A Christmas Tablescape with Ornaments

This tablescape was two years in the making. I bought the centerpiece bowl on sale a few years ago and then looked for ornament salad plates that were the right colors to match it for a few years until I found these. I bought the green tablecloth on Amazon a few years ago . I have several green tablecloths but I wanted this Christmassy green color and Amazon had just the right shade. I added my Depression Glass Circle pattern cream and sugar and salt and pepper set to fill in the empty spaces on the table a bit. I thought about adding small ornaments there but I decided they would make the table too busy looking. The Believe sign on the hutch came from Grandin Road online a few years ago.

I wanted the colors on the salad plates to match the centerpiece colors and it took me a few years years to find these salad plates. I looked at many different plates with ornaments on them but none of them had the right colors. These plates originally came from Crate and Barrel several years ago. As soon as I saw them on Ebay, I knew they would be a good match. I love the whimsy of the ornament designs.

I added an extra plate to this plate stack because I wanted to alternate the red and green colors. This Fiesta salad plate is part of our every day dishes set. The color is scarlet. They came from Macy’s several years ago.

The dinner plates are made by Fiesta and the color is shamrock. I bought them at Macy’s a few years ago.

This stoneware charger or dinner plate came from Pottery Barn. I love this plate, I also have it in a pale blue and a sage green. The pattern is called Cambria. It is the perfect size to be either a dinner plate or a charger plate, I love plates that have that kind of versatility. I use it as a charger more than I do as a dinner plate. It is often in use on my Christmas tablescapes, 4th of July tablescapes, and for Valentine’s Day.

This Milano Red flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for several years. Not sure where I bought it. I use it several times a year on tablescapes. I also bought the set in black and I use that set often too.

I was so lucky to find these napkins with an ornaments design on Etsy a fewyears ago. I looked for a long time and they are a perfect match for the centerpiece and the colors on this table. Meg at ME2Designs on Etsy has made me many sets of napkins over the past few years and I am so glad that I found her! Sometimes I tell her what subject I am looking for and she sends me photos of samples of fabric to choose from! I bought the ornament napkin rings on Ebay a few years ago. They were burgundy with a raised beige snowflake design but I knew Hubby could paint them for me. I was looking for a simple design because of the busy pattern on the napkins and they are perfect.

They can be used as place card holders as well.

I found these ornament place card holders/napkin rings on Ebay a few years ago. They were made by Mud Pie in 2010. The colors are perfect for this table, I got lucky!

I am using my red Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets again on this table. If you read my blog, you have seen these goblets several times. I think if I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. They can be used several times a year. I bought these goblets years ago at HomeGoods. I bought a set because I love the fact that they are a bit taller than other goblets and the design goes well with everything. The green goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago, I use them several times a year. I like how tall they are and the simple spiral design.

Grandin Road online had this Ornament Serving Bowl with a ladle in their catalog for a couple of years. I bought it a few years ago on sale. I love the Christmassy colors and the peppermint ladle. It will probably sit out somewhere during part of the holiday season just for decoration. The first time I saw it I knew it would make a wonderful centerpiece for a Christmas tablescape. It just took me a few years to pull it all together! I bought the Kurt Adler garland to scatter around it on Amazon a few years ago to add a bit more interest and match the peppermint pattern.

You can see one of the other ornament designs on the salad plates here.

This salad plate has another slightly different ornament design. I love the red and green colors on this Christmas tablescape and how everything ties together.

To see 260+ tablescapes that I have created including 13 other Christmas tablescapes please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

Tablescaping DIY, Part 3, Choosing what Plates to Buy, Dinner Plates

This is Part 3 in an ongoing series about how to create your tablescapes. You can read Part 1 about developing a theme for your table here and Part 2 about Choosing what Plates to Buy, Chargers, here. There are some similarities when choosing chargers and dinner plates so there will be some repetition in this blog post.

The dinner plate is really the most important plate on the table from a practical standpoint. You can do without a charger and you can do without a salad plate but you need a dinner plate. My tablescapes tend to have at least three plates in the plate stack, a charger, a dinner plate, and a salad plate but if you are just starting to tablescape you can start with just a dinner plate on the table and still create a perfect tablescape.

