A Christmas Tablescape with Thrifty Treasure Finds

I've always marveled at tablescapes walking past them at fabulous restaurants, store displays and of course, the internet.  I love all the details, the tiny touches that bring an entire table setting together.  They always looked so pricey though.  So my big mission for myself was to create a Christmas Tablescape... on a budget of course.

It only took a few minutes on Google to find out how set an informal table (I'm not a big fan of tons of utensils all around me - Makes me claustrophobic).  This helped me figure out the foundation of the table setting.  Everything else was left to treasure hunting.  My favorite pastime!

Napkins: Walmart, Cambridge Silverware: Kohls, Placemats and Table Runner: Pier1, Water Goblets & Gibson Plates: Deseret Industries Thrift Store

On one of my many trips to the DI, I stumbled upon the ugliest wreath I had ever seen, BUT they had these interesting flowers on them.  They remind me of the tropical fruit: Rambutan.  I bought the wreath for $1.00, pulled these babies off and threw the rest away.

HomeGoods is one of my favorite stores.  *Sigh*  I wish they had one closer than Farmington, but it's totally worth the drive.  There I found these fantastically "grandma chic" gold doily bowls.  They were only $4.00 a piece.  

I only wanted a small splash of red, so I dropped the curious looking flowers into the bowls.  Perfect.

On my quest for plain white cloth napkins at WalMart, I found myself drifting to Christmas ornament section.  I was impressed with what they had.  I think they hired someone new to pick out the ornaments for the stores, because the variety was different..better.  I found these clip on bird ornaments and white pinecones for about $1.00 each and decided to clip them together.

Don't you just love the tail?

I chose to simply roll the napkins and set them to the side because attempting to add a ribbon.. or a napkin ring.. or a... Let me just give it to you straight.  I tried so many things with the napkins and they kept turning out too busy looking for the table.

I found these candle holders at (yes, again) the DI for $1.75 for the set.  I filled them with christmas present ornaments because I wanted to stray away from either plain old candles or mini globe ornaments.  I love both looks, I just wanted to change things up a bit.

I added a touch of vintage with a brass snowman and angel mini candleholders (above two pictures), and these nostalgic salt and pepper shakers (below)

No matter what the season, fresh flowers always seem to brighten up a room.

There are only three of us in the Smitten household, so we don't have to have an extremely long table to fit all of our Christmas goodies.  All I have to do is shift everything by taking out a setting from the table.  If we have company, we turn our island countertop into a buffet self-serve table.

This is a Pre-Christmas dinner, so we decided to make a rotisserie chicken with roasted rosemary seasoned potatoes and carrots.  No turkey yet!  I'm also a lightweight when it comes to alcohol so we opted for Welch's Sparkling Cranberry Juice instead of red wine.  My daughter enjoyed learning how to properly hold a wine glass during dinner.

Yummm

After dinner, there's coffee (or tea) served from an antique tea cart I discovered this past fall.

and our favorite batch of unopened mixed nuts.

I bought this vintage nut cracking set at the Riverdale Swap Meet over the summer for only $2.00!

No matter how "fancy schmancy" or simple your tablescape turns out to be, the most important part about Christmas dinner is breaking bread with the people you love most in the world.

A special Thank You to Sonya from Parga's Junkyard for inviting me to share this tablescape with all of you for her Twenty Five Days of Christmas Blogshare.  

~*Abigail*~