Lauren E. Lowe, founder of Lauren Elaine Interiors in Atlanta, is back today sharing a tour of her home decked for the holidays along with her expert tips for creating a festive tablescape! Lauren is one of The Glam Pad’s 2024 Tastemakers, and we are delighted to learn her tips and tricks to masterful Christmas decor. On Monday, we toured two other examples of her holiday style, which you can revisit here. And now without further ado, let’s welcome Lauren!
Creating Festive Tablescapes, by Lauren E. Lowe
The key to any great tablescape is layers: A tablecloth (or placemats), your china placesetting (which can be as simple as one dinner plate), cutlery, glassware, and dinner napkins are your base. Then I always include some kind of floral arrangement, candlelight, and an element on each plate (I don’t like a naked plate unless I am layering several plates and a bowl on top). I prefer low florals (or little potted plants/topiaries) so that guests can see each other across the table. Silver julep cups or even small juice glasses are great. I keep the candlelight element simple: a few clear votives or taper candlesticks always provide ambiance.
Keep clippings from your fresh garlands, purchase clippings from a nursery, or even go foraging in your neighborhood for some magnolia branches or holly berry branches. You can use a few clippings in simple arrangements with red or white roses, tie a small clipping with ribbon around each napkin, or make a centerpiece by nestling clippings in a compote bowl and pile pretty glass ornaments on top. If you have any extra longer lengths of garland, you can snake it down the center of the table and nestle candles and small flower arrangements around it. This works really well with simple cedar or pine garland.
Use what you can find at the grocery store. Adding a piece of fruit to each place setting can lend some holiday color to any table scape, such as plums, fresh cranberries, clementines, pomegranates, or even granny smith apples. White or red grocery store roses make easy arrangements with greenery clippings. Candy canes, Brach’s peppermints, or holiday colored Hershey’s kisses look festive scattered in the center of the table.
I love to set a cracker at each seat. They add another layer to the table and it’s always fun to open them up together. You can also add a little name card to each cracker.
And don’t forget to include the other parts of the room. Add candles and greenery to your server, wrap some greenery around the bottom of your chandelier or hang white origami stars.
And the most important tip of all: make your floral arrangements and set the table a day ahead of time so you can enjoy the process!
To learn more about Lauren E. Lowe and her work, please visit Lauren Elaine Interiors and follow @laurenelaineinteriors on Instagram. You can also click here to read a Style Profile Q&A we conducted with Lauren, click here to see an incredible before-and-after of a 1990s home transformation she designed, and here for more of her holiday home decor! To tour her home sans holiday decor, click here.
And don’t forget to check out The Glam Pad’s 2024 “Christmas with the Tastemakers” holiday shopping guide to get a jumpstart on your Christmas list!
