Whether you’ll be with family over Thanksgiving or you’ll be hanging at home this year, it’s fun to make the table beautiful for the season. If there’s anything 2020 has reminded us, it’s to enjoy the time and the moments. Believe it or not, I didn’t have a true dining room table until last year. Our old house didn’t have a dining room. One thing I absolutely love about fall and winter in our new home is the holiday table. It’s so warm and inviting. I hope it creates sweet and cozy memories of home for the kids.
But you don’t have to have a large table to create a beautiful holiday tablescape! Just a vision for what you want to create. Even in our old house with our smaller table, I loved to make it cute for the season. Whether you are doing a festive fall table or you’ve already moved on to Christmas, here are some things I incorporate putting them together. Including links to several of my favorite things!
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Tablescape Tips
- Vary the height of your pieces. Add some tall items, like vases, cake stands, candlesticks, mini trees, orbs and hurricanes. And some lower items like votives, pumpkins, and ornaments. I’m obsessed with THIS mercury glass votive collection. It’s the easy button with several shapes and sizes! And I love that these work great with both my Thanksgiving and Christmas tables.
- Incorporate light. I love a mix of flameless candles and battery-operated twinkle lights (links below).
- Mix textures and add layers. Start with a table cloth or runner on the bottom. I have THIS table runner, which is on sale right now! It’s super versatile for year round and looks great with both my Thanksgiving and Christmas table decor.
- Use nature. Twigs, branches, leaves, pumpkins, pinecones, and live plants all make easy and affordable (usually free) filler pieces!
- Don’t be too symmetrical or matchy. I like to have a few similar pieces to balance out our long table. I grabbed the larger white faux pumpkins HERE from Pottery Barn and found the vases with hay stems for super cheap at Hobby Lobby. Then I mixed in varying shapes and styles of glass pumpkins and gourds, included THESE recycled glass pumpkins. They are perfect over a flameless candle or filled with twinkle lights!
- Snap a Pic! Once you have a table you love, take a photo! I have a Home album on my phone where I save photos and can easily go back the following year to see how I decorated.
More Things I Love
Here are links to some of the lighting options I love. We don’t burn candles any more to eliminate the toxins in the fumes and to avoid the fire risk. But I love that soft glow and these are actually even better and easier than real candles! No mess, no health risk, no fire hazard. Yay!
- I have THESE flameless candles from Amazon and they are the best! They have a remote, lots of timer options and a candlelight flicker. I have several of them all over our home! (They’re also super cute inside lanterns and winter houses for Christmas)
- For smaller spaces or to fill in holes in the decor, I have THESE flameless votive candles. Perfect to add a little glow!
- THESE warm white, copper wire battery lights are perfect for inside vases or hurricanes and you can’t beat the price!
- And I love THESE eucalyptus springs by Hearth & Hand at Target. They transition perfectly from fall to winter and are easy to tuck in wherever I need them.
Target Favorites
- Ceramic Gourd
- Black Glazed Ceramic Pumpkin
- Mercury Glass Pumpkin
- Fabric Pumpkin (also comes in Orange)
- Faux Grass Stem
- Glass Votive Set
- Tall Studio McGee Glass Vase
- Natural Table Runner
- Eucalyptus Stems
- Large Yellow Ceramic Pumpkin
- Tall Cream Ceramic Pumpkin
- Small Ceramic Orange Pumpkin
- Gold-Flecked Pumpkin
- Woven Pumpkin
- Short Studio McGee Glass Vase
- Magnolia Pumpkin-Brown Table Runner
Outdoor Space
If you’re lucky enough to still have nice weather, using real foliage and pumpkins are my favorite for our patio! And is there anything better than the glow of patio string lights?!
Wrap Up
If you’re anything like me, you may be surprised what you already have on-hand at home to start your holiday tablescape. Use what you have, and then just add a few statement pieces to finish is perfectly. Pick some basics that can transition through seasons or holidays for you.
Happy holidays, from my family to yours!
XO, Kelli
