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How to create the perfect Christmas Tablescape

Tablescape design tips for beginners

Want your table to be dressed up for the holidays, too? We’ve got a few design tips to share to help you create the perfect Christmas Tablescape! A few things to consider before getting started:

The room. What style is your dining space? What colors do you have in there already?
Color palette. What colors do you want to incorporate into your tablescape design?
Check your cabinets. What place settings and table accessories do you already have? Do any of these items work with your color palette? These things are a great place to start, so you have something to build off of.
Plan ahead. Make a list of everything you already have and what you still need to find. Do you want to find out on Christmas day that you’re short on a few spoons or taper candles? I think not.

Not to worry, though! We have some tips to create the perfect Christmas tablescape. Follow along as we create two different table styles perfect for any holiday gathering.

Classic Christmas

Red is a classic Christmas color. It’s rich and warm; perfect for this time of year. In this first tablescape design, red is our featured color, accented by evergreens, white, and gold. Let’s break down this design.

perfect Christmas tablescape design red  placemats Christmas dishware low floral centerpiece candlesticks

Base

First step, is your base. Do you have a beautiful wood table that you want to show off? Or would you prefer to incorporate linens to achieve that perfect color palette? Stephanie let us borrow her beautiful dining room for this shoot and we really wanted to let her vintage harvest table have the spotlight. This beautiful warm wood lends itself well to being the backdrop for our reds and festive Christmas elements.

Layering

Even if you forgo a table linen, layering is still fundamental to tablescape design. For this style, we used a solid red placemat directly on the dining table. Placemats are a great way to define each place setting and also protect your beautiful table! The Christmas patterned dishware is layered to create a completed place setting. The red floral napkin supports the forks, rather than laid over the plates to show off the lovely Christmas motif of the dishware. For your flatware, think about going from the outer edges and move in towards your dish. The smaller fork goes on the far left for the salad course. Then, your entrée fork is closer to the plate. We have also created an additional layer with our drinkware. Our cut glass water glasses add some unique texture against the more sleek wine glasses.

Christmas tablescape design with red placemats, floral napkins, Christmas dishware, gold flatware

Centerpiece

Next, we added a beautiful compote centerpiece with a focus on reds and winter evergreens. A pointsettia bloom and red velvet ribbon berries were added to enhance the festive theme.

placing the Christmas floral centerpiece on the table

The centerpiece is placed in the center of the table. Get it? That’s why it’s called a CENTERpiece, but surely you already knew that. Since this table is a longer oval shape, we created a longer shape with some mixed height candlesticks. Accessories like these really pull the tablescape together and using a mix of heights adds visual interest. Low, round centerpieces look great on a round table, but that doesn’t mean they have to be exclusive to that table shape. This is a great way to use a low and rounded centerpiece on a longer table, while still balancing the length of the table with the accessories. Another nice thing about this style of tablescape is that there’s still room to serve food directly from the table. If you need more room for food, cut down on the number of candles a bit.

winter greenery with red and peach flowers Christmas floral design centerpiece

A modern twist on vintage

For our second design, a winter greenery garland serves as the focal piece of the design. The color palette is also a bit more subtle here. Green is a big focus with accents of a softer blush pink and mixed metals.

Base

Let’s start with our base again here. Since we’re going vintage, we definitely wanted to let that vintage harvest table shine again! For our centerpiece, our base is a lovely table runner.

vintage with a modern twist Christmas tablescape design

Layering

Our greenery garland is layered overtop of the table runner. The runner serves a couple different purposes. First, and arguably the most important is to protect the table! The runner provides a barrier between the wood table and the garland. Second, it helps anchor the center of the table and gives the garland a lighter background to help the garland itself pop. The garland is layered with four different types of greenery, pinecones, soft pink ornaments, gold wood flowers, and gold wheat.

We chose a more simple dishware set this time. This way, we could utilize a napkin ring to elevate our white linen napkins. These wood bangles napkin rings from Dot & Army were the perfect finishing touch! They added an additional warm wooden element to the layering here, which ties in perfectly with the table. We kept the gold flatware and candlesticks, but added in some copper candlesticks with blush taper candles. We also kept the cut glass water glasses because they’re just perfect for the vintage style!
It’s also perfectly acceptable to forgo the placemats, especially when you’re using a runner. However, if you want to protect your table, we highly recommend adding a table linen under your table runner.

Centerpiece

The centerpiece this time is, of course, the garland! Table garlands have been a staple in Christmas tablescapes for years, and it’s easy to see why. They’re beautiful, smell wonderful, and can be layered and accented to fit any design style. They are ideal for longer dining tables. We included a mix of candlesticks and staggered the heights along either side of the garland. Adding in mixed metals and blush taper candles brings in a touch of modern to our vintage design here. The heights of candlesticks are staggered to balance the design and provide visual interest that pulls the eye along the entire length of the table.

Once you have all of your tablescape elements placed, don’t forget to light the candles to really finish off the look!

lighting the taper candles on a Christmas dinner dining table

And there you have it! The basics of designing the perfect Christmas tablescape. It’s always fun to play around with your design and find what fits best for you. If you want to learn even more about tablescape design, join us for our Tablescape Design Workshop in March for even more tips and tricks!
If you would prefer to let the professionals take care of everything for you, check out our party package and let us know how we can help! We are always willing to talk custom design to go along with any party package.

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The Blue Daisy Floral Designs

412. 367. 5810  |  1105 ROCHESTER ROAD, STE 103, PITTSBURGH, PA 15237

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