Set with style

Call me crazy, but I love to host my family's Thanksgiving feast every year. It is always changing-some years our crowd is small and intimate, other years we need to bring in a second table and rent chairs. But whatever the size and number of tables, I make sure that my guests know how much we appreciate them by investing thought in not only the menu but how the table looks.

This week, as I thought about the special touches I wanted to add to our table, my mind wondered to my clients and their beautiful, charming, retro, traditional, modern, or romantic homes. With so many different styles, I thought about what their tables might look like this year.

Formal                                Rustic                                A little bit Country?

Here are some tablescapes that reflect the varied styles of homes and their inhabitants. 

Modern

A contemporary look to a table is one that is not bound by traditional shape or design. It is usually simple and pared down, relying on carefully chosen pieces put together with care.

Formal

For some people it may be traditional, for others, rather modern - but there will always be a certain discipline in the way that the formal table is arranged and the food presented. Nothing is too over-the-top. Everything has its own beauty, which can be appreciated as long as each aspect of the whole is balanced out - the rich with the simple, the fragile with the sturdy. Even the old with the new.

    

Retro and Vintage

Difficult to define in strict terms, retro style is, in essence, a combination of things that have gone before as well as the new, mixed together in a manner that is both appealing and sometimes eccentric. 

Country

Country style is not just confined to a rural setting. It is defined by an authenticity, a lack of excessive decoration and a concentration of color and simple design.

Global

Global style is everywhere around us, and nowhere is it more evident nor more successful than when employed at the table. The treasures and colors of other cultures can all be used and enjoyed. 

Romantic
Romantic style is a question of texture and tone; a romantic table is never hard or edgy, and will always have an aura of loveliness, sometimes understated, sometimes more overt. Plenty of flowers and pretty napkins are de rigueur. 

However you decide to bring together your table and chairs, linen, china, cutlery, glassware, lighting, and flowers, I know it will be spectacular and will reflect your personal style and that which is important to you. And as you sit down with friends and family this year, I wish you much joy and a very blessed Thanksgiving. 


If you would like to share your Thanksgiving table with me (I would love to see them), please send a photo or two to darcy@windermere.com. Until next week, here's to

la chasse au bonheur

photo credits: Bryan E. McCay, Annie Schlecter