DESIGNING YOUR TABLE SETTING
Designing your table setting is a fun opportunity to express care, consideration, and your creativity. It's a process that I'm forever changing and growing - no two of my table settings are ever the same.
PLATE SELECTION
When you're selecting your plates and cups for your dinner guests, not all of them have to match. Sometimes it's fun to have a variety - just use what you have!
Here I took some of my cloth napkins and tied them with some hemp string. I love the scent of Rosemary and since we were using it while cooking, I threw some of the leftover pieces in the napkin to help tie the place setting and dinner together.
It's fun to look up different ways to place your napkins. You can place them under your plates, on top, on the side, or in a glass.
Here are some direct links of other fun ways to display your napkins:
PLACE SETTING
We painted our dining room table with chalkboard paint because we knew we wanted to use the free space for decorating and designing. This also makes it easy to create place settings for each guest.
I find it helpful to create place settings for everyone at the table. This provides you the opportunity to place people near who they will feel comfortable with and also allow you to disperse your "talkers." The last thing you want is the conversation on one end of the table. If you know two people will hit it off, set them across from each other diagonally at separate ends of the table. This will allow for the conversation to flow more naturally across the whole table.
I've been kinda obsessed lately with drawing some kind of design around the place setting to help bring everything together. Here I drew a basic half wreath, but you can mess around and do whatever you want. The good thing about chalk is you can easily erase and start back over.
Dont have fancy chargers or placemats? No problem. I cut newspaper and any leftover material I can find in it's place. This was a burlap based material that I had leftover from an event I threw a few years ago. I just measured it out a little bit larger than the plates I would be using. It worked great! You can also use card stock, felt, or any other materials you have laying around.
FILLING THE TABLE
Provide water and a fun drink, even if it's just tea or lemonade. It's also an added win whenever you find a cool bottle that can also function as a table decoration.
If you have a lot of space left over on your table, try adding accompanying side dishes or appetizers to compliment your meal.
Whenever I'm putting together an appetizer plate, I always try to put a main piece in the center and build out from around it. Instead of simply throwing some crackers on a plate, it brings balance, thoughtfulness, and becomes part of the table decor.
CENTERPIECE
I like having some kind of centerpiece on the table. The options are endless. Depending on who you are having over, you can base you flower centerpiece on their favorite flowers or colors. If you're not a flower person, I love greenery and think it works great on its own!
The key is to try to find something that isn't too high, blocking conversation and also still provides a comfortable amount of room on your table for food, plates, etc.
For this setting, I didn't want to have the standard - all flowers in one vase. So, I took a few of my bottles and put a few flowers in each. This provided both color and variety to my table.
I'm back and forth on table runners. It just depends on the mood when I'm putting together the table. Here I used a long burlap strip that I cut to match the place settings. But then I wanted it to feel a bit more layered, so I added a cut piece of lace on the top.
You can use anything from cut material to a bed sheet. The options are endless!
CONSIDER THE VIEW
Consider how the table will be experienced from different sides of the room. You want the table to feel balanced and intentional when considering where you will be placing items.
I strung some lighting above the table to provide a warmer atmosphere as it becomes darker outside and the night progresses. You can also place candles of different sizes on the table. I enjoy using different sizes which allows the setting to feel more natural and less stiff.
Here are some direct links of other fun ways to display your candles:
Designing your table setting is one of the great joys of hosting people for dinner. Have fun and be creative!
Here are some other blogs you can use to find inspiration for your table:
Now you're ready to go design your table. I'd love to hear about some of your table designing best practices. I hope you share some of them in the comments below.
| Credits: Author - Jacintha Payne; Photography - Calvin and Jacintha Payne |
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