My mother and mother-in-law always loved to set a festive dining table for the holidays, so I just naturally followed suit. I was gifted china ages ago when my husband and I were married and have added to my tabletop collection over time to create something different and special every year.

Goodness knows, designers love a beautiful table setting and I certainly follow suit!

I shared some ways that I handle having extra people at my dining table in a previous post, but I thought I’d share a few of my decor hacks that help me set a beautiful table without a huge, extra expense.

I love to change things up every year at the holidays for my table settings, it gives me great joy to have a pretty table!

Here are some of the ways I mix things up without spending too much on all the table settings and decor. I typically use the same dishes, flatware and glassware but tend to change up the following items and how they are layered onto the table.

Tablecloths and creative runners
Add style with napkins or extra plates
Basic solid color plates can be easily styled
Simple, multiple glass vases
Candlesticks and candles
Natural greenery and decor
Collections and figurines
Easy, unique place card idea
Thrifting, inheriting, antiquing, FB Marketplace

1) Tablecloths and creative runners

I do have some nice tablecloths, but I also use a basic neutral linen fabric by the roll often, for putting tables together, etc.

I love a basic white too, my mother purchased a beautiful white embroidered tablecloth for me on her trip to Italy many years ago. I also have my husband’s grandmother’s white damask tablecloth that was passed down.

I usually like to use a solid color base cloth and add my chargers, placemats, a runner, etc. on top of that. Metallic chargers are nice during the holidays and I like rustic looks as well.

Here’s a silver metallic woven runner (from Ikea) on top of my inherited white damask cloth on a Chirstmas tabletop.

Here is a gauzy, wide, wired ribbon I got at a craft store one year that dresses up this Ikea tablecloth of white with gold confetti dots.

I also have a dark gray linen tablecloth and I found a plaid runner with some wooden buttons at Home Goods many years ago and use that in the fall too.

You can see how it provides a nice casual type base for a tabletop, below. Just changing the flowers makes for a different look!

Layer tablecloth and runner to add interest to your tabletop.

I purchased some live edge look charcuterie boards one year, very inexpensively, from a discount home store. For a rustic look, I lined them up to make a wooden runner down the table.

Here are 3 live edge wood cutting boards lined up on top of a natural linen fabric, from a big roll of linen I keep for when I put tables together.

A big bowl as a centerpiece with pinecones, ornaments, pomegranits, and tree trimmings sits on top of the boards too.

Here’s a Thanksgiving tabletop with the boards used as a runner. I added in white chrysanthemums to the amber antique vases for the dinner.

I have also used them as placemats or chargers before, like in the photo below, when we had our Thanksgiving dinner outside on the patio one year.

2) Add style with napkins, napkin rings or extra plates

I purchased these silver and gold damask napkins one year from Tuesday Morning, and they have lasted many, many years. They always look great after a wash and iron, like brand new. I’ve dressed them up with metallic rings or ribbons and then, on this tabletop below, I added a wooden cut snowflake ornament for a rustic touch one Christmas.

I only have one type of patterned plates, and I have a limited number so when I use them, it is with a smaller party of people. These quimper plates were my MIL’s and they are perfect for an Easter table.

You can see I used the basic linen tablecloth and then topped it with some rustic twig placemats for some texture.

Since I almost always use my solid cream/white plates, I usually lay the napkin on top for interest. I have a few different sets of napkin rings, almost all were purchased at discount stores like Home Goods, Tuesday Morning, or even Amazon.

Here’s one of my favorite fall napkin rings, this metal leaf shape always looks great and I’ve had them for over 25 years.

A dark gray linen napkin with an ivory glazed ceramic pumpkin on top creates contrast on my simple creamware plates.

Ever since I saw Martha Stewart do this on the cover of her Entertaining book back in the 90’s, I’ve loved just tying a silk ribbon around a napkin for a simple napkin embellishment.

3. Basic, solid color plates can be easily styled.

I love a bold pattern, but often solid colors can be easier to work in to different combinations and holidays. I have several types of creamy white plates, cream china with a silver rim which was my mother’s prized set, a large set of creamware collected for a showhouse butler’s pantry I did one year and a more casual basic white ceramic plate for every day.

I also have a set of blue dinner plates I bought on a whim one year, before I had the creamware and the inherited china. I like using them in the spring and summer.

I did have my own set of white china with a silver rim (from wedding gifts many years ago), but after receiving my mom’s, I have rehomed it. :-)

Something about food on a white plate looks most appetizing to me, although I really wish I could have about a dozen sets of various styles and colors of dishes in a whole wall of cabinets, to play with for entertaining. :-)

Here’s a more casual, basic white plate for a summer brunch in my breakfast room.

I often use my pewter chargers I brought back from Norway when I lived there in the 90’s, as they separate the plate from the tablecloth nicely and add that touch of metallic that isn’t too shiny.

