Styling a Timeless Holiday Table, for Any Occasion
The holidays can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to hosting and entertaining. Holiday gatherings carry the pressure of being “successful” or “beautiful” events, but making it all happen can be tedious and stressful.
Holiday prep usually involves a lot of cleaning, organizing, rearranging, menu and meal prepping, and of course, decorating.
To many, decorating can feel burdensome, intimidating, and eventually exhausting. It’s usually a time consuming task that involves dusty boxes being pulled out of the corners of our garages, and hours spent arranging, only to be enjoyed for a couple hours, then taken down and cleaned up later that evening or begrudgingly, the next morning. And who exactly looks forward to post-holiday clean up? Nobody.
In my opinion, decorating should be effortless and refueling. It should feel meditative, stress-free, and rejuvenating. In fact, I find it to be incredibly healing, and I did when I was in the pit of my illness.
So, this year, I’d like to inspire you to do something a little different.
Inspired by a styling job I did for Anthropologie’s The Life Within event, last spring, I’m bringing you a few simple ways to style an effortlessly, beautiful and timeless, holiday table, that can be left in tact after the holiday season.
Who doesn’t love a little year round beauty, anyway ;)
image courtesy of Anthropologie’s Morgan Ashley Jo
Pick a color palette
The first step to designing a beautiful table, regardless of the occasion, is picking a color palette. Choosing a color palette will keep the table cohesive and seamless, allowing it to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Stick to neutrals such as white, off-white, cream, light grey, blush pink (fleshy tones) or black (if you’re feeling adventurous and edgy) as your base palette. Ditch the predictable holiday color schemes, and go for something more elevated and timeless. This way, when it’s time to take it all down, you actually won’t have to, just yet.
Forage for finds
Florals and greenery are my go-to way of dressing a table. Whether I design arrangements in vases, or go for a garland style centerpiece, foliage always give a room a lush look, and a breath of fresh air. Not to mention, they’re good for the soul and our bodies, too!
Rather than stressing over ordering expensive arrangements or clunky, statuesque, center pieces and decorations, grab a pair of clippers or sheers, and go for a walk outside around your neighborhood, and forage for finds!
Give your table a personal touch, by using what you can find, locally, in your very neighborhood. Snip a few branches off of a nearby lemon or fruit tree, and use them as your base. Grab a few pinecones you come across on the ground, or pull over off of a nearby freeway exit and snag some pompous grass that caught your eye! You can even head to a nearby public park, or ask your neighbor if you can “borrow” a few clippings. Use this as an excuse to get outside, connect with your world, and play with your hands.
If you have trouble finding foliage you’re attracted to in your neighborhood, head on over to a local Trader Joe’s or farmer’s market, and grab a few bunches of eucalyptus or pine. You can never go wrong with a quick TJ’s visit, for the base of your designs.
Keep it cheap, or keep it free.
Play with texture
Beauty is found wherever you choose to look. Don’t underestimate the stubborn weeds that keep growing on the side of your home, or the dried brush along the street. These wispy pieces add texture and dimension to your arrangements.
They give it life!
You can even play into the flavors in your dishes as well, which is something I love to do, by using herbs such as rosemary, thyme, mint, or basil, as elements of texture and dimension in your arrangements.
Be creative and unconventional
When adorning your table, don’t limit yourself to only using flowers or foliage. Get creative, and be playful. Add pops of color or play with shapes, by using unique ingredients. I love going to a local market, and finding fun pieces to add to my table and arrangements, such as heirloom tomatoes, kumquats, citrus, nuts, and berries. I place these ingredients around the vases to give them a natural, organic look, as if they fell off of a tree, perfectly placed, by Mother Nature.
If you’d like a more themed look to your table, explore new ways of adding holiday elements and pops of color! Add tiny squash, pumpkins, or walnuts, for a Thanksgiving themed table. Or maybe, play with cranberries, pomegranates, or holly stems, for a classic, Christmas look. If you’re hosting New Years, paint fine, champagne glitter on a few pinecones or dried eucalyptus stems, to add just a touch of sparkle. Have fun with it, and use your imagination.
Let your dishes do the talking
Your dishes should be the star of the show. We all know the holiday season is centered around food, so the dishes we make are undeniably, the most important part of our tables. We spend hours and hours marinating, mixing, baking, grilling, and sautéing, so, why not let these hours of work, become a decorative part of the table, as well?
Allow your pops of color to come from your food. Use ingredients that are rich and saturated in color, highlighting their beauty and nutrients. Dress an arugula, kale, and squash salad in pomegranate seeds or cherries, for playful pops of color. Roast acorn squash or a plate of carrots, and let their sizzled beauty shine in all it’s simplicity. Use whole radishes as table ornaments, or slice them and toss them over a bed of rice or quinoa, for an unexpected, vibrant touch.
The decorative world is your oyster!
Quick Tip: When arranging, be sure to start with size. Begin designing the base (the skeleton) of your arrangement with the largest foliage. Start from the center, and work your way out, moving from largest foliage, to medium sized foliage, to wispy accents and textures. For example, start with lemon leaf, then move on to eucalyptus, then add in touches of pine, a few stems of ivy, then a few wispy pieces like dried weeds, foxtail, or pompous grass.
Stumped on what types of dishes or platters to use for your table? Here are a few of my favorites, for inspiration.
