The holiday season’s best eating begins with a feast for the eyes.
A gorgeous tablescape conjures a sense of occasion, and a season packed with special occasions is a great opportunity to perfect your skills at creating visual drama as you wow your guests. Since meal service calls for so many shiny objects that you already own—flatware, china, and glassware—it’s easy to take your dining table from blank slate to artful composition with very little effort and expense. Just start with a basic theme, add what fits, and if you run out of room on the table, remember that you can extend your tablescaping to every available surface in the house.
Warm, Welcoming, and Rustic
Although the harvest is a season of abundance, your tabletop doesn’t have to be elaborate—even for celebratory feasts. It’s easy to lay a modern country table by keeping a tight focus on an autumnal palette and rustic accents, like this subtle, watercolor-esque table runner, these neutral wicker chargers, and jewel-toned, rich amber goblets. Dial the decor up or down as your mood and time permit with seasonal decorations, dried corn, gourds, evergreens, and favorite serving pieces. It’s a warm and inviting approach to a homey table that charms with simplicity.
Shiny and Chic
To glam up your harvest table, pile on the metallics. Start with something big and showy as the centerpoint, in this case an elegant candelabra, then layer in additional elements of opulence. Stems of silvery eucalyptus and fresh white chrysanthemums nod to the season and set the stage for shimmering surprises, such as metallic placemats or a whimsical gold pumpkin.
You could also trot out real gourds and tiny pumpkins for the occasion. This is a wonderful opportunity to open up your china cabinet, dust off a few silver or crystal family heirlooms that don’t get out much, and add them to the mix. Silver tones mixed with glass and shades of white make for an elegant palette, and traditional harvest browns, rusts, and oranges are a natural partner to gold.
Don’t Get Caught Off Gourd
If you haven’t the time nor the patience to art-direct a tablescape while you juggle the demands of daily life and the holiday extras, consider that classic cucurbit we call the pumpkin. This humble gourd, plucked from the vine and rocketed to megastardom with the global mania for pumpkin spice everything, is a surefire way to create an instant sense of harvest. A few pumpkin napkin rings will do the trick, or go (pumpkin-spiced) nuts and plant pumpkins in every available nook and cranny.
Seasonal Icons
Sometimes all you need is one well-placed iconic element to summon a harvest mood, such as coasters inspired by a homespun plaid blanket, a turkey table-topper, and a gorgeous piece—or entire set—of English heirloom porcelain.
Just Add Twinkle
Even the best tablescapes are improved with a little sparkle. Thanks to flameless candles and battery-operated fairy lights, it’s easy to bring down the house without burning it down.
It doesn’t take much to get your dinner table into the spirit of the season. Bon appétit!