An Elegant Farmhouse Thanksgiving Tablescape

How is it already almost Thanksgiving? Didn’t November start only like 3 days ago? If you’re anything like me, you’re spending this week cleaning your home from top to bottom to get ready for family and friends coming into town. (Compliment your friends’ baseboards next week, friends! That is what we’re spending this week cleaning – HA!) If you’ve been waiting to deck the halls until after Thanksgiving, you’re probably also spending time this week refreshing your fall decor before guests start walking through your door.

My favorite spaces to change up for the seasons definitely are my breakfast nook and dining room. There’s something about the level of conversation and the memories that are made when you’re with your friends and family around the table. It’s one of my favorite things in the world! That’s why I always pay special attention to setting my table when I set it for company. Your tablescape really is the first impression that your guests will have to your Thanksgiving meal. Whether that is casual or formal, why not be intentional about making it a special one? Today on the blog, I can’t wait to share with you another fall tablescape this season just in time for Thanksgiving.

READ ALSO: Your Hostess Guide to Survive Hosting Thanksgiving

Elegant Thanksgiving Tablescape

I’ve shown a lot more casual tablescapes for fall over on the blog, so I thought I’d show you an easy way to uplevel your Thanksgiving tablescape this year and give it a more elegant look. The thing I love most about this tablescape is that it’s a relatively simple look that can be achieved super easily. In fact, I created this look with what I already had in my fall decor. I just added in that galvanized tin piece that I was inspired by during my trip to Magnolia this fall. I’m obsessed with how cute it looks holding all of the mini pumpkins I had in my pumpkin dough bowl centerpiece before.

READ ALSO: Pumpkin Dough Bowl Centerpiece + Neutral Fall Tablescape

I’m all about making your home decor fit your lifestyle. (Hello, cute yet functional!) I incorporated some casual touches into this look like having the flatware in a menu fold rather than placed like a typical formal place setting. However, what made this tablescape have a more elegant look was definitely my Lenox china and my Waterford Crystal glasses. While I wanted to give my Thanksgiving tablescape a little more of an elegant look and feel to give a great first impression to my table, I really wanted to also make it functional and realistic to fit my family’s needs.

Tips for adding elegant touches to a casual tablescape:

Use charger plates under your china. Like jewelry, charger plates are a great way to dress up a table. Pull colors from your centerpiece into your charger plates and napkins to create a seamless tablescape look. You can grab gold or silver beaded charger plates at Dollar Tree for $1 each.
Another thing to do to create a more elegant place setting is to layer your china. Whether that be your every day china or your fine china, layering your dishes (ie. dinner plate, salad plate, etc.) instantly gives a more fine dining feel.
- Hosting Hack: Invest in seasonal salad plates to layer on top of your more everyday dishes. It changes up the look for the seasons, but you don’t have to invest in expensive fine china sets or whole seasonal dish sets. You can find cute seasonal dishes to add into your everyday china for really reasonable prices at places like Homegoods, TJ Maxx, or even Hobby Lobby.
Linen napkins are a great investment if you’re wanting to add a touch of elegance into your tablescapes. Take some time to learn a variety of napkin folds to create an elevated look for your place settings. My favorite place to learn new napkin folds is on Pinterest.
I bought 18′ of white chiffon fabric from Hobby Lobby (on sale) for a wedding photoshoot I designed for publication a while back, and you’d be surprised how much it can add to a wood table. I now love to use it for every thing. For this look, I bundled it into my centerpiece and had it flowing out of the sides to make my centerpiece appear longer and stretched down the table.

READ ALSO: How-To Set Your Table Like a Professional This Holiday Season

However, if you’re not wanting to bring out your fine china for Thanksgiving this year, you could easily make this look more casual with the use of your everyday china (or even cute paper products to keep the cleanup to a minimum!) I really think this look would be darling regardless of whether you want to make your tablescape casual or more elegant.

Hosting Hack: I know a lot of people are moving against having fine china in their home, but this hostess definitely loves hers. It’s all about finding the right pieces for your lifestyle – and I love easy! My Lenox china is technically considered ‘everyday china.’ However, it is much nicer than my everyday china I have in my kitchen cabinet. So while I save my Lenox china for special occasions, it’s still able to go in the dishwasher like my normal dishes. It gives my tablescapes more of an elegant look without the fuss that comes from hand washing fine china. I just put it in the dishwasher after my guests leave and go to bed! The only thing I really have to wash by hand is my Waterford Crystal glasses.

Shop This Look:

If you’re interested in shopping this look, you can find shop-able links below. The china and crystal glasses linked are the exact ones I have. Meanwhile, the other items are similar alternatives to what I have and will help you achieve the same look!

Well there you have it, friends! I hope this elegant farmhouse Thanksgiving tablescape inspires you to spend a little extra time setting your table this holiday season to make it extra special for those you love most. Do you like to set your table more formal or casual for the Thanksgiving dinner at your home? Let us know in a comment below!