RSVPstyle

Oh yum! Designing delicious tablescapes

Part 3: Easy transition to a holiday look

By Cathy Lee, RSVPstyle

The first three settings in this Tablescape series featured completely different looks: Asian-island, off-the-wall contemporary and natural-neutral. But you don’t always have to start from scratch to create a distinctive look. This last tablescape shows one way to augment what you already have to create a sophisticated effect perfect for those extra-special occasions.

With the holidays looming near, I wanted to wrap up with a festive arrangement that not only veered away from the stereotypical red and green, but used just a little sparkle to transform an existing setting into a beautiful Christmas tablescape.

Holiday. I started with my natural-neutral setting, keeping the placemats and two white plates. The switch began with the napkins: The taupe original was replaced with a dusky powder-blue Calvin Klein napkin. For some holiday dazzle, I went to Macy’s Holiday Lane and found a butterfly ornament (which, by the way, would also look great clipped onto your guest’s place card).

Bella Sera silverware from J.A. Henkles brought clean, contemporary lines to the scape. Silver-rimmed crystal wine glasses tied in perfectly to the glass cylinder centerpiece. Now how to create a holiday arrangement with the brown curly willow?

Simple! I found some silver-painted pine cones to add to the river rocks at the base, then back I went to Holiday Lane for these amazing snow-covered branches. They filled in the curly willow with added dimension, and with their crystal beads and sparkles, they looked like snow-covered branches dripping with icicles—exactly what I wanted for a beautiful holiday feel. Besides, they picked up the sparkle of the butterflies on the napkins, and you know Christmas isn’t Christmas without a little bit of bling!

For just a bit more dazzle, I placed a round mirror under the centerpiece and brought in two lit votives for some holiday glow. Finally, to repeat the dusky blue in the napkins, I filled a mango wood calabash bowl with sparkly blue glass ornaments.

The combination of natural-neutral and holiday elements worked because of the layering of different colors, textures and shapes, and the repetition of each feature so that no one thing looked like an odd afterthought.

And the finishing sparkle? It’s not visible in the photo, but I absolutely could not resist a little sprinkling of blue and silver confetti!

Part 1: An Asian-island tablescape

Part 2: Contemporary and natural-neutral looks