Good morning!
I hope everyone is doing well out there as Christmas draws closer and closer with all its attendant hustle and bustle. Today I am sharing my Christmas tablescape. The inspiration for the table was some salad plates that I’ve had for a couple of years, but they have been languishing in the cabinet (I hesitate to call it a china cabinet because it hangs out in the garage) as I tried to figure out how best to style them.
These two plates were brought in by Pottery Barn – I think it might have been 2018 or 2019? There was a Santa/sleigh/reindeer plate and this merry plate. I haven’t seen the Santa plates since I bought them but the merry plate is back this year. At the time, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better so I bought some of each. And therein was the first of my challenges. The Santa plates looked fine on a simple white dinner plate, but the merry plates not so much. Too much white, I thought.
The Santa plates have a toile feel to me, and I had initially envisioned a toile dinner plate to be the coordinating background to the merry plate. But after looking at what seemed like hundreds of toile plates, nothing really seemed to work or that I was willing to take a risk for online. Reds can be hard to match.
The second challenge with the salad plates was that they are not a traditional Christmas red – they are more of a cranberry color. So whatever Christmas dinner plates that I had on hand were not the right color of red. I had almost given up on them but then I found a toile-ish Ralph Lauren tablecloth in HomeSense and that encouraged me to keep going. No matching napkins though, and I knew I didn’t have any at home that would match either, other than white ones. Plus, I was still minus some coordinating dinner plates. So back into the cabinet the salad plates went for another year.
The one thing about a Ralph Lauren tablecloth is that there are most likely napkins to match. Somewhere out there. So I started an eBay search for matching napkins. It took the better part of a year, but eventually, a set of four turned up. 4 is better than 0, right? I pulled the salad plates out again this year to see where I was at. I had the tablecloth and 4 napkins, and some wine glasses and napkin rings from my stash that would do. Still missing some dinner plates though lol.
But not too long ago, my mom and I were in HomeSense just checking out their Christmas items. I saw some glass dinner plates – they were those plates made in Turkey that come in from time to time – and they were more of a raspberry/cranberry color and OMG, I was pretty sure they would match my merry plates. I scooped them up in a heartbeat. On a hunch, we jumped into the car to check out a bigger HomeSense store further away. There we found matching charger plates too. Bonus! At home, they were not a perfect match, but a pretty good one.
As for the two different place settings on the table, here is the Santa plate on a white Mikasa dinner plate and the cranberry glass charger:
With the napkin and napkin ring that didn’t make it into the above picture…
And here is the merry plate on the red dinner plate and white charger. This picture really shows the napkin ring which is a cranberry color as well. My sister has these napkin rings in a soft green; both are pretty but they are really big. I almost think that they need their own tablescape to properly showcase them, but in any case, they happily joined the merry plates at this table.
Here is an earlier photo of the table with a remnant of sun coming through the front windows. It looks like I was still playing musical chairs with the napkins here… I really wanted all the place settings to have these toile napkins but I only had four of them at the time so I ended up using some white napkins instead.
The centerpiece may look elaborate, but it isn’t really. It started with a quilted table runner in a cranberry color that I found in HomeSense last year and that I totally forgot that I had. Then I placed my mercury candle holders from Pottery Barn collected over the years. Next I added some frosted cranberry poinsettia flowers that came from HomeSense, many years ago. Some flocked white poinsettia flowers were next; they came from Michaels this year, as did the other two cranberry-colored flowers. I added some gilded poinsettia flowers to the mix that I had from last year; you can see them in a tablescape here. I also added a white pick-like piece at each end. Last, I added some white and silver Christmas ornaments to fill in any gaps.
I used my red mirrored wine glasses with the Santa plates and the silver wine glasses at the two ends of the table. I only have four of these red glasses; I would love two more of them, but I’ve looked everywhere and haven’t been able to find any. They were originally from Pier 1, maybe five or six years ago.
All in all, I’m very pleased with the addition of the cranberry dinner and charger plates this year. They will go with several other tablescapes that I have in mind. A couple of pictures with the candles lit:
So what happened to the tablecloth? Well, tablecloths with a strong white background do not go well in the dining room. The white background of the tablecloth makes the ivory chairs look gray and dirty. So, I’ll save it for the kitchen table on Christmas day.
It occurs to me as I write this post that the background centerpiece of white and silver lends itself to any accent color. I’ve used a cranberry color because that’s what I had to work with. But traditional red or green accents would work too – as would a white and gold background, or even a white and copper background. Navy, sapphire, or cobalt blue accents would be pretty too (note to self). Lots of possibilities.
