Creating a perfect tablescape for the holiday party season
Designer offers 9 tips to get started
It’s time to host a holiday dinner party or two — as big or as small as you’re comfortable with, of course.
Tabletop expert Jessica Pearsall has advice for doing it in style. Because, after nearly two years of nonstop bad news, we could use a beautifully set table in our lives.
An interior designer, Pearsall now leads classes in creating tablescapes. After the death of her parents, who loved to entertain, she decided that life was too short to sit on the sidelines. It was time to do what she loves: teaching tabletop savvy to others.
Her work caught the eye of Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg, which asked her to create a tablescape with the Mottahedeh Leaping Reindeer pattern, the newest set of festive dishes in Pearsall’s growing personal collection.
Leaping Reindeer, in deep cranberry red and shimmering gold, captures the spirit of the holidays — and taps into a little bit of American history. Mottahedeh’s pattern, licensed by Colonial Williamsburg, is inspired by a c. 1860 calligraphic drawing in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
Pearsall offers this advice for setting a table — for your family or for a formal dinner party — during the holidays or any time of the year.
1. Colors
Establish your color palette. At other times of the year, Pearsall loves black and white and more recently has fallen in love with blue and white as well as the bold contrasts in Richard Ginori dishes. This Christmas, she’s embracing red and gold with the Mottahedeh Leaping Reindeer pattern.
2. Creating a collection
The idea of copying a gorgeous set table can be overwhelming. Who has all that stuff — the dishes, silver,
crystal, floral centerpieces and the accessories?
Start by collecting the basics — your “little black dress for the table,” as Pearsall calls it. She urges those getting started to find a nice set of plain white dishes, maybe something with a pretty trim, or a simple tone-on-tone design. (Hers are Williams-Sonoma white dishes with bamboo trim.)
Then decide which season you entertain in and collect accessories to support it. If you’re preparing for small dinner parties, collect in the quantity you’ll host most often. For Christmas Day dinner, think about how many people you’ll have over and collect accordingly. Over time, you’ll build a collection of pieces you can use at different times of the year.
In her family, Pearsall hosts Easter dinner, so she aims for spring colors for that. When she used to host Thanksgiving dinner, she invested in themed plates for the holiday. Get the most for your money by shopping end-of-season sales.
3. Stemware
Pearsall says decorative stemware is trending right now. Look for good-quality water goblets and wine glasses with a metallic rim or a set that matches your style.
4. Table linens
A nice tablecloth isn’t enough. You’ll want place mats to set on the tablecloth to help create a separate space for each place setting. For a starter set, try something with woven natural fibers that you can use yearround.
For Christmas, Pearsall suggests buying white napkins and taking them to a screen printer to have something seasonal printed on them. That could be the image of a Christmas tree, wreath or star or words such as “fa la la la la.” Be creative.
5. Fresh flowers
Put away the artificial flowers and use fresh stems that incorporate and complement the colors on your table. Pearsall recommends keeping your floral arrangement low, so guests can see over it. Another option is to scatter smaller arrangements in mini vases around the table.
If you can’t make your own arrangements, go to a supermarket and buy some that are ready-made or order them from a florist.
6. Mix and match
As with everything else in interior design, being matchymatchy is off trend. Try mixing charger plates and dinner/luncheon or salad plates in different colors and patterns.
For her Leaping Reindeer setting, Pearsall used a place mat for texture with a charger that provides a red and gold rim. A dinner plate has white with a little gold bleeding in; the Leaping Reindeer salad/dessert plate brings the fun.
7. The extras
Once you have your table planned out, work in special things for specific guests. For example, add small bags of candy tied with pretty ribbon to the kids’ table or tall glass jars filled with colorful candies to the dessert table.
For the grown-up tables, use laser-cut calligraphy nameplates. (Go to etsy.com and search “laser cut names”; do not wait until the last minute for this.)
8. Planning
When it comes to pulling off a dinner party or large family event, know your limitations. If you’re not a big planner, at least make sure you know the different elements of your tablescape and be prepared for them.
9. Build relationships
If you’re going to host bigger parties on a regular basis, build a list of go-to sources for food, beverages and table accessories and get to know the people who own them or work at them. Get to know the florist, butcher and wine expert at your local supermarket so you can ask for specific things. They can ensure you get what you want — and they might make some great recommendations, too.