How to … give your table a sense of occasion

Starting something, whether decorating a pair of open shelves in the kitchen, creating a layered bed or setting a table, can be rather daunting. What to buy? What colour scheme? How should I arrange it? Should I map out my elements? How should I group items together? There are so many questions popping up but fear not my friends, over the next three weekends I’ll be sharing a “how to …” series, focusing on the often asked “how to” create those spaces that have been saved in your Instagram folder.

In the first episode of “how to …” I’ll be talking you through how to decorate and set up a table - just in time for Valentine’s or Galentine’s day!

The base (table cloth, napkins & glass wear)

First up is your base. Think table cloth, napkins, table wear and glass wear. Here I’ve used a striped table cloth and layered it with a gingham patterned piece of fabric on top. The gingham fabric finishes approx 15cm before the stripped one. If your napkins are too big then just fold them up so they fit the table.

I’m a big believer of taking what you have at home, but if you don’t have anything suitable when it comes to table cloths a tip is to head to your local fabric merchant and get a couple of pieces. No need to sew, just fold the ends, iron them to set and voilà a neat table cloth. The same thought process can be applied to the napkins. These William Morris patterned napkins are some off cuttings that I found for a cheap penny in the local fabric store.

Although it might seem like a chaos of patterns (gingham, stripes and floral) they follow the same colour scheme - the stripe and gingham have beige and earthy tones which can be found in the flowers of the William Morris napkins.

Say however that you can’t get the exact same patterns as I’ve used, just make sure you don’t try to match everything. I know it may seem counterintuitive, but a bit of contrast helps to produce a unified scheme; you don’t want to be too matchy-matchy. Mix materials like glass and ceramic, as well as different patterns - so it doesn’t feel too planned.

Moving on to the tableware: I pair the wine glasses with small water tumblers. These once are vintage Giogne tumblers by Duralex and it might be unconventional but I like drinking my wine out of sherry glasses. These once from Caro Somerset are so pretty or these smaller wine glasses from the Kitchen in Gothenburg.

Add personal toches

I love creating hand-painted stationery like menus and place settings for a very personal touch. You could also forage some seasonal foliage to decorate the table or use herbs. Here I grabbed what I had at home which was some lemons and blood oranges (but any fruit will do!). Cut a couple of them and leave some whole in that way you create different focal points.

The centrepiece … centrepieces?

Normally I’m a big fan of lining the centre of the table with little arrangments of flowers, bowls or jugs. This lets people see, and talk to each other across the table but also notice the elements as the night goes. I love it when someone stops in the middle of a conversation and says, “Oh, look at that! I just noticed!”. But, I think you should do what feels right for you and what mood you are in. Here I used a smaller vase in the middle with some “hanging” flowers and the fruit dotted around as the “lining” of the table. The good thing about February is that anemones, parrot tulips and ranunculus are in season. These flowers “hang” and therefore create a “low” but spreading centrepiece. My favourites right now are the swirl vas from the Kitchen or these Bud vases from Glassette.

As always, do press the little heart or leave a comment if you like this post – it brings me so much joy to know that you are reading and liking what I’m writing.

Jag blir så otroligt glad om ni klickar på det lilla hjärtat eller lämnar en liten kommentar så jag vet ifall ni gillar det jag gör.