There are five things to think about when buying dinner plates; size, color, shape, material, and price. Dinner plates tend to be about 10 1/2” in diameter. You want a dinner plate about that size so that a larger charger will show below the dinner plate and a smaller salad plate won’t cover the dinner plate completely. This provides a nice balance for the plate stack.

I don’t buy sets of dishes, I buy individual items. If I bought a compete set I feel like I would be wasting my money because I don’t use a full set of dishes on the table ever for my tablescapes. When I buy individual pieces I can mix and match hundreds of different combinations.

I bought these yellow dinner plates on clearance at Sur La Table online several years ago. They were part of their Fresh Squeezed Lemon Collection.

When I first began tablescaping several years ago the first dinner plates I bought were plates that were solid colors so I would have basic colors that I could use to start with, red, white, black, green and blue. I go back to these colors and use these plates over and over when I am creating tablescapes. This is a red Fiesta dinner plate, I have several of these plates in different colors and I use them often. This red dinner plate is actually part of our every day dishes set.

I think this black dinner plate came from HomeGoods several years ago.

Later I started adding dinner plates to my collection that had unusual lip and rim designs to add interest to the plate stacks, and dinner plates that had an overall design that would pop when the salad plate was removed. As I added these dinner plates I tried to keep in mind the charger plates and salad plates that I already had so that whatever I bought would match something I already owned. I also bought plates thinking about the tablescape themes I was working on and how the plate design could add to the theme. One thing for you to keep in mind, if you plan to always use a salad plate, the center design on the dinner plate will not show until you remove the salad plate. The salad plate design is key to helping define the theme of the table if your table has a theme. This black and white plate is called Miss Blackbirdy, you can see the black bird in the center of the plate. The creator was a Dutch fashion designer and artist, Merel Boars.

This yellow and white ironstone plate came from Pier 1 several years ago, the pattern was called Chloe. It is a smaller dinner plate, probably about 9” across and it could be used as a dinner plate alone or a salad plate on a plate stack.

I like to find dinner plates that have unusual rim designs because they add interest to the plate stack. I seem to gravitate toward plates that have a symmetrical pattern around the rim, I just think it looks better. It seems odd when only part of a design shows, something seems missing. I found these white dinner plates at HomeGoods several years ago. They were made by Fitz and Floyd and the pattern was called Oakdale White. HomeGoods and Dollar stores are great sources for inexpensive dinner plates. If you live in an area that has thrift stores and garage and estate sales, they can also be great sources for inexpensive plates too. I have read about tablescapers who buy glass plates at a Dollar store and then draw on them or add fabric to them to create a new design. Check on Pinterest for information about how to do this, I am not crafty and I have never done it but they look great!

When I started tablescaping I bought round plates but after a few years I added some square plates to my dish collection. These Fiesta plates come in both dinner and salad plate sizes and I really like their basic design. They can add an interesting shape to whatever else you are creating on your tablescape.

Depending on the theme of your table it is fun to find unusual shaped dinner plates. I often find them by googling whatever it is that I am looking for, something often pops up. This white shell dinner plate was made by Bordallo Pinheiro in Portugal and I bought them on Ebay.

I never buy sets of dishes. But over the years when I found a plate design that I really loved (after I made sure it was available in all sizes) I slowly bought matching chargers, dinner plates and salad plates until I had the number of place settings that I wanted. Sometimes this took me a few years to accomplish depending on the availability of the plates. I often bought plates a few at a time on Ebay as they came up for sale. Some I am still looking for! This three plate set of blue shell plates was made by Bordallo Pinheiro in Portugal and I bought them on Ebay a few at a time over several years.

This three plate set of red Christmas plates was made by Bordallo Pinheiro in Portugal and I bought them on Ebay a few at a time over several years.

My dinner plates are pottery, ceramic, glass and melamine like this turquoise plate. It really doesn’t matter what the plate is made of and I am amazed at how many wonderful plastic dinner plates are available now. These turquoise melamine plates came from HomeGoods several years ago. They were made by IL Mulino New York.

