My Thanksgiving Table—After Pictures

Thanksgiving with my family and friends is one of my favorite celebrations. It’s a rare chance I have to spend time with all the people I care about in one room—which is very important to me. I also think of Thanksgiving as the official kick-off to the holiday season, so it’s important to get things started on the right foot!

I spend a lot of time creating transformations for my clients throughout the year, so it means a lot to me to get to do it for my family. Just like surprising my clients, I like to surprise my loved ones with my design and transformation.  Like I said in my post earlier this month I love seeing the look on my family’s face when they walk into the room I decorated just for them. Not only that, but I get to relax, eat great food, talk and laugh with all the people I care about in the world.

My family is so big that each year we empty out my studio to make room for our Thanksgiving table. I showed you the empty space in the before pictures, here’s another picture of the finished table:

I also use this time to hand out my Christmas presents (I’m usually traveling around Christmas), along with little giveaways for each guest. Here’s a picture of one of the giveaways:

Thanksgiving is always a time of abundance, so my table this year is only decorated with fruit. Besides leftovers and presents, everyone is also taking home a basket of fruit:

One design tip I want to share, which I may have mentioned earlier, is that you shouldn’t overlook everyday materials you have laying around the house when planning on what to decorate with for Thanksgiving (or any event!).

I focus on using and re-using readily available, accessible materials for all my personal events. Whether that means going into the archives of my studio and finding leftover materials we can bring back to life, or walking down the street and being inspired by nature’s offering (leaves, twigs, flowers), there’s a lot that can be tapped into to create a fabulous design. Don’t think you need to break the bank to decorate your space, you just need to think inventively about the materials you already have access to.

With that, I’m going to put one last picture of all of us at the Thanksgiving table. We enjoyed a Panamanian feast and I'm still stuffed!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday too.

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving: Before Pictures

Thanksgiving is only two days away (not that I need to remind you!) and there is so much to do before my big dinner for friends and family. I want to make this post quick, so why don’t I let my pictures do the talking? Here's a picture of my studio space emptied, and waiting to be set up:

Here's the undressed table:

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the decorations I’ll be using. My assistants, Samorn and Primrung helping me create the fruit topiaries:

A picture of one type of the giveaways (don't tell anyone--these have candy inside):

The piece de resistance: the turkey (not done baking)!

How will you be decorating your home for Thanksgiving? Let me know. (And share some pictures if you have any.)

DIY Thanksgiving: Napkin Décor

If you’re tired of using plain white napkins every year for your special dinner, try adding a little color and surprise with this simple napkin decoration. You can keep it monochromatic like we did, or you can layer different complementary colors to add a rainbow to your table.

Materials:

• White napkin (cloth or paper based on how casual or formal your dining table is)
• Hot glue gun
• Colored Paper
• Scissors
• Small colored poofs (These can be found at any local craft store)
• Colored ribbon

Instructions:

1. Cut your colored paper into any shape you’d like. We used hearts here. Cut two pieces for each napkin you’ll be using (e.g. 16 pieces of paper for your table of 8). After you’ve cut all your shapes, take half of the pieces of paper (e.g. 8 of the 16) and set them aside. With the remaining pieces, take your colored poofs and hot glue them neatly on to the paper. We started by gluing the poofs along the outer border of the heart and worked our way inward. Set pieces aside to dry.

2. Fold your white napkins neatly into a rectangular shape. Take your colored ribbon and wrap each white napkin. Secure the ribbon by hot gluing the ends together behind the napkin. Take the pieces of paper you set aside and place them inside the ribbon of each napkin.

3. At your dining table, place your napkins down next to each plate and add the decorated paper (with the poofs) on top of the ribbon, a little offset, so you can see the other layer of paper beneath it. Finish off with silverware and you’re all set.

As always, please don’t forget to share pictures of your creations. Email them to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com, or post on your blog and leave the link in the comments.

DIY Thanksgiving: Fruit Topiary

Here’s a charming fruit topiary for your Thanksgiving table. By combining various types of fruit in shades of one color, you’ll have an elegant and striking centerpiece. (The other nice thing about this project? It’s simpler than you might think to re-create it.)

Materials:

• Foam ball with 4-5” diameter, size could vary depending on the size of your planter (You can find these in a local craft store like Michael’s.) 
• Leftover foam to use as filler, or you could also take old newspapers and crumple them into balls 
• Round planter (Though actually, you could use a square or rectangular one too. Whatever you have around the house.) 
• Plaster 
• Plastic cup 
• Two branches (be sure to choose some that are a little thicker so they can hold the weight of the fruit) 
• Shears 
• Barbecue sticks 
• Various fruit: We used two different types of grapes, plums and cranberries 
• Thin wire

Instructions:

1. The first step is to prep the branches to act as the base of your topiary. We mixed up the plaster (follow instructions on the bag), poured it into the plastic cup and placed the two branches in the center of the cup. Let plaster dry. Once dry, stick foam ball at the top end of the sticks. Place the plastic cup in the center of your planter. Then, take your leftover foam or newspaper balls and fill in the empty spaces around the cup to secure it. If you want to be extra sure the cup will stay in place, you can hot glue the cup into the planter.

2. Take your various pieces of fruit and stick them onto the ends of the barbecue sticks. (See the materials image for an example.) Reserve cranberries (or whatever fruit you’d like) to cover the top of your planter. To secure the grape bunches on to the barbecue sticks, wrap the thin wire around the grape vine and barbecue stick.

