When deciding on a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table, search for a look that fits your style, advises Chattanooga designer Tamara Dillard. Often you can find inspiration in a magazine or by window-shopping, then add your own touches for more personal appeal.
“A cool idea can always be used in your own way,” Dillard said. “Recycle something you already have to reuse in a different way. Go outside and collect some sticks and leaves. Use the outdoors to your advantage. Throw in some fruits and veggies.
“It is nice to add a little something different on the table that is not traditional,” she continued. “It can really be a conversation starter.”
Here are five ideas Dillard came up with that show how simple it is to put a new look on your table.
* Cut small “stumps” at different heights from 1- to 3-inch tree branches. Place pillar candles on the table, then scatter wood cuttings around them. Fill in with fruit, pumpkins and colorful fall leaves for an inexpensive but really cool centerpiece.
* Buy a mixture of apples and small- and medium-size pumpkins. Carve a hole in the top of the apples and smaller pumpkins — just big enough to place a small tea light. With the medium-size pumpkins, carve out a smaller hole for taper candles. Arrange them down a long table for an eye-catching effect.
* Place a mixture of sticks and dried leaves from your yard inside a medium to large urn to create “branches.” Write what you are thankful for on small decorative cards and clip them to branches.
When guests come to your home for Thanksgiving dinner, have small cards at each place setting so they can write what they are thankful for as well. Add these to the branches. As the season and years go on, you will have a beautiful tree full of thankful messages.
* Wrap cylinder vases of different sizes with decorative paper. Place a small votive inside each and place the vases down the middle of the table to create a beautiful glow. For more height, add birch sticks to some of the vases.
* Hollow out three medium pumpkins, all about the same size. Fill each with ice. Fill one with a bottle of champagne, one with a bottle of white wine and the other with a bottle of sparkling water. Line them down the table for a functional centerpiece that also looks great.