Easy Everyday Tablescaping Ideas That Will Blow You Away

Your choice of dining table decor can go a long way into how enjoyable the meal served on it turns out! Tablescaping is the art of decorating your dining table and the space around it, and while the term 'tablescape' is fairly new, people have been decorating their dining tables for hundreds of years - how many old paintings have we seen of luxurious banquets with dining tables piled high with luxurious food, platters and candles?

When it comes to table accents and accessories, Spotlight has it all - plates, cutlery, drinkware and napkins for usage, but also wonderful dining table decor like candles, faux flowers, tablecloths and placemats. It's a lot to sort through, and deciding how you want to display it all can be intimating when you are starting with a blank dining table!

In this guide we'll walk you through everything you need to know about decorating dining tables, including possible events and table set up ideas, step by step instructions and some expert tips and tricks to make you a master in the tablescaping community!

Quick Links

• Why Tablescaping Makes Your Dinners Better
• Events You Can Tablescape For
• Setting Your Table - Step By Step
• Tablescaping Tips And Tricks

Why Tablescaping Makes Your Dinners Better

Tablescaping can seem like a lot of effort for something that won't actually affect the taste of your food, but you'd be surprised at the effect a beautiful tablescape can have on your meal. Creating a tablescape when hosting a dinner shows the effort you are putting in to create a special moment for your guests or family, and it can really set the scene for a magical night!

A tablescape is also another way to ramp up the festivities if you are hosting an event for a holiday, like Christmas or Easter. Extra decorations on your table will serve only to heighten the atmosphere of your event and hammer your theme home - so let's come up with some table setting ideas you can use to make every event extra special!

Events You Can Tablescape For

There are so many reasons to tablescape, and if you're looking for an excuse to test out your new table decorating skills, keep an eye out for the following events!

• Christmas - one of the biggest events of the year is Christmas, and it's a great time to get together with the family for a festive lunch or dinner. A Christmas tablescape is also one of the easiest to style, as you have a solid colour scheme to build from using traditional reds and greens combined with metallic gold and silver.
• Easter - the beautiful pastel colours of Easter are perfectly suited to a light and floral tablescape. You can also use faux grass as a table runner and use small Easter eggs as table accents across the space.
• Valentine's Day - whether you're celebrating Valentine's Day or Galentine's Day, a sit-down dinner is a great chance to try out some of your table decorating ideas! Include romantic candles, roses and some heart-shaped decor in your tablescape to make your lovely evening one to remember.
• Halloween - if you love getting your spook on, Halloween is the perfect excuse to create a super-scary tablescape. Gothic spider-web table runners, dramatic purple candles and a few pumpkins down the table are a great place to start - scare your guests by hiding a few fake creepy-crawlies amongst the setting as well!
• Birthdays - no matter if it's a milestone or not, birthdays can be made to feel extra-special with a gorgeous tablescape. Choose the birthday person's favourite colours to base your tablescape on, and add their favourite flowers as your centrepiece to really celebrate the occasion. Table accents like confetti, number scatters and even a few poppers will complete your birthday tablescape.
• Seasonal changes - ready to celebrate the warmth of summer or the cosy snuggles of winter? Create a seasonal tablescape to welcome the change! Think warm greenery and bold colours for summer, flowers and pastels for spring, golden leaves and fruits for autumn and some elegant, bare branches and snowflakes for winter.
• Anytime! If love tablescaping, you don't need an excuse to practice your craft - every dinner can be special! Think up table set up ideas and practice them on nights when you have some time to prepare, and you'll be a tablescaping pro in no time.

Setting Your Table - Step By Step

While every tablescape will be different, you can follow these basic steps to set up your dining table and create your first tablescape. Feel free to choose your own colours and materials in these steps to suit the table setting ideas you've come up with.

1. Clean your table. You'd be surprised at what can build up on your dining table, so give it a good clean before we start layering it up.
2. Start by deciding if you want to use a tablecloth or not. A tablecloth is a great opportunity to create a plain or patterned base for the rest of your table decor, but if you love the natural look of your table then feel free to leave it bare and in view! If you choose to use a tablecloth, make sure it is large enough to drape nicely over the edges of your table, and that its pattern (or plain colour) won't clash with the rest of your decor.
3. Placemats are a great way to add some interest to your table. A round placement looks perfect under bowls and plates - look for natural materials to give your tablescape some lovely texture.
4. Serviettes and cutlery are usually paired together. Your serviette can be folded and placed to the left of the plate, or combined with a napkin ring in the centre of your plate or bowl for a more formal look. Cutlery can be placed to the left on the serviette, or formally set on either side, with cutlery to be used first on the outside (entree fork, butter knife) and then main cutlery on the inside.
5. The last utility diningware pieces are your drinking glasses and possibly coasters. If you can, match your coasters to your placemats and choose glassware that matches your theme - think coloured glass tumblers for Easter, and elegant wine glasses for Valentine's Day!
6. Now you can start embellishing your tablescape! Start with a centrepiece - it can be a vase of flowers, a collection of elegant candles or even a low-hanging chandelier if your room is set up for it.
7. Smaller decor can also be used along your table runner to complement the larger centrepiece. Tea candles, fairy lights and even small real or faux plants are all great choices to fill your table without making it feel overcrowding.
8. Finish your tablescape off with any last personal touches you'd like to add! It could be name cards for each guest, a small favour on each plate or even some decor on the backs of the chairs.

Adapt these steps to suit your own table decorating ideas to create your own unique tablescape!

Tablescaping Tips And Tricks

Here are some of our favourite tablescaping tips and tricks to keep in mind:

• Table shape - you may like to use different tablecloths for a round table vs a square or rectangular table. For a round table, you may need a longer tablecloth than you would otherwise! You can also layer tablecloths on a round table if needed.
• Centrepiece height - when choosing a centrepiece, make sure it isn't too tall and/or wide that your guests cannot see and speak around it. If you have multiple centrepieces you would like to display rather than one, spread them down the centre of your table. If you have centrepieces down the ends of your table, alternate the sides they are on so one side of your table isn't 'overloaded'.
• The rule of 3 - did you know when it comes to decorating, most things look better in threes? Balloons, flowers, candles… something about having three of them together just looks right. Test this on your own tablescape - you'll see what we mean!
• Set-up planning - actually eating at a tablescape can be hard if you've gone a little overboard in the decorating, so make sure when planning your dining table decor that you factor in room for platters and extras like butter trays, gravy boats and ramekins. Setting up your tablescape a few days in advance is a great way to make sure everything will fit like you want it to!

Bring Your Table Setting Ideas To Life At Spotlight

If you are ready to start acting on your table decorating ideas, check out the kitchen and dining hub online at Spotlight! You can buy what you need and have your table decor home delivered, or head to your local Spotlight store to view the table accents and utilities range in person.

For an in-depth look at how to style a table, check out our blog on creating a tablescape for Christmas in July. And read our table linen buying guide for help in choosing the right table covers for your needs.