Budget-friendly Thankgiving table decor - hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner!

11.09.2018

Budget-friendly Thankgiving table decor - hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner!

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year! Our first time ever, at any of our homes. This is our biggest dining room so far and we will be fitting Jason's and my families and us around the table.

I asked on Instagram a while back what you guys wanted to hear about this holiday season, and decorating for Thanksgiving was one of the topics. I put together this beautiful simple, budget-friendly table decor featuring eucalyptus, a few ghost pumpkins, some candles, and fresh leaves--and you can, too!

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I love being festive, but I don't love buying and storing a bunch of seasonal decor I only use once a year. So I love that you can use some pieces, like these eucalyptus garlands and wreath, for Thanksgiving with some fall leaves added and then dress them up for Christmas, too! You could also do this with boxwoods for a more traditional look.

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Christmas Tartan table runner: Tutorial

12.20.2009

Christmas Tartan table runner: Tutorial

Tartans and red, navy and green plaids have long been Christmas season décor, but this season they are back in a fresher look. Elle Décor has a big piece about tartan decorating this month, and Williams-Sonoma has plaid accents this Christmas, including these table linens:

And Martha has a DIY project using an old plaid blanket:

And of course it’s all over the Ralph Lauren collection:

I find plaid and tartan pleated skirts at the Goodwill Outlet all the time. Pleated skirts, especially the long ones, are quite no longer really in style to wear, but hold a lot of good quality fabric. I made a table runner out of a genuine Pendleton Malcolm tartan, 100% wool. Using skirt fabric is waaaaaay cheaper than buying nice wool at $25+ per yard, and it is much better quality than what you can buy at most fabric stores today, anyway. See my instructions below:

1) Unpick stitches on waistband, pleats, hem, and zipper. Then cut the side seams.

2) Iron all the pleats and hem out using a press cloth. I needed steam and the highest heat setting on this nice heavy wool.

3) Using the plaid as a guide, cut the excess strip that was hidden in the pleat below the zipper so you have two perfect rectangles.

4) Match the plaids and sew the long ends together, hem to waistband. Choose the width of your table runner and fold the pieces in half. In my case I trimmed off about 24 inches, which I plan to hem and use as a tree skirt.

5) Sew a seam down the long side of the runner (left in the above picture). Turn right side out. Find the center at the top and bottom sides.

6) Pull the centers of the top and bottom of the ends of the runner apart, tucking in the corners. Pin.

Then fold back together and pin.

7) Pick your trim and sew it on, equidistant from the edge all the way around. I’m using gold ric rac, with a zigzag stitch to attach it, about ½” from the edge.

8) Optional: Add an extra holiday motif—draw it on with chalk and sew your trim over the lines.

(Also optional: Add a tassel or other decoration hanging off the bottom point. I don’t have any tassels but plan to add one on each side!)

Volia! Festive table runner for a total cost of... well, $1.39 per pound for the skirt fabric and a few cents for the vintage ric rac. This will look great with a Christmas centerpiece and red and green napkins! I also love the look of the white background on William-Sonoma’s table linen set, and I have a primarily red plaid wool pleated skirt to cut up, too. Also, I know I have seen tartan patchwork quilts and blankets before, with many different plaids in big squares sewn together. Lots more plaids to come!

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Simple table runners

10.29.2009

Simple table runners

To cover my newly painted table and protect it from scratches, without frustrating my sweet, well-meaning boyfriend who cannot always be concerned to use a coaster, I made two crisscross table runners out of the excess fabric from my chair project.  It's a busy print, so I was worried about there being too much of it in the dining room.  Jason said it looked okay when I laid it out to test, so that was enough of a go-ahead for me.  I don't have any coordinating fabric, and I did have extra of the Waverly print and nothing else to do with it!

Some of the braid on the seam at both ends, and faced with plain off white cotton on the back.  Maybe I will be on the lookout for a nice contrast fabric that will coordinate in the dining room.

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Painted the dining room table!

10.21.2009

Painted the dining room table!

I am really excited to have finally conquered the table-painting job!  I think the table and chairs look pretty good:

I painted and polyurethane-d the table top, and spray-painted gold the metal details on the legs.  Sort of tacky but they were a very gross, cheap brass from 40-some years ago and looked awful even after I cleaned them.

The polyurethane finish is still drying so I can't pose the table with any place settings, so use your imagination!  I am really excited to have this set done.  They are sort of a weird style, but I'm not digging the new looks at Pottery Barn (too traditional and chunky) or the modern looks of West Elm.  Maybe this is an anthropologie-type dining room look?  I hope so.
Thanks to craigslist, I paid $60 for this table, three leaves, cover protectors for the tabletop and the leaves, and six chairs.  Plus $4.50/yard for the fabric, $20 for the paint, and a few dollars here and there for other expenses like staples.  I think it was a good deal!

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