Design Report
Gather 'Round
This season, set a table that reflects your own personal style. From choosing tablecloths to table-toppers, Randy Altig’s tips will help you select complementary accents for an impressive holiday display.

Vintage sterling silver goblets and crystal goblets painted with 24-karat gold are just a few of the treasures that Randy found for his holiday table at J.Z. Rose in Bellevue. He recommends mixing and matching old favorites with great finds to personalize your table for family and friends.

Creating memories and sharing meals is part of what makes the holidays so special, and setting the perfect table to entertain your guests can be one of the most fun and rewarding ways to express yourself during this time of year. While the look for this holiday season is all about bringing together what you already have for the table and using it in a new and eclectic way, it can be a bit challenging if you don’t know where to begin.

To get started, mix things up and redefine your style by doing something different for your table covering. Sometimes I layer three or four tablecloths in shades of white and cream at different angles, mixing fabrics such as cotton, linen and lace. This creates an elegant yet relaxed foundation for my tablescape.

For this year’s holiday table, I’m using an early-20th-century Aubusson wall tapestry as my foundation. Its deep reds, rich blues and natural wheat with splashes of azure will support the colors I have chosen for this year’s theme. I’ll pick up those colors in mixed and matched place settings, along with goblets and glasses accented with mixed metals in gold, silver and bronze. Each object has a life and story to tell on its own, and when I mix and match them in place settings, I help the elements work together to create a beautiful new narrative. And accenting with these metallics gives the tabletop décor just the right amount of sparkle to work for all of the season’s celebrations.

For all of my tabletop flower and foliage accents, I call on floral designer Diane James. Her arrangements are so elegant and realistic—yet require no water. I like to use them as small complements to each place setting or as accents to the main centerpiece, but I never use just flowers as the main focal point because that is too predictable.

For my table this year, I am using a neoclassical ormolu cut-glass and rock-crystal four-light candelabra that I’ve accented with flowers and glass figures grandstanded on clear Plexiglas platforms to add visual interest and unexpected detail. For a more contemporary, eclectic look, you could fill several clear glass vases and bottles with water tinted with a few drops of red food coloring, then add floating or pillar candles and flowers.

Remember, it’s the little things, from butter dishes and water carafes to salt and pepper shakers, that help make the table easy to use and comfortable for guests. Passing these essential items can interrupt a meal, so it’s a good idea to group them on the table—or to place individual-sized salt and pepper shakers at each place setting.

An interesting place card and holder for each bread plate is always nice too. I like to tie a name card to a unique holiday ornament, which makes for a great guest gift. For more rustic holders, I use midsized pinecones tied with holiday berries.

During this time of year, I am reminded of the many blessings I have been given and of all the people who have touched my life. Each individual has a story, a history, a purpose, separately creating a sequence of events woven into the tapestry of my life. Together, those people—the guests around my table—have become the inspiration for this year’s perfect holiday table.  

Randy Altig appears weekly after the Q13 FOX Morning News on Maximum Living With Randy.