This orange plastic dinner plate is one of my favorite Halloween plates. I bought them several years ago online at Dillards.com and they were called Summer Oasis Zoie Vintage Dinner Plate. Keep in mind what the washing requirements are for the dinner plates you buy, some are hand wash only, and you need to be aware of that.

If you are lucky, you may have inherited a set of china from a relative. This was my Nana’s Haviland passed down to me from my mother. I cherish it and I try to use it on a tablescape a few times a year at least.

To see over 260 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my new Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas Facebook group for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We are planning a gathering for tablescapers in January in the Los Angeles area..

Don’t miss the Tablescape How-To tab at the top of my blog for DIY tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week, please check back!

An Acorn Tablescape

This is one of my favorite Fall or Thanksgiving tablescapes. (You can see 44 other Fall and Thanksgiving tablescapes on my blog here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapes.) I have had these acorn bowls for several years but I have never used them on a tablescape and I decided that it was time to try to figure out how to use them. I started looking for acorn related items for the table to go with them and I was surprised at how many different acorn items were out there.

I bought these acorn bowls at Pier 1 several years ago. I had seen them used on table settings before but I really didn’t like any of the table designs. The acorn bowls just didn’t seem to match the plate stacks well enough and they seemed to be added to the tables as an afterthought on those plate settings just so they could be used. If I am putting together a themed tablescape, I really want there to be a unified design with all elements on the table relating well to each other.

I bought these Bordallo Pinheiro turkey salad plates and the dinner plates too on Ebay a few years ago and I used them on a Thanksgiving tablescape then, you can see it here. When I got them out I was delighted to see that they matched the acorn bowls especially since they have acorns on them as well as turkeys. I have several different Bordallo Pinheiro plate sets with different designs and I really like the raised designs on all of them.

The dinner plates match the salad plates.

I bought the brown glass spiral chargers online on Amazon several years ago. They were called Chargeit and were made by Jay Brown. I have had them for several years and I often use them on my Fall tablescapes.

This gold plated flatware was a gift from Hubby one Christmas. I had bought a cheap set of gold flatware several years ago. It was poor quality and the gold started flaking off. You get what you pay for! We found this set on major sale at Macys. It is made by Wallace and it is called Mikasa Duchess Gold. It is heavy and I love the elegant design on the handles. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I found the acorn napkins on Etsy a few years ago. I was amazed at how well the gold color matched the acorn bowls and the plates. I bought the napkin rings on Poshmark online a few years ago. I don’t know who made them. To read about the what, where and how of napkin rings please click here.

I found the acorn place card holders on Ebay a few years ago. The design is really similar to the acorn bowls. To read about the What, Where and When of place card holders, please click here.

I can’t remember where the plastic amber goblet on the left came from, I have had them for a while. The brown glass goblet on the right was made by Lenox between 1966 and 1985. It was called Antique Brown. I bought them on Ebay several years ago. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection including the colors that I use most often here.

I was looking online for any kind of large acorn to use as a centerpiece with no luck. Then I found this acorn wicker basket storage container at Pottery Barn Kids. The bottom was white but I knew Hubby could paint it for me to match the plates. I may set it on the fireplace hearth during Fall in the future. I had some acorns that I had bought before on Etsy and I scattered them around for additional interest. The beige tablecloth came from Amazon a few years ago. I bought the log round charger that the acorn is sitting on several years ago. I think they came from Pier 1. The Gather sign in the background came from Grandin Road online several years ago. It was rustic gold but Hubby spray painted it brown for me. I am not a fan of rustic gold.

When I have a solid color tablecloth I am always looking for something besides the centerpiece to break up the expanse of solid color across the table. I found these squirrels on Amazon a few years ago and I knew they would be perfect for this tablescape.

These squirrels remind me of our neighborhood squirrel. We live in a suburban area with little open land but we have had a squirrel pass through our yard off and on for several years and I love to see him/her even though someone somewhere is feeding him/her peanuts and he/she persists in digging into my potted plants and burying them there! Sometimes when I look out my kitchen window one is just sitting on the wall looking at me.

