Touch up the table
The richness and style of the season comes home to everyone who sits down for a holiday meal. Like it or not, the table becomes a focal point.
But with advice from experts, it's possible to punch up your holiday table without hitting your wallet hard.
————
When the landscape colors outside are dwindling, it is a good time to try a tablescape inside.
"A tablescape means adding height, depth and texture to an otherwise flat surface," said Jeffrey Double, merchandise manager at Bortmas, The Butler Florist.
A table centerpiece addresses those needs.
A pumpkin or gourd could stand in for a vase, according to Patty Geibel, decorator at Slippery Rock Florist.
Double suggested beginning a Thanksgiving or Christmas centerpiece with an artificial base, like greens of any kind. Perhaps a swag could sit right on the table."This gives you the opportunity to accent the base with natural materials, gourds, pumpkins for fall. You also could use Indian corn, dried grasses, dried reeds. A lot of people have gotten away from traditional arrangements."For instance, Double created a Williamsburg-inspired window at the floral shop on East Wayne Street and carried it over into table decorations. Mixed pine, mixed fruit and the use of organic and natural materials reflect the theme, he said.Double said saving money on such accents is better than skimping on the base. "If you start with a better quality silk or base, your finished product looks better. Then if you want to, you can accent with lesser expensive materials," he said.When Thanksgiving is over, switch out the squash for fresh flowers, roses in water tubes, maybe some thistle, he said, keeping the artificial base. "This makes the centerpiece dual purpose," he noted.Individual flowers in such arrangements can be kept moist with water tubes that look like the chemistry vials from high school. The water level should be checked daily and the tubes refilled as needed."The shorter the stem, the less the flower is going to drink," Double said. "By shortening the stem, you're extending the life of the flower." The water level in the tubes, even for short-stemmed flowers, needs to be checked every couple of days.
The accent colors of the arrangement will depend on the dishes, Double said. He demonstrated by using china rimmed in dark red tipped with gold. Even on a darker tablecloth, the plates stood out, picked up by the traditional red roses in the centerpiece. Stemware with a red bowl complimented both.Under it all, the tablecloth should stay rather neutral, he said."Use a neutral palate as the base. This brown pattern is still pretty neutral. Even though the popular brown transferware would have been lost on this tablecloth, the red stands out.""If your china is a different color, go for different accents," Double said. Roses in unique colors, such as terra cotta to match brown transferware, can be special ordered.If the table is at all long, use a pine swag suited to the length of the table, he said. Swags sit nicely on the popular table runners, which also protect the table's surface. Use a 4-foot centerpiece for a 5-foot runner, Double said.If the longer decoration is too big for a sit-down dinner, move it to the mantel or sofa table, Double suggested, or serve a buffet around it.Geibel advised going vertical if space is limited. An urn-type container works great for a buffet served on a side board because it doesn't take up much space and allows food dishes to be placed quite near.
"Go upward if you're not having a sit-down dinner," she said, since conversation across a table isn't a worry.The height for a tablescape can come from candlesticks. Nestle the usual silver or brass or glass candlesticks back into an arrangement, Double suggested.Florists also sell supplies for making the arrangements at home. Using wheat and cattails adds height to arrangements, but buy preserved stems, especially with the cattails, noted Slippery Rock Florist owner Linda Daniels."Inside in the heat, real ones are going to open up and all the white stuff is going to fly all over your house," she said.Dried stems like those can be used right along with fresh flowers in an arrangement, Geibel said.The biggest mistake people make is not keeping fresh arrangements watered, she said. "Check them every day because the flowers like to drink," she said.The old wives' tale about putting an aspirin in the water does work, Daniels said, just as does a little clear sugared soda.
"That's what's in the packets that usually come with fresh flowers, a little sugar but with some chlorine, too, to control the bacteria," she said.The best thing to do is change the water when it gets murky, she added.As beautiful as a centerpiece may be, taking it as a hostess gift is not usually recommended, Double said, because the hosts probably already have one to match their decor."Take something a little more personal, something that they can appreciate after that day," Double noted.He suggested an arrangement for a private area of the home, maybe a bedroom or private bath, or a gift that could be used next year as part of the table setting."Nothing is more appealing than if I pull something out of the china closet and it brings back memories of that person," Double said. An ornament like the gilded pineapple Double displayed near his tablescape suits the purpose. The pineapple traditionally means welcome and friendship.A wreath makes a nice hostess gift as well, said Geibel. "Take a Christmas wreath to Thanksgiving dinner because it's so close to that time of year, and they'll be ready for the day after Thanksgiving."All through the holidays you can pack a punch with your holiday table look by decorating with as much or as little as you want. After all, it's the people around the table who make it special.
