Table Setting done Beautifully

Do you want to know how to create the perfect table setting? You do?? Well you are in luck because I’m going to show you how!Here is the key –  Shhh it’s a secret 😉 –  It’s all about LAYERS. I am from the school of more is better when it comes to table settings. I see a lot of table settings that are on a bare wood table…not my style. We are aiming for full glam here 🙂

More is More

Less is Less

Tablecloth

It’s like a canvas, start off by coating your table in a clean crisp cloth. I chose a white tablecloth for the base. You can use whatever colour you like, but a very pure white makes a really nice starting point, so that your accent colours will leap off the table. The one I have used here is a good pure white and has a bit of a raised pattern. Also, it’s cotton. 

Table Runner

You can go a couple of different ways with your table runner. You can keep it to the same tones as your base table setting colours, or you can pull in your accent colour.  I also like layering the colours with the table runners so that you have both base and accent colours. I’m going with a horizontal look for this version with the runner lengthwise on the table, but you can also do the style where  you run them across the width of the table as well.

Base Setting 

First things first. Pick a colour for your main. In the Pespsi vs Coke battle between silver and gold. I always choose silver. I love silver.  As you can see I use silver a lot in my DIY world, like on my Bombay chest, which serves as my dining buffet and also these end tables I made over for the bedroom. But having said that it would also be fabulous in gold! Feel free to substitute gold for silver, if that’s more to your liking. You can also just go with classic white, but it may lack a bit of the glam factor.  I would refrain from using a bold colour in the main settings as you want to be able to interchange your secondary colour out for different colours to work for different events. Like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Birthdays! 

My base set consists of the following pieces:

• Dinner Plate (link is for gold, as silver was out of stock at time of posting)

• Salad Plate

• Charger PlateThis could be switched out for secondary colour)

Also I bought these really pretty little silver dessert plates to hold my candles. 

• Silver Candle Plates 

I am in love with this pattern. I think they are so beautiful. In fact I think pretty much everything by this company (Ciroa) is beautiful. They just make some very gorgeous tableware. As a matter of fact, I have a similar style of plate in red, which you can see here doing Valentines duty.The idea is that you have a mostly complete table setting in a main neutral colour.  So that you can just swap out specific pieces to change up the entire look. 

Here are a few options for you

Now Add Some Colour

So, now you can change out some of your plates, or bowls, placemats or table runners for your colour of choice. You can add as much or as little as you like. The only thing I would reccomend is to keep quite a bit of your base colour so the accent colour really POPS!!

BAM!

Wrapped in Red

Check out this Glamorous Christmas Table setting extraordinaire in RED!! How can you not add a vivacious bright red accent to your holiday table setting? Personally, I have a pretty good selection of red tableware already and have added in a few extra accent pieces to even things out. You don’t need to add much of the red to the existing setting. In this setting Just placemats, dessert bowls, and accent plates. Ha! look at that – turns out less actually is more!!!! ha ha. Oh, And my red reindeer at the far end on my Bombay Chest. HINT: If you have a penchant for RED. Load up on Tablewear at Christmas when the stores are FULL of it. Or of course you can always get it at Amazon all the time. Here are some really pretty pieces in deep red.

Here are a few more views of the red table setting

Is it just me or does this deer seem like he’s giving us “the look”?

Feeling a Little Blue?

My Christmas decorations this year are not going to be in Red 

This year I’m decorating my tree in teal, so I’m leaning towards having a blue table setting. The other day I found these really gorgeous icy blue plates at Home Sense. There were only 6 of them. So I grabbed them.  They are made in Turkey, and backed in silver, so gorgeous. Again, you really don’t need much of your accent colour. In the photo below, I just swapped out the silver dinner plate for the blue. Blue and silver is one of my favourite colour combinations. Here are some really pretty teal pieces that I think would look amazing against silver or white.

So you see, that once you have your main setting, you really don’t need to swap out very much to change it up completely.  

Cutlery and Crystal

Don’t forget about nice cutlery. If your everyday set is looking a bit worse for wear, go and buy yourself a new set for that special dinner party. My everyday set is enough to set a table for twelve, but it’s really seen better days. For this table setting I only needed 4 place settings, so I just bought this set for four. It’s nicely weighted and has good clean lines. Also, I picked up a set of these crystal glasses which are nice and heavy, since they are crystal, and they have a classic feel. I can’t wait to see them filled up with champagne!! And then emptied 🙂

Complementary Pieces

Besides all of the dinnerware, you will want to add in some accent pieces to help pull your formal table setting together. These will depend on the occasion. For Christmas I really like reindeer as you can see. But you can use anything Christmasy really. 

For my Accent pieces I added a glass candle holder, and just switched out the decorative plate that it is sitting on. I intend to add the appropriately coloured candles as well. And if you are in a pinch, you can always fill a dollar store vase with Christmas ornaments for a quick cheap table centrepiece, in the right colour. 

However, you don’t want to go too crazy with accent pieces or your table might go from glam to garish in no time.  Keep it pretty simple and classy.  I don’t worry too much about leaving room for food, plates can be loaded up in the kitchen, off an island, or buffet server. So that your table is not overcrowded for eating and socializing. 

Any Occassion

The really beautiful part of this table setting is that you can use it for any occasion, by just swapping out a few select pieces. I would use both  the red or the blue table setting for either Christmas or Thanksgiving. Just swap out your reindeer for pumpkins for Thanksgiving. Or keep the accent pieces more generic if it’s for a birthday. As you can see in the red setting above with the swirled plates, I added a heart shaped bowl for Valentines Day, and accented with my Valentines day wreath which doubles as a table setting. 

I hope I have helped you out with your holiday table setting. It doesn’t need to be an overly stressful part of your holiday or family get – together.  Now that you have that piece ticked off of your to do list. Go and pour yourself a glass of champagne and just do all of your shopping online 😉 Soooo much easier!!

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