Two last pictures showing the place settings using everyday white dinnerware. I’ll use this in another post I’m working on. You can really appreciate the size of the napkin rings here…
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and joyous holiday season!
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Happy New Year!! (a little late)…so happy you have found my blog and vice versa!! And a fellow Canadian! My favourite place in the world is Calgary, Banff…etc. I’m surrounded by the ocean…but I would prefer to view the Rockies any day of the week! We visited there about three years ago…and cannot wait to go back!
http://myseventiessplit.blogspot.com
Thanks so much Charlotte and its great to have found your blog too! And yes, Banff is a wonderful place to visit – there is something about being right smack dab in the middle of the mountains that makes you appreciate how majestic they truly are. I feel lucky to live so close to the Rockies, and hope for you that your are able to visit again. Thanks for stopping by and take care!
Kim, what a gorgeous tablescape! I really appreciated the back story of how you acquired the pieces. That sounds like what I do sometimes. I spotted those merry plates on sale after Christmas…..sold out. No wonder. I love the Santa plates too. And those cranberry chargers and napkin rings are fab.
Lol, I totally get your comment on my bare necessities when you say you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum. That’s where I was 3 yrs ago….and now I’m finding myself buying back things I gave away! Happy new year. May you have plenty of what you need, amd more of what you want!
Thanks so much for your comments Rita! Yes, those merry plates… I loved your comment about the bare necessities, and truth be told, I’m just a bit envious of where you are with that. Hopefully with my mad culling I can move a little closer to that place myself! Thanks for stopping by and wishing you the best in 2022!
Kim, your adorable tablescape was the most clicked at the Friday with Friends link party.
Thanks for sharing it 🙂
I’m looking forward to another year of pretty inspiration when the party starts up again this Friday, January 7th.
Hope to see you there!
Rachelle
Rachelle, that is so nice to hear and thank you for letting me know. I’ll be sure to link up to your Friday with Friends party whenever I can – thanks for letting me know about that too – looks like a super fun party!
I know well the frustration of finding something that’s just right, but there’s not enough of it. So you get it anyway (because it’s just right), then spend months on the lookout for what you still need. Colors change with the hue and intensity and the question becomes ‘will they match?’ or ‘they won’t, but will they be off enough to look intentional?’. But in the end you have a beautiful tablescape such as yours! I absolutely love cranberry shades for Christmas!
Sandra – you have described the “matching” frustration perfectly!! And yup, “so you get it anyway”. Too funny! I’ve sometimes thought that I should just pretend that whatever tablescape I’m working on just magically came together without a hitch, but then, what fun would that be lol. And who would believe you since almost anyone who tablescapes knows that tables just don’t come together magically (at least for me). Thanks so much for visiting and for your insightful comments. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
Kim, you did a great job narrowing down which plates to use. I’ve been in that situation where I think it will all go well together, but doesn’t hit the mark. Your table is stunning, and you can pull out the merry plates next year and come up with another fab design!
I would love it if you added this post to my Friday with Friends link party!
Merry Christmas
RR
Thanks so much for your comments Rachelle, and I agree that those merry plates definitely lend themselves to future tablescapes. I am delighted and honored to add this post to your Friday with Friends link party – just let me know (this tech unsavvy person) what I need to do and I’m happy to do it. Thanks for visiting and Merry Christmas to you too!
Kim, your table is really beautiful. I love both plates from PB and your centerpiece is perfect. Those large and pretty napkin rings are the real showstoppers on the last two photos. I also love it with the Merry plate. Wishing you a most joyous Christmas season.
Thanks so much Pam for your comments. I liked both the plates too which is why I had so much trouble trying to decide. I know that I’ll use the merry plate again for another tablescape. Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a joyous Christmas season as well!
Really pretty! Your glass plates and chargers look great with both plate designs. Enjoy, enjoy!
Thank you for your lovely comments Joy! Yes, I was very happy to have stumbled on the glass chargers and plates and finally get the chance to use the PB plates in a tablescape. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and thanks for stopping by!
Gorgeous Kim! I love the merry mix of red and white! Your plates are adorable, especially the merry ones. I love all the different ways you styled the napkins and your centerpiece is beautiful! I hope you are having a very merry holiday season!
Thanks so much Jenna! I’ll pop over to your blog a little later because I know you have a delightful table waiting there. Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season as well!
Such a beautiful table Kim! I love the cranberry red, and you’ve made it look so festive – especially that gorgeous centerpiece! Thanks for the inspiration, and hope you’re enjoying your holidays!
Thanks so much Barbara – love to see that smiling face! I hope we will get to see a holiday table from Mantel and Table this season, but if not, wishing you the merriest of Christmases and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!