They seem to fit just about every tabletop I do. I love that they aren’t oversized and are heavy pewter, not plastic. With most of my plates, it is just the scalloped edge that shows,

4. Small, multiple vases

Since I have a rectangular table, I often use small vases strewn down the table. I like to keep flowers low enough to see over, and using a number of small vases works well for that look.

In some of my photos in this post, I’ve used these small brown bottles purchased in multiples at Round Top and then at an antique shop at High Point Market.

Here’s a July 4th brunch where I used my various cobalt blue and white vases to make a clustered centerpiece.

I used my creamware pitchers and creamers as vases on these Easter tabletops, below.

5. Candlestick collections

If you follow my blog or Instagram, you know I have a candlestick collection of brass, pewter and iron. Most were handed down to me in the family and some I’ve been gifted. I love each one of these and have some on my mantel and some on my dining table most of the time.

This is only part of my candlestick collection. I have both brass and pewter.

Brass and pewter candlesticks can be used on almost any tabletop setting.

You can see almost every tabletop in the post has some of these candlesticks.

Votives are nice too. I remember going to a dinner at a fellow designer’s home one night many years ago and she had the mass of inexpensive, small white votives strewn down the table. It was magical and oh, so impressive.

6. Natural greenery and decor

I’m not much of a flower arranger, but I do love fresh flowers on a dining table. I’ve use potted plants and even cut the flowers off potted flowering plants when I couldn’t find the flowers I wanted.

Hydrangeas are great as they are so large, full, and impressive. I love peonies and tulips too, but also use carnations, roses, chrysanthemums, etc. Mostly I go for a mass of the same type of flower to keep it simple for arranging or like in this table, below, the same creamy white carnation in each of the small brown bottles.

I used little potted poinsettias down the table at this Christmas, a few years ago.

I do like to mix other greens like garlands or just branches and leaves to help create a runner type effect. The three antlers I have also work to create a runner of sorts for a more rustic table and keep things from looking too flat.

Potted magenta chrysanthemums worked well for one Thanksgiving. Mixed with gray, cream and the wood boards, it was a different look. The antlers tie the light colors together.

Scattering smaller items through the center tabletop can help soften your look and just adds fullness overall. Small pinecones, acorns, ornaments or decorative balls are a fun addition.

I keep them and reuse them every year. We have oak and pine trees and I’ve gathered acorns and pinecones and spray painted some of them gold.

Pinecones and antlers create a natural runner for this tabletop.

Here I’ve used gold painted pine cones on this wide, wired ribbon runner with my brass candlesticks. Kale and dusty miller create a nice centerpiece that brings in the green I wanted to accentuate.

My daughter and niece used to go on a morning run on Thanksgiving and would come back with some leaves from foraging we would use on the table.

7. Collections and figurines

I think adding in some kind of figurine or small decorative item is fun on a tabletop too. In this Thankgiving table I set up one year, I used these chubby chickens that my MIL had handed down to me from her home. They worked with the color scheme and matched the shape of the gourds.

I had a few little Peter Rabbit figurines that I had on a shelf in my baby’s rooms when they were little. (I keep things like this for years!) They looked darling on my Easter tabletop this past spring.

This handblown glass grouping of a family of snowmen often sits on my tabletop at Christmas. I purchased these in Norway at a glassblowing studio and will have fond memories of that place. We did a tour and my kids even got to blow a glass there.

Here’s my breakfast room table set for a brunch with some of the chicken figurines my MIL handed down to me.

8. Easy, unique place card idea

I’ve done this many times over the years, because these inexpensive little ornaments with a name written on them with a paint pen can be used year after year! Tie a ribbon on the top and rest them on your napkin for a dressed up look. You even have a little take-home gift, if you like.

8. Thrifting, Inheriting, Antiqueing and FB Marketplace

Inheriting has a lot to do with what I have to play with when I lay my tables. I’ve received flatware from my husband’s grandmother, dinnerware from both my mother and my mother-in-law, who are both now passed, as well as brass candlesticks, miscellaneous vases and some figurines.

I love and accepted it all and I get so excited to use them during the holidays. It helps me remember times past spent with them at the table and honors all the holiday meals they prepared for many years that we all shared.

If you don’t have tabletop items that have been handed down in your family, my gosh, are they selling it on FB Marketplace!!! Lots of flatware and sets of china are being sold there all the time. I see many good deals there, so check it out if you are in the market for something to enhance or fill out your tabletop stash.

I think it is harder to find things thrifting these days as that is such a popular hobby for younger people and there are so many sellers scouring thrift stores now. If you enjoy thrifting though, it is fun to imagine what you can do with your finds.

I bought my creamware bit by bit, over a period a a few months, on eBay years ago when I did this butler’s pantry in a showhouse. I decided to keep almost all of it, as I loved it so much.

Butler’s pantry designed some years ago for the ASID showhouse.

I found this set of smoky glassware for $20 for 10 at Round Top about 6-7 years ago.

This year for Christmas, I’m going to use my mother’s china and some of her silverplate tea set for the centerpiece. I can’t wait to set it up and style it. :-)

Dining Table Decor Ideas For Holiday Entertaining