Every Girl Link-Up || Tabletop Décor

May 14, 2015

Last week I shared how I spruce my home during the springtime. Today, along with Rachel, I'm sharing how I decorate my tabletops for the Every Girl Link-Up prompt. Tabletops may be one of my very favorite things to decorate. Whether it be for the holidays or for the everyday, there are so many possibilities. I admire the way tabletops are put together in magazines; actually, I swoon over them. So when decorating my home, I keep those magazine photos in mind and add my own flair. 

My one tip for decorating your own tabletops...you don't have to go overboard. Understated is beautiful and keeps the clutter away. Rachel has perfected this, and you should check out her beautiful decorating ways. Here's how I do it...

I love plants, especially as a way to bring some color into a space. Over a year ago, husband made me this skinny box from reclaimed wood. We lined it with plastic, filled it with dirt, and planted little succulents. It was the perfect touch to our dining room table. 

Then last fall, husband and I finished our console table. Well we almost finished it, we've got to make a concrete slab top for it (we'll get to it one day). When trying to decorate it, I felt at a loss for what to do for such a long space. Then it hit me to use my succulent box there. I love it even more on the console table than I do on the dining room table. 


When it came into filling in the rest of the space, I went with texture and varying heights. I add a lamp, some candlesticks, an apothecary jar stacked on fun, colorful books, and a small photo frame. Since this table is in front of my gallery wall, I wanted it to be simple. Simple is what I got, and I love it. 

I always, always, always recommend using beautiful books to bring in height to a tabletop. Find books with fun binding and varying in size (so you can see the bottom book under the book on top of it) and add an additional decorative accent to the stack. In this case, I added my apothecary jar. 

The bottom of the console table is also valuable real estate for some fun accent pieces. I wasted no time by adding some color in the glass jars, a basket for seasonal items (currently it's holding my chatbooks), and an iron basket for birch logs. I have height variation, texture, and color. It's the perfect tri-fecta. 

And here is the console table + gallery wall all together. With a full wall, the table had to be understated and simplistically decorated. 

Now back to the dining room table. Once I moved my skinny wooden box of succulents, I went to work on rearranging this tabletop. I love a good runner, and in this case I went with stripes. Because you can't go wrong with stripes. And I love fresh flowers, so I centered the middle of the runner with a pitcher of bright florals. Next I used my height and texture rule to add the candles. Lastly I used a book holder as a napkin holder to complete the look. 

Because I loved my skinny wooden box so much, I had husband make me a wider version of the box. Again I went with succulents (because it's hard to kill them by forgetting to water them; they need water once a month). I used this as part of my tablescape through the winter when it's hard to find fresh flowers. Once spring showed up, I moved them upstairs to the office to add some flair to the top of our bookshelves. 

See the succulents, perched right there in the middle of the bookshelves?? They were just what I needed in this space. And come next winter, I may move them back to the dining room table, but for now they're just right in the office. That's one of the enjoyable parts of decorating tabletops, they're always changing and flexible.

You're turn! How do you decorate your tabletops?? Do share your tips, tricks, and secrets for the best way to put a tablescape together! And don't forget to grab the button below!  I'm looking forward to reading your posts!



Hill Collection