Whimsical Furniture From Germany’s Art Syndicate

When I design a room, I prefer to mix styles so create a room with visual texture. Depending on the space, the design criteria, and the client, that sometimes calls for a spot of whimsy in the mix. Art Syndicate offers just that, plus lighting, carpet and more – all pulled together from a Read More…

8 Great Planters To Make Your Trees & Flowers Look Even Better

I took this photo of our window well pond last year. We closed off a window in the basement, sealed it with black swimming pool liner, and built up the well with brick and a limestone cap. Then we added a simple plug-in fountain and surrounded the pool with potted flowers and lanterns. The final touch was installing some hand painted scenic tiles we bought in Portugal. Read More…

Soft Cozy & Warm Pastel Color Palette

Last month’s House Beautiful featured this warm and toasty room on last month’s cover. I immediately fell for the soft mix of colors. Brown with pink and blue has been around awhile, but the pastels seem fresh – more new. It also proves that you can use pink in a living room. Read More…

4 Beautiful Holiday Place Setting Ideas

How do you set the perfect table for the holidays? Here are four ideas I dreamed up to help and inspire you. Plus, a few of my usual tips so you can create your own special table.

Traditional Christmas

Owning a set of Christmas dishes is a wonderful thing. It adds to the traditional atmosphere of the day. A special set, like Grenadiers (Bernardaud, $67.00 dinner plate) becomes a family heirloom.

For this place setting I started with a cotton place mat with holiday embroidery (C&W Imports, $7.00). To show off the dinner¬† plate I placed a burgundy charger underneath to create contrast (Picard, $99.00). The salad plate (Decor Or from JL Coquet Limoges, $124.00) in a style that complements the plate. I’m not a master napkin folder, I made a simple fold using a matching embroidered napkin (C&W Imports, $7.00) to finish the setting.

For accents, keep things traditional with cut crystal stemware. Candles candles should match the plates. Different heights are nice.

Vintage Simplicity

Sometimes the best things in life come from garage sales. That’s where I found these napkins. They make great placemats. Because they’re not a traditional size, I’d start with a white tablecloth with the placemats on top. The dishes are vintage Lenox – the Cretin pattern from the 1960′s.

I kept this simple, with stainless flatware and a vintage, handmade wine glass I bought on a trip to Venice. The “focal point” is a handmade Christmas ornament.

A Sophisticated Table

I wrote about the nxt two place setting last week, but decided to put them all together in one post. Hope you don’t mind! I wanted to show how you can dress a place setting by creating a focal point. A small dish in the center of the dinner plate focuses the eye on the center. I added a matching glass ornament, tied with a satin ribbon to finish the look.

The dishes are a charger (Anciennes Manufacture Royale, $150) topped with one of the most beautiful dishes in the world – Herend’s Elizabeth ($250.00). The focal point dish is Gold Leaf by Bernardaud, $79.00. I used a contrasting napkin at set it above the plate just to be different. A snowflake napkin ring is a nice touch.

Casual Christmas

IF you own a nice set of everyday dishes, you can dress them up for the holidays with linens. At yet another estate sale I found this handmade lace tablecloth. That adds some nice texture. Christmas colors set the holiday mood. I used a green placemat (Bodrum, $15.00) with a country-style red and white napkin (Williamsburg, $5.50). The beautiful dishes are from Juliska. I centered the look with a cutting from the garden, tied with a red satin ribbon.

Jennifer’s Tips

• Use natural fibers. All cotton, linen and satin are the key to a perfect table setting. Synthetic fabrics don’t have the same look or feel. Satin or grosgrain ribbon are good choices because they don’t look like gift wrap.
• Create a focal point with a small dish and a napkin or Christmas ornament. A dreidel is another perfect choice.
• Buy a set of matching wine glasses. You can find stemware at the grocery store!

I’d like the thank The League Shop for lending me all the pieces for my place settings. They sell things both contemporary and traditional. If you live in Detroit, pay them a visit. We all need to buy locally. If you live elsewhere, you can still call the shop – they’ll be happy to place an order over the phone.

Do you have a favorite place setting idea?

How To Set A Beautiful Holiday Table

You don’t need a special set of holiday china to set a table that also sets the mood. Any color china can be embellished to do the job nicely.

Here some more tips (see yesterday’s post) on how to take what you have and make the most of it.

Start with your everyday china. What color is it? I’m using Herend’s spectacular Elizabeth pattern. It’s super pricey ($250 per dinner plate), but it’s too beautiful not to play with. Really, any plate will do. Work with the main color and choose colors that will match, or coordinate. Gold and silver are usually good choices for holidays. There’s no law that says you can’t use any color you like because we’re going to make it say “Holiday” with a focal point.

Since the color I’m working is raspberry with gold accents, I’ve set a matching charger underneath. This gold banded style is from Ancienne Manufacture Royale ($150.00). Ouch?! I agree. Just scoot over to Target where you’ll find a wide variety of choices for about $15.00 each. Just make sure your charger complements the plate. Gold or silver are festive choices.

Now we need a plate for our focal point. I’m continuing with my raspberry and gold color palette by using a gold butter dish ($79.00 from Bernardaud). You can use gold, silver or a color than matches your dish. A small butter dish is nice because its size focuses the eye on the center. Here is another example, using a larger plate from the same Gold Leaf pattern, which makes the point that smaller is better.

Top the small dish with an ornament of the season. Keep in mind that you want to use something that complements your color palette. Here are some ideas.

• Christmas: an ornament tied with a satin ribbon
• Thanksgiving: a leaf, pine cone, berries, gourd. Tie a satin ribbon at the stem.
• Hanukkah: A dreidel, a little box tied with ribbon

Now that we have our focal point, we’re going to round out the place setting with stainless, flatware from Waterford ($89.00 5 piece setting). A little gold accent is nice with our setting. For a less expensive option, try this one from Target.

I’m not one for fancy napkin folding, so I used a simple snowflake ring and a jewel-toned green napkin. Jewel tones go together. Blue goes with red, silver, orange. Not everything has to match.

Finally, make sure you have enough wine glasses. Drinking glasses are not allowed! If you use proper wine glasses you can buy less expensive wine and it will taste better. These are from Juliska and Simon Pearce.

My centerpiece are simple flowers in a coordinating color. Actually, these flowers were awful – sprayed! The stuff got all over everything. They look pretty, though.

Jennifer’s Tips

1. Use your regular china and choose a matching or coordinating color palette. Gold and silver are good holiday choices

2. Create a focal point by using a small plate topped with an ornament of the season.

3. Use real wine glasses

4. Linens should be natural fibers and ribbons should be satin or grosgrain – no giftwrap.

Thanks to The League Shop, Grosse Pointe’s best tabletop shop, for allowing me to borrow their beautiful dishes and tableware. They will be happy to take orders over the phone and ship the Herend china directly to my door (LOL)!

Do you have some holiday tips? Share!