Functional, flexible furniture also can be fashionable

A dining table that can extend, extra folding chairs to seat more guests — it’s the time of year when flexible furniture can save a big family meal. We asked the pros for their top five pieces of furniture advice for holiday hosting.

The most important thing to remember, says Haymarket, Va.-based designer Paola McDonald, is that you need to be as flexible as your furniture. Whether you’re hosting a crowd in a small space or trying to make a cavernous room feel intimate, the secret sauce is in your ability to rethink furniture function and room layout.

“Think about the type of party you’re having and how you want it to flow, and then move your furniture accordingly,” she says. “It doesn’t have to stay where it is all the time.”

Andrew Law, a designer in Washington, D.C., says that sometimes, when you’re having a large party, you actually need to remove furniture from a space: “Don’t be afraid to tuck a couple upholstered chairs in another room.”

Benches can become seating for cocktail conversations, bar carts can become dessert stations, fabric covers can class up folding chairs. Smart, multifunctional furniture: That’s something we can raise a glass to.

1) Folding chairs don’t have to be ugly.

Folding chairs are the best solution for hosting large holiday gatherings, and there are a surprising number of attractive options. If you want to dress up standard metal folding chairs, though, try Parsons-style slipcovers, which McDonald says can be tied in the back or arranged for a relaxed, drape-y look.

Ballard Designs’ Ballroom Folding Chairs, in black, wood, gold or weathered white, are like nice reception chairs, only foldable for storage.

Izzy Million has been making folding chairs since 1930. Today’s models feature such high-design finishes as ikat fabric, brightly colored leather and even python. You can’t go wrong with classic black leather, though.

Even if you host dinner parties often, “you only want so many chairs in your dining room” on a regular basis, Law says. The embroidered Terai Folding Chair from Anthropologie is attractive enough to be an everyday chair — and then tuck a couple extras away for guests.

World Market’s Walnut Folding Chairs are a cost-effective standby for traditional dining rooms.

For the vintage- or modern-inclined, there’s Wisteria’s Lucent Folding Chair, inspired by ’60s designs. Its transparency helps small spaces feel less cluttered.

Lacquer finishes on Crate and Barrel’s Spare Folding Chairs boost the sophistication of a standard folding chair.

2) A bar cart is a host’s secret weapon.

When it comes to versatility, a bar cart is the ultimate entertaining piece. Appetizers, drinks, the second course, kid-friendly food or even a main buffet: It can host (and move) it all. It also can serve as another flat surface when table space is limited.

“The style and scale of a bar cart should depend on your home,” McDonald says. “If you intend to move it, make sure it can fit around the footprint of your space.”

A bar cart can be kept in your kitchen on a day-to-day basis and then parked in your family room with drinks or dessert for entertaining, Law suggests. “It makes people get up and move around. It’s nice for traffic flow.”

West Elm’s Round Cocktail Cart is good to wheel around in small rooms.

The Utility Cart from Brackish, made of steel and reclaimed flooring, lends an industrial feel.

“There’s so many cool styles of bar carts,” McDonald says.

Look for wood, if your style leans traditional. Try acrylic, if you like a modern style (with the added cool factor of food appearing to float). The brass-plated iron Libations Bar Cart from Crate and Barrel fits nicely with midcentury or transitional styles.

3) Choose a table that has room to grow.

Small dining rooms can benefit from extension tables, which add extra seating when needed, or gate-leg tables, which can be used alone, pulled up to another table or folded down into a console or buffet, “providing additional serving space for appetizers or dinner items,” McDonald says. For DIY types, Law suggests getting a piece of plywood cut larger than your tabletop and then covering it with a nice linen.

The leaf in West Elm’s Upton Expandable Dining Table, made of ash wood and rosewood veneer, stores in the table itself, so there is no need to find storage for extra leaves.

The Span White Gateleg Table from Crate and Barrel can shrink from 65½ inches wide to a trim 9½ inches when not being used as a dining table, making it a good size for a console, too.

4) A smaller table can be a versatile tool, even for a crowd.

Don’t feel like you have to seat everyone at one table. A smaller round table can create a more intimate space within the room or serve as a spot for desserts.

It also can come in handy beyond entertaining season. “When you have a really large dining room, you feel compelled to use it only when you’re hosting a large amount of people,” Law says. But if you set up more than one seating area or place a round or oval table in front of a window, “it gives you more permission to use the room on a more regular basis.”

It’s easier to squeeze in another chair around a table that’s round vs. square or rectangular, McDonald says, such as Restoration Hardware’s Aero Round Dining Table.

The Shaker-inspired Adams Round Extension Table from Room &Board, when closed, hosts a meal for four and, when opened, for six.

5) Think beyond traditional chairs when it comes to seating.

To squeeze in even more people at a dining table than possible with folding chairs, consider benches or settees.

Law loves a hosted dinner for 20, but he says that many people also enjoy an informal buffet. “Have your guests sit around your home on sofas, chairs, ottomans and benches,” he says. “It gives the evening more spontaneity.” (Just make sure to offer large napkins for covering laps!)

“A dining room has a lot of hard furnishings, so bring in some sort of settee or upholstered bench that lets people linger after dinner,” Law says. “It’s comfortable, it brings in more color and fabrics, and it makes dinner more approachable.”

The Blue Paige Bench from hivemodern.com adds softness with linen-viscose upholstery and lightness with its distressed finish.

Ballard Designs’ Tori Double X Bench, with a cushioned seat and back for extra comfort, is available in multiple fabric options.

Hive’s streamlined but solid Branch Bench can pull up to a table or be moved to offer extra seating elsewhere.