To celebrate the winter solstice I created the Narnia inspired, neutral holiday table of my DREAMS. All that’s missing is rose scented turkish delights! My friend & floral designer, Kaitlin of Petaline, brought my natural Christmas decor dreams to life, and Matt & I set the table using everyday ware and little bit of bling. And because we wanted the tablescape to be something you could do at home, Kaitlin designed a simple centerpiece, wreaths, and mini bouquet place settings. The result is a beautiful, minimalist Christmas table setting & neutral winter decor that’s elegant & timeless yet still unique & modern. Read on for inspiration, sources, and to learn how to make a centerpiece of your own!
The Natural Christmas Centerpiece
So many tables you see on Pinterest are gorgeous yet totally unattainable. They would require a team of people and a huge budget! That’s why I wanted to create a neutral holiday table, & natural wreaths that are attainable. As much as I love hanging floral installations and over-the-top set design, most of us do NOT have the time or resources to do that at home. At least not without driving ourselves crazy!
Why Dried Flowers?
I decided to let dried florals be the anchor of my neutral holiday table. I love the symbolism of incorporating spring & summer blooms frozen in time as a reminder of the cycle of the year. They’re a reminder of new birth in spring, the abundance of summer, the fiery twilight of fall, and the dead of winter. And how new life springs eternal.
The other thing I love about using dried flowers & foliage is that they last all winter! I can have a beautiful dried floral arrangement in my home for weeks. So, you get a lot more mileage for your time & money. The same goes for the dried wreaths and gift toppers. Stored properly they’ll be beautiful again next year which makes them time and money saving ideas as well!
How to Make an Asymmetrical Dried Floral Centerpiece
Kaitlin used stems like bleached fern, lunaria, bunny tail grass, pampas grass, and more in a brass bowl to create a wild centerpiece. I’m in LOVE with it as the heart of our wintery, neutral holiday table. I personally source dried flowers from a wholesale supplier, but most local flower shops can order them for you if they don’t have them in stock! Even better, you could collect & dry flowers throughout the year to use come the holidays. If you love Kaitlin’s work you can follow her on Instagram, and you can contact her for booking your event or wedding in 2019!
Supplies:
- A low, wide vessel like a brass bowl
- Floral Clay
- Flower Foam or a Flower Frog
- An assortment of neutral, bleached, or spray painted dried flowers, foliage, grasses, and pods
Tip From Kaitlin:
If you don’t have time to get your local florist to order dried and bleached flora for you, grab a can of white spray paint (or maybe gold!) and paint bought or foraged flora. Lots of designers do this!
How To:
- To create a shape like she has here pick a low, wide vessel like a bowl.
- Secure either floral foam or a flower frog (a spiky little thing that holds flowers in place!) and secure it to the base with floral clay.
- Decide on the outline or general shape you want your piece to have, and then pick the tallest pieces first.
- Place them to out line the shape, and work inwards to fill it out using progressively shorter pieces!
- Have fun with it…it’s all about the magic of the process and about a wabi-sabi look instead of perfection.
- Once you’re done you can keep it all winter!
The Minimalist Christmas Tablescape & Decor
Most of us can’t afford to buy a whole new set of plates for Christmas. So, I wanted a simple way to dress up my white everyday plates for the holidays that suited a neutral holiday table. After looking online, I fell in love with these moon-like chargers from West Elm. And frankly in the world of chargers they’re pretty affordable. I like that they’re neutral enough to use for all sorts of celebrations no matter the season. If you’re doing a bigger party, you could look into charger rentals for a cost effective way to make your everyday goods extra!
I scored the gorgeous, thin wine glasses from Crate & Barrel for a song. They’re $12.95 apiece, and similar looking ones from Riedel cost almost $100 each! My white linen table cloth is from Celina Mancurti on Etsy and the blush linen napkins are also by Celina but I found them on Food52. The flatware is the clean lined Arezzo—gorgeous in gold for the holidays but also dishwasher safe and great for everyday use! You can also finds loads of different hand dyed silk ribbons on Etsy, which is what we’ve tied our bouquets with, and my vintage brass candle holders are also an Etsy find!
Natural & Handmade Holiday Decor
We keep it pretty simple, and I’ve collected most of our handmade ornaments like the laser cut snowflakes, ceramic bells, and my favorite ceramic fox over the years from Food52. Our new brass ornaments can be found at McGee & Co, and the Swedish wooden tree topper can be found at June Home Supply.
The wreaths are made out of grapevine wreath frames that we cut and pull apart to make them more wispy or willow branches bent and secured with floral wire. This year we went with dried and bleached flora, but in years past we’ve done beautiful green versions as well. You can read our tutorial for DIY Asymmetrical Wreaths to get more wreath inspiration & know-how!
Looking for more?
Like what you see? Subscribe at the bottom of the post to get inspiration & recipes to elevate the everyday delivered straight to your inbox! We’ll be sharing even more over the next week in celebration of the holidays including a Christmas cracker DIY (the poppers you pull apart with little gifts inside at dinner!) and our sustainable holiday gift wrapping inspiration! And of course recipes…I’m starting to feel the need for a turkish delight recipe!
Some favorites from years past have been my balsam fir syrup (it makes a wonderful gift!), soft & fluffy egg nog cinnamon rolls (a Christmas Eve tradition!), and my sage & prosecco cocktails!
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links! That means if you purchase via the link I get a VERY small commission from the seller to keep this blog up and running! And I NEVER recommend anything I don’t or wouldn’t personally use!
My name is Beth, Elizabeth Evelyn to be exact. A native Tennessean, I was born in the South.
I am the author behind Local Milk Blog.