Ideas for Setting a Memorable and Beautiful Dinner Table

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Dec 23rd 2009 at 2:01PM

A dinner party is a perfect opportunity to show off your personal style, taste, and flair for decorating. It's especially fun because it's on a small scale so you can be braver than you might be otherwise and try something new and different. There are very few rules, here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Go with a monochromatic color theme Decorating the table in nothing but luxe shades of one classic color theme like all in whites, silvers, or shades of gold can add an impressive visual impact to the meal. To keep everything from blending together choose elements that have different hues, textures, and patterns for lots of visual appeal within the single color family. Don't be afraid to mix matte pieces with glittered or sparkling ones.

Choose a theme Themes are always a fun and interesting way to decorate almost anything, and dinner tables are no exception. Holidays lend themselves especially well to themes (i.e. use personalized Christmas ornaments in place of name cards) but other themes like winter (everything in smooth white and glittering crystal), contemporary chic (minimalistic, simple, and clean with lots of geometric shapes), or just mix and match whatever you think looks good together and call it eclectic.

Focus on one spectacular piece If you have one amazing or particularly impressive item, like a centerpiece or set of glassware, then decorate the rest of your table in a way that complements and draws the eye back to it. The approach will vary depending on what your highlighting but in general the focus piece should contrast with the rest of the table either in color, texture, or pattern, and everything else should somewhat match each other.

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