'Tis the season of festive gatherings around the table with friends and family. From intimate holiday dinners to large parties, there is much hosting happening this time of year. For our gatherings this year we are creating a festive tablescape with just a few key materials to create an elegant, fresh look. 

 

Come take a look at our table and fill your plate with some lavender holiday decorating inspiration!

Holiday Table Setting with Lavender and Juniper

When creating a color and texture palette, less is often more. Restricting the palette can make the overall look more cohesive and visually powerful. For our holiday table, we have confined our palette to only a few color and textural elements and then repeat them throughout the look.

  

For our foundation we used an oatmeal linen runner. We chose a light color to both bounce light and to set the stage for our more colorful elements. Creating contrast this way, with a runner or tablecloth, helps our focal elements visually pop.

The primary naturals in our tablescape are fresh juniper, tree trunk rounds and dried lavender, of course! Limiting our palette to just three naturals allows us to create visual play through repetition and volume. We repeated these three elements throughout to carry the eye and create visual interest along the entire table.

We chose fresh juniper for its soft, dusty blue-green color and sinuous texture to complement and bring out the blue-violet in the dried lavender. The texture and scale of the tree trunk rounds provide color echoing with our wooden table and actual weight and height to our overall look.

 

 

Our accents consist of large pine cones (not the cinnamon ones from the grocery store!) and a variety of light wood, gold and clear glass candlesticks in a range of shapes and sizes. We used white and cream taper candles of varying heights to create an organic elevation flow. We avoided positioning these accents in a uniform row, but rather varied their positions on the runner to create depth within the overall aesthetic. This also creates small, visually engaging moments when viewed from different angles and heights which is a fun treat for the guests around your table.

 

 

For our place settings we continued the aesthetic themes we had already established by using neutral dishes and cutlery so that our decorative napkin presentation had a supportive stage from which to shine.

Here are a few versions of napkin presentation repeating our textural and color palette by having a few sprigs of lavender and juniper peaking out of each napkin. You could add a small card stock rectangle to the napkin (either tied into the twine or tucked into the fold) with the guest's name inscribed on it to help guide folks to their seats.

  

All that's now needed is to light the candles, dish up our plates and enjoy the joy and comfort of sharing a holiday meal with good friends and family.

We hope these ideas have sparked your creativity and provided some inspiration for your own festive holiday table. Cheers!