Like many of you, our Thanksgiving will be smaller this year (only six family members) but that shouldn’t stop us from making it extra special! In fact, I’m putting more intention behind decorating for the holidays and making our celebrations memorable after this challenging year.
Starting with Thanksgiving…
This year I drew inspiration from warm earth tones, organic elements, classic patterns and contrasting textures. I started with two of these plaid scarves I found (less than $10 on Amazon, and my favorite low-budget trick for table settings!)
Bonus: the scarves are super soft and cute to wear (or use them for styling around the house!)
The stoneware dinner plates are our everyday plates from Target I’ve had for over a year (absolutely love them) and I already owned the black salad plates. The wooden bowls have been collected from thrift stores and the linen napkins are discontinued from Target, but you can find similar here.
The embossed amber cups were a lucky score from Home Centric (similar here) and wine goblets from Ikea.
Just last week I found this matte rose gold flatware at a great price and ordered two sets. I’m in love with this color and the way it glows in the candlelight—so romantic!
I just love the natural wood candle holders paired with these amber taper candles.
The star of this show, however, is undoubtedly the centerpiece. I put some planning into this one, sourcing a variety of stems and florals to create the perfect woodsy/elegant mix.
Want to make your own? Here’s what you’ll need:
- Vessel/large bowl (mine was a DIY)
- Floral foam
- Tape
- Scissors/shears
- Variety of florals
Here are the florals I used:
- Preserved terracotta ruscus
- Silk mauve peonies
- Dried flax grass
- Artificial pom pom mums
- Dried purple oregano
- Dried pink amaranth
- Live ivory roses from Trader Joe’s
- Live orange mums from Trader Joe’s
- Live eucalyptus from Trader Joe’s
My secret to a stunning centerpiece? Variety! That includes using preserved, artificial and live plants in different colors and species. You can’t tell the difference when they’re all mixed together, and I was able to source a wider range of products online. Plus I can reuse most of it for future arrangements 🙂
Step 1: Cut the floral foam with a knife and tape it so it’s secured to your vessel:
Then start with your longer pieces around the bottom.
Add your secondary longer pieces (non-flower foliage like eucalyptus are good for this part).
Then I placed my largest flowers, the mauve peonies:
Followed by my second largest flowers, the roses:
You want the placement to look random, but balanced. Spread them out but don’t make the spacing too perfect.
I like to work my way down from largest to smallest flower…
The preserved/dried florals are perfect for autumn.
Lilac and golden tones are complementary colors that pair together quite nicely.
You certainly don’t have to use this many different types of flowers or make your arrangement this full, I just wanted to go all out and have fun with it!
Once all my layers were added, I went back and filled in the center with more ruscus and eucalyptus.
Pretty enough to be a wedding bouquet!
I had a fall wedding, so I’m a little partial to this look.
But why can’t we make our everyday experience a little more luxurious too?
One thing 2020 has taught us is that life is short. Don’t wait for a special occasion to use the fancy china—each day is worth celebrating.
I’m keeping these glasses out so we can use and enjoy them more than once a year!
And on that note… let the holiday decorating begin! We put up our tree last week and haven’t done anything else yet, but over the next couple weeks I’ll be sprinkling touches of Christmas throughout the house.
I’m going to take my time and enjoy the process, but I might have the living room ready to share with you next week.
Get the look:
Coming soon: the reveal of our fluted cabinet doors!
Sandra Hinds says
Absolutely beautiful! You have such an amazing talent to make things beautiful. Especially love the flower arrangement. I’m going to try to copy yours. How do you get the live flowers to stay- did you use the little water tubes on each stem?
Jenna Sue says
Thank you so much Sandra! The flowers won’t keep long but eucalyptus stays green forever. The dried floral look works well with autumn though so I’ll keep them in there for a while and see if I need to replace them before Thanksgiving!
Lynn says
Wow!! Your table is just beautiful! I would love to know how you made the bowl for the flower arrangement.
Val says
This is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so curious how you will blend your Xmas decor with these harvest chic colors! I so want to decorate for Christmas early, but I worry my decor will look like a crazy mash-up! I’m looking forward to (even more!!) inspo:)
Jenna Sue says
Thanks Val! I don’t mind the mix of both… you can keep the Christmas decor basic with greenery and neutral colors until after Thanksgiving. Burgundy/brown/green works great for both seasons!
Carmen says
This is stunning! The amazon link for scarf is named pink with brown…in your pictures it looks more brown than pink…is it the exact scarf? Love the muted colors!
Jenna Sue says
Thanks Carmen! Unfortunately the camel color I ordered went out of stock but the brown is very similar and would look beautiful!
Karen says
How v beautiful. The scarves are a terrific idea.
Cant wait to see the living room and the fluted project.
Jenna Sue says
Isn’t it the best trick? Scarves are useful for so many things!
Stephanie Vainer says
Wow I feel so inspired after seeing everything you did! I think I will be using some of the same colours you did this year ? beyond beautiful!
Jenna Sue says
Thanks Stephanie! This palette is one of my favorites– you’ll love it!
Katie says
Ok you’re flower arrangement has totally inspired me! It looks great! I’ve had my eye on a bowl that shape and now I’m going to pull the trigger and see what I can come up with.
Jenna Sue says
Thank you Katie, so glad it was helpful 🙂
Alexa Huber says
Can I ask you where you got you frames for your photos on the wall? Thanks!
Jenna Sue says
Hi Alexa, you can find the link here on my sources page! https://www.jennasuedesign.com/shop/heights-house/dining-room/