to set up a self-serve beverage station. When guests can help themselves, you’re free to cook, eat, and actually enjoy the party.
A Stickley sideboard or buffet is the ideal foundation for this. The surface gives you room for bottles, glasses, and a bucket of ice, while the drawers and cabinets below keep the clutter out of sight. If you don’t have a sideboard, a console table against the wall works too. The point is having one designated spot that says “drinks are here” so nobody has to ask.
A bar cart is another strong option, especially if you want the flexibility to roll it from the kitchen to the living room to the patio depending on where the crowd gathers. Style it simply: a few spirits, a set of glasses, a small cutting board with citrus. Less is more. A cart that looks curated feels like part of the decor rather than a cluttered afterthought.
Think about the landing zone around the rest of the room too. Accent tables and side tables are doing real work during a party. They’re where people set their glasses, their plates, their phones. Make sure every seating zone has at least one surface within arm’s reach. Nothing kills a conversation faster than someone getting up to find a place to put their drink.
Don’t Forget the Patio
One of the best things about living in Chattanooga is that November doesn’t mean the end of outdoor living. Temperatures here are still comfortable enough to make patio space a real asset during holiday gatherings, especially when you’ve got a crowd that’s starting to outgrow the living room.
If you have outdoor furniture from brands like Summer Classics or Tropitone, this is the time to put it to work. Set up a secondary seating area on the patio or porch with comfortable chairs and a fire pit table if you have one. Throw a few blankets over the backs of the chairs and add some string lights, and you’ve created an overflow space that feels intentional rather than like the overflow.
For hosts who don’t have dedicated outdoor furniture yet, Fowler Brothers Co. pioneered the patio division back in 1980, and our outdoor collections are built for exactly this: extending your livable space into the open air. Pieces from Kingsley Bate and Lloyd Flanders are designed to handle the weather while looking as refined as anything in your living room.
The key is making the outdoor space feel connected to the indoor party. Leave the door open if the weather allows. Position the outdoor seating so it faces back toward the house. Guests should feel like they’re still part of the gathering, just with a little more breathing room.
Let Us Help You Get Ready
The holidays move fast, and the best time to get your home ready is before the first invitation goes out. At Fowler Brothers Co. Home & Patio, our design team can help you plan a layout, find the right pieces, and make sure your home is set up to handle every gathering on the calendar this season. From dining tables built for a crowd to seating that keeps the conversation going, everything in our showroom is selected for the kind of quality and comfort that makes people want to stay.
Visit us at 1903 E 24th St Pl, Chattanooga, TN 37404 or browse our collections at fowlerbrothersco.com. Class dismissed.
Follow us! @fowlerbrothersco
