A welcoming table creates the perfect setting for any meal, and not least over the festive period.
Think about your home’s decor, the items for the table that you already have and a colour theme then go from there sorting or sourcing all the items you need.
For Christmas the options are endless, for example - natural neutrals, winter whites, opulent colour, green & gold… or a clean Scandinavian inspired look that we’ve gone for here with crisp white and red.
Now the fun bit - building your tablescape!
1) Take a pretty tablecloth to anchor everything. We’ve chosen the beautiful ‘Ruby Blossom’ tablecloth from Truffle Tabelscapes with its red floral and stripe pattern with touches of sage and deep green.
It’s not an obviously festive design, and will work just as well in the summer months giving a Provencal instead of Scandi vibe when the sun is shining!
2) Next place your chosen mats, crockery and cutlery.
Again we’re using things that work year round with woven rattan placemats from Truffle Tablescapes, Garden Trading everyday matte steel cutlery with cherished white Royal Worcester crockery my Aunt collected, buying a place setting per month in the 1980s !
3) Now place napkins, not paper if possible, linens elevate a setting. These scalloped, gold embroidery edged ones are from Truffle Tablescapes.
And to bring a little of the outside in we use botanical elements instead of napkin rings, here a single, feathery frond of asparagus setaceus fern.
Any foliage will work beautifully including eucalyptus and any evergreen foliage from your garden.
4) Next the best part- the flowers!
Flowers and foliage definitely bring a table to life and for us our favourite, informal way to incorporate flowers is to fill little bud vases with flowers, foliage and textural elements like berries, then dot them down the centre of the table- as many or a s few as you like.
We love these fluted, footed, gilded clear glass vases from Truffle Tabelscapes, but any small, low vessel works. Even jam jars, just wind a little satin ribbon around the neck.
For this setting and to complement the tablecloth we’ve chosen vibrant, double red tulips and red leucadendron plus berried wax flowers and winter evergreen foliage. Super long lasting and super festive…
5) To finish, add candlelight- a must for any tablescape day or night - as it creates a gentle, flickering light and warmth that draws you to the table.
You can use scented candles if you love a particular fragrance and it doesn’t clash with the food.
We’ve gone for simple, unscented tealights and ivory dinner candles (both with a burn time of 8 hours so we don’t need to think about them again too much once seated) placed in our fluted tealight glasses and heavyweight clear glass low-level candle holders.
This whole setting can be created ahead of time, the day before, just pop the foliage on the napkins and light the candles half an hour before sitting down.
Now all that’s left to do is to enjoy your meal!
Link- Truffle Tablescapes