If you know me at all, you know I love the holiday season. I love the decorations, music, traditions - both new and old, and of course the food. Maybe all those delicious goodies are the reason I adore a festive tablescape! What's the irony of a girl who loves having a well designed table setting... when said girl does not currently have a dining room... or table for that matter! Our little house has a great eat in kitchen island, but sadly no room for a table. A girl can dream of the day though, and borrow her parent's table for blog purposes in the meantime!

With all that said, I dreamed up a few Christmas and New Year's tablescapes. It mostly started as a thought about how I would decorate my non-existant table, now that I switched up my Christmas decor with my Chinoiserie Christmas tree (which you can peep on my Instagram!) and gradually evolved into a blog post, as more ideas popped into my head. After writing out my thoughts, and taking stock of the items I had on hand, I ordered a few fun new table linens and told my mom to break out the good silverware because I was coming to take over her dining room!

Rustic Christmas

A classic, Rustic Christmas aesthetic inspired this table setting. For years I've used this beautiful grapevine sleigh as my parent's centerpiece. Mom and I love to shop the after Christmas sales and this was one of our awesome finds many, many years ago. While the grapevine has been embellished with sparkly beading, it has a simple elegance, making it very versatile. This year as I imagined a rustic tablescape, I was inspired by The Christmas Song (my favorite version is by Hootie & the Blowfish) because it just brings to mind such a cozy, woodsy vibe for me. After layering the table with a timeless tartan table cloth, and a white velvet runner for texture, I added a little more color with the green placemats & napkins, red chargers, and simple white plates. To keep the natural, rustic look I cut a few evergreen boughs from the yard, and added a little bundle of pinecones to each place setting, in lieu of place cards.

Heirloom Christmas

Somewhat a last minute idea, that I really pulled together as I was looking for the placemats used above, I found a vintage tablerunner that was my Grandmothers. I decided to design a tablescape around the poinsettia runner using predominately family pieces. The dark green table cloth belongs to my mom, and while not an heirloom per say, she has used it as far back as I can remember, much like her beautiful holly dishes. She has also had those lovely six sided dinner glasses for over 40 years! I used a simple white cloth napkin folded between the plates and chargers. The centerpiece is a beautiful, gold bust of Ol' Saint Nick, which was another after Christmas find from Stein Mart about 10 years ago. With a little candy cane treat at each place setting, I tucked the remaining candy canes into the boxwood wreath hanging from the window, since they are such a true Christmas classic. After this photoshoot, Jeremy put the candy canes on his Christmas tree... until I caught Punchy trying to steal one!!!

Chinoiserie Christmas

My personal favorite, and the tablescape that got the ball rolling on this post... Chinoiserie Christmas! This is exactly how my table would be set, this very minute, had I had one! I pulled the same elements from my Chinoiserie inspired Christmas tree - blue & white, gold, and tartan. I was finally able to use the stunning gold chargers I got for my wedding, paired with my mom's china and cut crystal goblets. To bring in a little more color and detail, I used a navy ribbon to tie red ornaments to each place setting. These would be so cute as place cards at a dinner party (when we are allowed to have those again... thanks, global pandemic) using a gold paint pen to write the names. The table needed a bit of greenery, so I again trekked out into the yard, and cut a few magnolia branches. I used a blue and white ginger jar with a Sam's Club bouquet for the base of the centerpiece. I wanted more grandeur, so I added some curly willow (from my wedding centerpieces!) and the evergreen boughs from the Rustic Christmas tablescape.

New Year's Eve

Lastly, we are ending 2020 with not one, but two New Year's Eve tablescapes! Really I should say one tablescape, with two options for table runner...because I could decided one way or the other when I was shopping for linens. It wouldn't be NYE without some glitz and glamour, so I pulled out the gold sequin table cloth I used for my wedding gift table. I seriously use it all the time - sequin table clothes are great for holiday, birthdays, petty much any type of celebration! In my indecisive linen shopping, I couldn't decide between the black and white stripe runner or the black with gold "swirls" runner. They are both so pretty, but also lend the same tablescape a different feeling. The black and white stripe is bold, making the table seem a bit more modern, while the swirls has a more understated elegance. Other than swapping those out, I used two white and gold nutcrackers from my collection as well as the little boxwood topiary that typically sits on my mantle. Both the topiary and wreath on the window have a simple black and with stripe ribbon to add a little bit of pattern. My mom's black and white greek key chairs also work so perfectly with these looks!