Ten Award Winning Holiday Tablescapes

The holidays are stressful enough with finding the perfect gifts, decorating the house and cooking for a crowd, but when you add all of the fabulous Pinterest and Instagram posts, it is enough to make anyone feel inadequate. Well, we are here to show you our past ten years of award winning holiday tablescapes, that includes Best of Show, Best Floral, Best Theme, and People’s Choice; and give you tips on how you can create this kind of look in your home.

1) 2008 Design House Deck the Table

For the first year of holiday table tops in our showroom, we started small and easy enough for anyone to do. As throughout the ten years of doing Christmas tables, we start with what is currently in the showroom, just as you might in your home. Mixed silver goblets, wine glasses, china and flatware from home made contributions to this first table. Natural greens, along with limes and floral arrangements made this a fragrant, comfortable and easy set up.

2) 2009 Design House Deck the Table

We added a touch of elegance to the room with fresh evergreens on the table, chandelier, and potted paper whites. The aroma alone will capture your guests’ attention and provide them with holiday spirit. Note that when you are working with fresh greenery or florals, you can add some artificial pieces and somehow the fresh ones make them work! We added the artificial magnolia here. Sometimes we will start with a base of artificial garland and add fresh greens, berries, or whatever you have.

3) 2010 Design House Deck the Table

Go bold! Don’t be afraid to add an element of surprise to a room. For this table setting we had just discovered some vintage metal Chippendale chairs in a warehouse and bought them for Design House. That was our start. There is always something we discover or have in our showroom that gives us the inspiration. We contrasted the metal chairs and silver in the settings with the custom branch chandelier and rustic wood table. This rustic branches balance the elegant table settings here to keep the environment casual and lively.

4) 2011 Design House Deck the Table

Your holiday table does not always need to be the total focus of attention. For example, the mirror in this space compliments the table and draws the eyes across the space to the far wall. The evergreens that flank the buffet add balance to the wall and an accent color, which is mimicked on the reclaimed wood table bringing the eye back to the center of the room and straight to these vintage lantern chandeliers from a French residence in Egypt. The lantern theme was continued on the tabletop, and vintage Christmas plates were used that year. The only chairs we had available needed a little help for Christmas, so we made some simple, short and sassy slipcovers.

6) 2013 Design House Deck the Tables

We had a little fun with this one by opening the metal doors to our storeroom, filling in the space with some old doors from our showroom and lighting some branches behind the doors like lit outdoor trees. Here we used vintage Limoges china and Christofle Malmaison flatware with a luxurious Niermann Weeks chandelier topped with a ceiling of branches above to add a touch of whimsy. By placing some fresh fruit, herbs and greens around the table and chandelier you create a faint aroma that compliments the meal and is pleasing to the eye.

7) 2014 Design House Deck the Tables

The location of this year’s table in front of the animal print wallpaper made it easy to create a festive spirit. Simple floating stars in this “Starry Night” theme had lights directed toward them to sparkle. The three panel antique mirrors and wreaths with lights make the room feel larger and continue to reflect the sparkle of the stars and mercury glass. By adding custom name cards under glass domes your guest will feel extra special. These continued the “star” theme and a little whimsy with names of famous movie stars on them for our event.

9) 2016 Design House Deck the Tables

This woodlands theme began with the deer we had just received and also the chairs with the goatskin seats and natural wood. The forest is not only depicted by them, but also the “stream” that runs down the middle of the table. This was done with a fabulous Waterford linear piece that allowed us to lay florals and greening flowing out of it and down the table. This stream continued down the ends of the table to the floor. Pomegranates and oranges were used throughout the greenery to compliment the beautiful Limoges china.

10) 2017 Design House Deck the Table

I bet you can guess that the fabulous chandelier we had just received was the start of this table. This icy, crystal winter wonderland was accented with the acrylic chairs and they allowed us to show the hide rug anchoring the setting. We did make them a little warmer with the addition of small wreaths we made from the greenery used on the table. Additional warmth was suggested with the inclusion of many candles featured on slices of wood, and what great improvement with the fake candles! People would have to touch them to make sure they were not real. The new green and white Limoges china was the perfect complement to the setting.

We hope these examples will encourage you to take a closer look around your spaces, get those creative juices flowing, and use what you have as a start. Be sure to stop by Design House in The Houston Design Center during the first week of December to see what we’ve come up with this year! We are excited to announce that Baccarat will be creating a table in our showroom this year, and we can’t wait for everyone to have a chance to see their wonderful selections!