Grand Little Place

I am a big fan of hosting in my home and have been the lucky recipient of a few different sets of china over the years.  When I began to think about my own thanksgiving table this year I decided to use one of the vintage china sets.  I ended up coming up with two different looks using my Friendly Village china set, given to me by my great-grandmother who collected it.  (This link is a fun and full history of the china maker and here can be found several replacements if you’re on the hunt for this pattern.)  I think most of us think that when we have a full set of china we have to use it all together.  In one of my Thanksgiving tablescapes I did use multiple pieces of it, in the other I broke it up for a more modern-traditional look.  If you are looking for how to set a Thanksgiving table with vintage china then feel free to use my ideas here as inspiration for your own holiday table setting!

A few weeks ago I found this tablecloth with greens and browns in it and I knew it would be lovely for Thanksgiving.  This china set has various designs of life in a ‘friendly village’ but the outer rims all have a wonderful brown ornate design, which is my favorite part of the set.  I talked in my last post about Entertaining Essentials about napkins, woven placemats and silver chargers.  You’ll have to click over to that post to read all of it, but you can see in these photos how I used those items in these place settings too.

I have a hard time finding table linens that I really love.  The second I saw this one I knew that it would work wonderfully for layering, especially with china patterns.  I also am more drawn to using this bold table cloth on a smaller table.  I pulled both of these tablescapes together on my kitchen table instead of my dining room and I think it works really well together on the smaller scale.  Our large family dinner will be eaten in our dining room but I often like to do smaller ‘fancy’ tables in our kitchen for just the 4 of us on special occasions.  My boys always think it’s special!

For the second table setting I kept the table cloth but swapped the centerpiece and intermixed the china.  I wanted to try and find a way to make the china feel slightly more fresh and modern.  I’ve attempted to pull away from so much orange this fall, which is why I made the boxwood wreath with white pumpkin stems earlier this fall.  With such a patterned table cloth I decided to channel my earlier attempts to white wash the season and pull in more white and ivory into this tablescape.  I also wanted to add some depth and texture to this look so I pulled the boxwood wreath and used it as a base for the centerpiece.  I’ve had these white pumpkins atop my silver candlesticks on the mantle this season and went ahead and pulled one of them in for this centerpiece.  Obviously I’m biased but I love how the centerpiece turned out!

To simplify the table settings I went ahead and swapped the silver chargers for the dark brown ones and then laid down simple gold rimmed ivory dinner plates.  Those were topped with the ornate brown rimmed Friendly Village salad plates.  I also added a set of mix matched ivory bread plates to the top that have a sweet gold diamond edging.  For a bit of additional interest each place setting was given a small white pumpkin aside the ivory napkins.

What I love about both of these looks is that they have a curated and collected feel to them without feeling like it’s trying too hard.  Although I think the pattern on the table cloth is carrying a lot of the weight on both of the looks I also think if you took it out of the equation these settings and centerpieces would still be beautiful.  It isn’t always easy to know how to set a Thanksgiving table with vintage china but I hope that being able to see these two similar but different looks work together can give you some ideas for how to use your own china patterns.

I’ve rounded up a few things to help you for how to set Thanksgiving Table with vintage china:

I think I prefer the second look, with the white pumpkins, a little bit more than the first.  Which is your favorite?

 

If you like this post, check these out as well!

• Simple Fall Wreath DIY
• Thanksgiving Tablescape
• Free Fall Printable Round Up
• Fall Front Porch
• Entertaining Essentials for Hosting

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