DOWN-TO-EARTH HOLIDAY DECOR
Bring nature inside to adorn Thanksgiving table
When it comes to Thanksgiving, we often put a lot of thought and time into the meal we’re preparing, sometimes forgetting about our table settings and the fun we can have with decorating our homes for the holiday, says Kendall Ansell of Burnaby B.C.’s Kendall Ansell Interiors.
“Your tabletop is a place to also show gratitude, love and affection for your guests,” she says.
Faux fruit and vegetables have made their way into both runway fashion and home decor in a big way, says Wayfair.ca spokesperson Alexa Battista, and Thanksgiving presents the perfect opportunity to experiment with faux corn, apples and pears. You can use these to form a centrepiece, she says, and reuse them for holiday entertaining come Christmas time.
Table runners are a great way to anchor your centrepieces, says HomeSense design expert Tamara Robbins Griffith, and there are a lot of new ones featuring the latest seasonal hues.
Handcrafted stoneware from Portugal is also proving popular for fall, she says, and with its earthy quality, would be perfect for Thanksgiving feasting.
“Feel free to mix and match shades, to create layered place settings. Some of these pieces are oven-to-table, which makes them that much more multi-functional,” Griffith says.
Taking a measured approach to seasonal decor is always a good idea, says Griffith, and means you’ll get more use out of the items you choose. So instead of going for one too many pumpkins, think more along the lines of beautiful glazes, metallic finishes and mixed materials.
“A couple of new elements, like a butter dish or leaf-shaped napkins in your tablescape, can make your regular dishes feel ready for a Thanksgiving dinner,” she says.
This is also the time of year when plants are saying goodbye to us and leaving us with what’s left of their hard work, says Jehna Chrysler of Hilary Miles Flowers in Vancouver.
Thanksgiving is a great time to reap their bounty and use it to decorate our homes, she says.
“I’m loving berries, bittersweet, snow berries, rosehip, and even bramble (blackberry),” says the florist.
One cautionary note, says Chrysler, is that some of these plants can be poisonous, so if you have small children or pets, it’s good to ask your florist if these items will drop easily or are dangerous.
“Most florists should have a good idea of the toxicity of the things they sell,” she says.
You can make wreaths or garlands from these, or “just plug them into your planters as they start to die off.”
Dead flower arrangements are all the rage at the moment, says Chrysler, and although she’s hoping it’s a passing trend, she notes that mixing in dried items like luneria, wheat, scabisoa pods, and pampas grass with fresh flowers is a great look at this time of year.
“There are also some really nice branches out, covered in lichen and moss, or clean and striped like tiger wood, and smooth-barked manzanita. As well as a lot of branches with fruit on them: fig, crabapple, dusky berries, privet and nuts like acorn, walnuts and chestnuts,” she says.
In using these plants to decorate for Thanksgiving, Chrysler recommends mixing light and dark foliage, “like burgundy smoke bush paired with pops of soft champagne-toned dahlia or pink garden rose.”
Any of the above will look great in a bronze, gold or black container or vase, she says, suggesting we don’t overlook the abundance of nice foliage out there right now — oak leaf, smoke bush, hops, jasmine, magnolia, weigela, crocosmia pods — that can transform a Thanksgiving table.
“Don’t be afraid to do a big vase of foliage, it has huge impact without breaking the bank.”