This tablescape is perfect for Thanksgiving, a Fall or Winter soup, stew, or chili dinner.

To see over 270 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my new Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas Facebook group for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We had a gathering for tablescapers in January in the Los Angeles area and hope to schedule another one sometime.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week, please check back!

A Cornucopia Tablescape

This Cornucopia tablescape is a tablescape that could be set in September, October or November. It could easily be set as a Thanksgiving tablescape. I bought the beige tablecloth on Amazon a few years ago. If you are looking for a simple inexpensive solid color polyester tablecloth, Amazon is a good place to look. Just be sure and read the reviews before you purchase. I found the sage green crochet doily placemats at Bed, Bath, & Beyond several years ago. I wish they had come in other colors too because I really like the ruffled edge and the way they set off whatever is on top of them. Some say that you shouldn’t use a placemat with a tablecloth but I do it anyway sometimes!

I have had these Fitz and Floyd salad plates for several years. I bought them over a few years a few at a time on Ebay. The pattern was called Autumn Bounty and they were made between 1996 and 1999. I love all the detail, the fruit, the vegetables, the flowers and the wicker design in the center. For years every Fall I pulled them out and tried to create a tablescape around them with no luck. Finally this year we pulled them out again and tried to find a dinner plate and charger that would work with them. After trying orange, yellow, various greens and brown dinner plates that just didn’t look right to me I finally realized that since the center was cream, a cream dinner plate might work. And so it did.

I bought these heavy melamine cream dinner plates at HomeGoods a few years ago in the summer time. I also bought the same plate in a deep turquoise color. They were made by IL Mulino New York. In the past few years HomeGoods has had melamine dinnerware in the spring and summer in lots of different patterns for spring and summer dining and some of them can be used year round.

I bought these iced glass sage green chargers at Pier 1 several years ago after I saw them on another blog. I love using them in the spring and fall. I knew they would work with this salad plate and dinner plate.

I am using my Madeline Green flatware on this table, I bought the set at World Market several years ago. I really like the frosted design on the handles. It is one of my most used flatware sets. If you are developing a tablescaping collection be sure to find some flatware in a green color like this set. You will use it often!

I have had these plaid napkins for a long time, they probably came from HomeGoods or Pier 1 several years ago. I love using them on Fall tablescapes. They sometimes can add just the right pzazz to a table with a solid color tablecoth. The plastic pumpkin napkin rings came from Ebay a few years ago.

With the large pumpkin on the salad plate I knew I had to use these pumpkin place card holders. They came from Crate and Barrel a few years ago.

I bought the green acrylic goblet on the left a few years ago online at Home Depot. Home Depot sells tablescaping items. They were made by Certified International. I have had the green acrylic goblet on the right since I started tablescaping eight years ago. I bought them at Pier 1.

This cornucopia cookie jar was made by Fitz and Floyd and the pattern was called Harvest. I had been looking for a cornucopia to use as a centerpiece for awhile and I found this one on Amazon a few years ago. We have a four foot wide bar between the kitchen and the family room and I often set a seasonal cookie jar or soup tureen in the center of the bar with a few other decorations to enjoy during the different seasons. I have different ones for different seasons. In this photo you can see the small glass pumpkins scatter that I added for additional color on the tablescape. I can’t remember where I bought them, I have had them for several years.

I wanted to create some height on the table so I added these green glass candlesticks that I bought on Ebay a few years ago with some orange candles from Amazon. I am not sure if the candlesticks are vintage or not, they are unmarked. I have gathered candle holders of various shapes and sizes over the years since I started tablescaping. From time to time I love searching Ebay for vintage candlesticks, napkin rings, and place card holders. I have found some unusual ones there. I often buy candles on Amazon when I need them.

I’m really glad that I was finally able to use these salad plates on a tablescape!

To see over 270 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Table Settings and Tablescape Ideas Facebook group (4,100+ members) for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Table Settings and Tablescape Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 . We had a gathering in January 2025 and we plan to have others as well.

Don’t miss the Tablescape How-To tab at the top of my blog for DIY tips and tricks or click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week, please check back!