3. Once you have all your fruit prepped, start to place them in to your foam ball. Feel free to get creative. If you want to be more methodical, start with one type of fruit (for example: all the plums) and place them randomly around the foam ball. Then, move on to the grapes and the rest of the fruit. There’s really no “wrong” way to do this. As long as you cover all the foam, your topiary will be a success. Once you’ve covered the ball, don’t forget to place the cranberries (or whatever fruit you’d like to use) on the top of the planter to cover the plastic cup and filler.

4. Place on your Thanksgiving table and enjoy.

Don’t forget to share pictures of your creations. Email them to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com, or post on your blog and leave the link in the comments.

DIY Thanksgiving: Decorated Ribbon Vase

It’s amazing how versatile ribbon is. In the last project we used it to transform a simple cardboard box into a fruit bowl, and this week we’ll use it to enhance the beauty of a plain glass vessel.

Materials:

• Glass vase 
• Two types of ribbons in complimentary colors. We recommend one thick in width and one thin. Be sure to choose colors that will match or enhance the color of the flowers you’d like to use. 
• Scissors 
• Tape

Instructions:

1. Before you begin, make sure your glass vase is clean without dust, inside and out. Then, you can proceed by taking one end of the wide ribbon and taping it to the center bottom of one side of the vase.

2. Keeping the ribbon flat against the vase, wrap it around the vase, covering all sides until you get to to the top. Once you get to the top, tape that end of the ribbon on to the back side of the vase so that no one will see it.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 using the thin ribbon, except when you get to the top of the vase, tie the ribbon into a bow instead of taping the end to the vase.

4. Pick a complimentary colored bouquet of flowers, fill the vase and you’re finished.

Like I mentioned last time, I’d love to see your version of these DIYs. Feel free to email them to my editor Karell@prestonbailey.com, or if you have your own blog, post them on your blog and leave me the link in the comments. Enjoy!

DIY Thanksgiving: Handmade Fruit Bowl

This versatile container is beautifully simple, made from cardboard and decorated just with ribbons. It can be used to accessorize your Thanksgiving table to showcase your fresh fruit.



Materials:

• Stapler
• Ribbon (In whatever color you’d like—we used purple here.) 
• Cardboard container (Dig around and see what you can find in your closet. We used a circular one, but you can use a square, rectangle or whatever you have available.) 
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun 
• Tape

Instructions:  

1) To turn our plain Jane box into something more spectacular, we’re going to cover the surface area with looped ribbons. To begin, cut pieces of ribbon into 4 inch strips. The number of strips you’ll need will depend on how large your container is, so you’ll have to guesstimate on the number of strips to cut. I would suggest 50 to start.

2) Take one ribbon strip and fold it over itself (without creating a crease) to make a loop. How full you want the loops to be will dependent on its relation to the size of your container. Feel free to use the pictures as a reference point. Staple the two ends together. Repeat with all your cut ribbon strips.

3) Starting from the top, glue one loop at a time all around the box. Work in rows. After you finish the bottom, move on to the row below it and repeat.

4) Once you’ve covered the entire surface area, fill the container with fruit. We used grapes, blueberries and raspberries to match our color theme. If your container is deep and you’d like to give the contents some height, you can cut out some foam in the shape of your container and put it inside your box before you put the contents.

 5) Place on your Thanksgiving table et voila! Don’t feel restricted by using only fruit. This can make a beautiful candy dish too!

I’d love to see any pictures if you decide to make this project. Please send any pictures to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com.

Past Thanksgivings

As I’m sitting down today to plan this year’s Thanksgiving, I took some time to look through my old pictures to remember the designs from years past. Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holidays for me. As I mentioned yesterday, I use this day to hand out my family’s Christmas presents. I love being the first of the pack to hand out my gifts, and I look at it as a way to kick-off the gift giving season!

When I think about designing my Thanksgiving event, I approach it similarly to how I design for my clients. I enjoy transforming empty raw spaces into something unexpected, so this is where I usually start with my Thanksgiving dinner. My family is so big that the past two years I’ve held the dinner in my studio space.

Below you’ll see a picture of the space as it normally is (click the pictures to make them bigger):

Here’s how we transformed it last year:

I get great pleasure from seeing the looks on my family’s faces when they walk into the room. The element of surprise is signature for me. It’s a labor of love to design this event for them every year, and I make sure to invest the time needed to get everything just right.

I focus on using readily available, recycled, and accessible materials. You can definitely make something glamorous with materials and objects you find all around you. It’s all about how you put the elements together that makes the impact.

DIY Thanksgiving

It’s November, so naturally there’s one holiday that’s on everyone’s minds: Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a very important holiday for me. I like to take this day to spend time with my family, design a lavish dinner, reflect on the year that’s passed, and give out holiday presents to my loved ones (around Christmas season, I'm usually traveling, designing wedding celebrations around the world). We’ll talk more about my holiday celebration later, but for today, I just wanted to let you know that throughout this whole month, I’ll be posting one new DIY project per week for a design element for your holiday table.

The picture from above is from my own holiday table last year. We took silk leaves (but you can use real ones from your backyard) and glued them on to a glass vase, layering the leaves to add dimension and texture. Then we took raffia and wrapped it around the vase as a simple finishing touch. Add some flowers and you’re ready.

Here's a close-up shot of the grape centerpiece from the table. 

What’s one of your favorite Thanksgiving decorations? Do you have any family traditions you do every year?

Stay tuned for later this week when we post our first Thanksgiving How-To...