Set the tone for a festive Thanksgiving dinner by creating a beautiful and colorful table. For this project, I teamed up with my mom and floral designer, Carol Alexander. Here are a handful of ideas that we used to add a little something special to our surroundings for this year’s occasion.

Change your colors.
Rather than sticking with traditional fall colors such as browns and golds, change the dynamic of your table with an alternative color palette. Think rich teal, warm cranberry or vibrant cobalt. Hint – all these colors look fabulous with orange and white pumpkins.

Incorporate heirloom pieces.
There’s no better time to use treasured pieces than on Thanksgiving Day. Perhaps you were gifted grandma’s silver or mom’s china. Heirloom items can evoke beautiful memories of past holidays with loved ones who are no longer with us. So give those pieces a good wash or a quick polish and work them into your table design.

Add a fresh floral centerpiece.
To create the arrangement, soak floral foam in water and insert it into a lower-in-height vessel, one where the finished display won’t block the view of the person across the table. Choose three types of flowers such as mums, alstroemeria and hypericum (berry stems). Then tuck in a couple of accents like eucalyptus and pumpkins on a stick.

Layer dinnerware in alternating sizes and patterns.
Transferware plates and bowls in colors such as blue, cranberry, and purple go hand-in-hand with white chargers and serving pieces. The more layers the merrier. Slip in a pretty linen napkin to complete the setting.
Bring the outdoors in. For a finishing touch, scatter mini pumpkins, apples or nuts around plates and the centerpiece.
Happy decorating from Carol and Jen.