A Rustic Traditional Christmas Table Setting
There’s something about the Christmas season that really gets my creative juices flowing! The twinkling lights, the festive music, the gorgeous decorations everywhere, the giving spirit that seems to boost around the holidays, and the overall togetherness all leave me feeling cheerful, blessed, and so inspired! This year, I was feeling extra inspired and I had a blast finding ways to decorate without spending a lot of money. My Christmas table setting is made up entirely of decorations and dishes I already had and natural elements that I either found in my yard, made, or borrowed. The look that I came up with was a touch of rustic and traditional with a little sparkle here and there, which suits my somewhat eclectic style.
Something you’ll begin to notice is that I LOVE TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods. Unfortunately for my husband, our closest shopping area has all three stores right near each other! Many of my decorations come from those three stores, and though these decorations were not purchased this Christmas season, some can still be found in store or similar items. The plaid table runner, glitter candle, and mercury glass candle holder all came from TJ Maxx in past years. The napkins, cake stand, and white pitcher are from Home Goods.
I wanted to be careful not to make it look too busy across the table, so I stuck with a color scheme of red, green, white, and some hints of sparkly gold and silver. I only mixed the two patterns, the napkins and the plaid table runner, and chose a more simple set of dishes. My red berry dishes are my everyday dishes and they are from Bed Bath & Beyond. The dishes complemented the rest of the theme and were simple enough that they didn’t take over. The clear Christmas glasses, also simple and pretty, were handed down from my mom.
I absolutely love this plaid table runner, but alone, it was a little boring. Not having much of a budget for Christmas decorations, I knew I had to work with what I had, so I decided to make a lot of my decorations this year. I started with garland. Buying fresh garland can get expensive, but it’s surprisingly easy to make. I used trimmings from my Christmas tree, trimmed a few pieces off of a different kind of pine in my yard, and trimmed a tiny bit off of a boxwood bush, that is also in my yard. With some floral wire that I had, I pieced together pieces of each until I had two small garlands to spread across each side of the table.
These adorable vintage eggnog mugs were a gift from my aunt and added such a nice touch to my Christmas table setting!
I knew as soon as I started planning this table setting that I wanted a cranberry garland, whether fake or real. Considering my low budget and because I was feeling so inspired, I decided to DIY it. I used a wide eye sewing needle and thread, bought a bag of cranberries, and threaded myself a cranberry garland. I learned a valuable lesson with this one, and I would highly recommend using a string (or something thicker than sewing thread) for this project so that you can tie off the ends more easily and you don’t risk your cranberries falling off. I stored the garland in a container in the fridge until I was ready to use it to be sure it was fresh and pretty for the dinner table. If you’d be interested in a more detailed tutorial with photos on these garlands, let me know in the comments and I’d be happy to do a post on them in the future.
Other natural elements I knew I wanted to add were antlers. I was able to score these beautiful Elk antlers from my dad on loan, and they really fit the table setting perfectly.
The Christmas tree place card holders were also a gift from Christmases past.
My original centerpiece fell through at the last minute, and I came up with this beautiful mess instead. With little pine trimmings as a base, I used pine cones and ornaments clustered on the cake stand to add to my look of rustic mixed with shimmer. I did have to fend off a 1 1/2 year old, so some things got moved a little out of place while taking these photos. Hopefully I’ll get better at perfecting these things with time!
The candles were a must for an evening dinner and of course added a nice warm glow to the room. Everything pulled together really well and I learned a lot about using natural elements to make my own decorations. I will definitely be doing it more often in the future!
I hope you enjoyed my Christmas table setting as much as I enjoyed making it! I look forward to sharing future décor, DIYs, crafts, and more with you! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and blessings throughout the whole holiday season!