About a month ago, I received an email from Restore director, Amy McLoughlin to design and participate in a tablescape challenge in which all items donated would be sold to benefit Habitat for Humanity. It also had to incorporate items from my small business for promo purposes. SO FUN! I came up with a Peter Rabbit theme where I illustrated and hand-painted bunny napkins, and made a pretty sweet illustrated invitation, map, rsvp, and calligraphed the menu and leaf place cards. The tablescape turned out great! By great, I mean, I’m proud to have my name next to it. Anyway, I just wanted to share my tablescape adventure in case any of you have upcoming events where you need to decorate a table!
Invitation Suite available in my Etsy Shop!
Ok, so what do you need for a tablescape? Here are the very basics, and then add to it based on your theme!
Tablecloth, Table Runner, Plates, Glassware, Silverware, Napkins, Centerpiece, and Table Lighting.
For my particular tablescape, I went to an estate sale, and to my local craft store to get some hard to find items such as all of the bunny themed items. Then, asked friends and family to donate any items off a list I made (since I was designing on a budget). A local business, heavytimbers.com was so kind as to donate the wood slices that I used as chargers and risers on the table.
My favorite part of the tablescaping process was gettin’ crafty! I hand-painted old cloth napkins with cute bunnies to add interest to the place setting. (I used fabric paint for these.) I then calligraphed a bunny shaped menu, and illustrated and painted an invitation, map and rsvp to tie the whole theme together. The place cards were leaves with a calligraphed name and were nestled inside a pinecone! Woodsy!
Prints of the bunnies are available in my Etsy shop!
Next, I set up a 6ft table in my living room, put the tablecloth down, and set up the centerpiece. From there, the design seemed to flow because everything was playing off of the centerpiece. I snapped a photo of the table after I had it the way I liked it because, I still had to wash EVERYTHING. Talk about waiting till the last minute! Haha
I washed all of the dishes, ironed and steamed the table cloth, and packed all of the items to head to the site. The photo I snapped before was really helpful, but there is one thing I forgot to pay attention to. I didn’t do ANYTHING to hang above the tablescape. I had a gigantic space I needed to fill. So, I rushed home, and my mom and I made tiny tissue paper pom poms (just like the ones we used to decorate high school floats with!). I used fishing line, and zots to stick the pom poms on the line. I made four chains and hung them above the table! Instant cuteness! If you are looking to buy bulk tissue paper at a great value, try nashvillewraps.com! LOVE THEM!
Things I learned about tablescaping: moss is pretty, but it goes EVERYWHERE! If you plan on eating at the table, maybe leave the moss out of the design. You WANT to see the people across the table from you so, centerpieces and décor need to be way above eye level or below. You don’t want something big and bulky blocking the other half of the table. Table cloths and runners that reach the floor are beautiful, but just keep in mind that they may be pulled and shifted when people sit and scoot in at the table. Bunching the runner on the top of the table can prevent the runner from sliding off the table.
Always have Zots, fishing line, scissors, and tape on the day of assembly. You never know what you are going to need it for!
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to the following people who donated items for the tablescape design:
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Monica Lowe
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Geoff & Rebecca Cullop
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Cindy Chamberlin
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Laura Jarrell
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Terry Bumgardner of heavytimbers.com (this is where the wood slices came from)
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Bob Lowe Sr.
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Connie Boggess
Happy TableScaping Friends!
