Preparing a Thanksgiving Table

This week, my thoughts have turned to the Thanksgiving holiday. I wanted to create a vintage, French-themed table to inspire my clients. One of my goals was to incorporate some not-so-expensive items, so that my customers don't feel like they have to spend a lot of money to have a beautiful and charming table. I began my process by creating a tablescape that was not a "set" table:

I focused it on this small still life painting which I thought represented to be largely what Thanksgiving is all about: giving thanks for the bounty of our nation and eating good food!

After adding a few more items around it, I was not pleased with the end result because the set did not really convey the message of a real Thanksgiving table. So, I started over. This time I began thinking about the elements I wanted to be sure to incorporate. I also had in mind a specific fall color scheme.

Some French vintage napkins ($25. each)

antique Villeroy & Boch majolica plates ($150. each)

Sarreguemines transferware dishes ($35. each) and set of 12 Puiforcat dessert spoons and server (set $1200.--ok, I realize that isn't cheap but they are 19th century sterling and vermeil!)

A few more details here and there and...voila! the tablescape that I sent out to all my customers:

In case you are thinking that this is not hard work, here is a picture of our photo session so you can get an idea of how detailed this whole process actually is. D. is a very talented photographer and he just launched his personal website.


A few more options for your Thanksgiving table:

Another set of napkins with red detailing--so chic!

A pair of English bone china Royal Crown Derby plates ($275. each)

And because I can't load my entire inventory onto my blog, you better just click over to the new Tabletop category page we created on our website. Happy Thanksgiving planning!