How to Dress Up a Spring Table
Spring is on its way. In some corners of the country, it’s already making itself obvious. In other regions, it’s still little more than a wisp of hope floating in the chilly air. Either way, we know it’s coming with warmer temperatures, bluer skies, longer days, and signs of new life to emerge all around us.
Coordinating Your Table With the Spring Transition
For many people, changing their table decor to match the season is a time-honored tradition. Summer, fall, and winter offer endless options in this regard. Of course, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas bring even more decorative possibilities to the table.
By the time spring rolls around, though, table trimmings aren’t quite so straightforward. All the bright, festive decor from Christmas has been packed away, and it’s not yet time for the bold hues of summer. That leaves quite a few tabletops looking bare and sad.
If you’re looking for great ways to dress up a spring table, countless options are at your disposal. For the most part, light, pale, and pastel colors dominate the spring color palate with pops of green mixed in here and there. With the variety of hues and decorative items in this category alone, you could spruce up your home in any number of ways.
Start With the Right Base
As is the case in any other season, the right base will get your table decor off to a great start. That means finding the perfect tablecloth to honor the season. If you’d like to create a simple but elegant decorative theme, a solid pale or pastel tablecloth would be perfect. Pinks, greens, and yellows tend to mesh with the natural color scheme of spring, but you don’t have to restrict yourself to those hues alone.
From there, you could further dress up the table with a lace overlay or runner. Alternatively, you could use another sheer fabric, like a soft tulle or organza. Those materials will add interest and elegance to the mix while still allowing the color of the base tablecloth to shine through. Their delicate beauty will also synch with spring’s graceful emergence of color and life.
If you’d like to take your spring table decor in a different direction, you could opt for a patterned tablecloth. Use a soft, floral design, or choose a pastel checkered or gingham pattern. Those are only a few of the possibilities.
Choose Your Place Settings
With the right foundation in place, it’s time to choose your place settings. Nothing gives you a more versatile base to work with than white ceramic plates. They’re stylish and appealing in their own right, so they can stand alone as a muted but elegant spring statement.
Still, they’re also understated enough to mix and match with other dinnerware. If you’d like to add extra pops of color to the mix, there are countless ways to do so. If you happen to have some vintage or antique china on hand, that would make an exquisite addition to the basic white ceramic. Old ceramic pieces would mingle well too.
Consider layering those pieces of dinnerware for a nice contrast. Using mismatched pieces was once viewed as gauche, but that’s no longer the case. At this point, it’s a terrific way to add color, variation, and personality to table decor. You could use layered plates in different sizes accented by tea and coffee cups, saucers, bowls, and other pieces to build up your spring table.
Napkins
Next, you can add napkins to your tabletop motif. Cloth napkins add style and sophistication whether they’re folded neatly alongside your plates or tucked beautifully into napkin rings. If you chose a solid tablecloth, patterned napkins would be best. For a patterned base, napkins in solid colors that coordinate with some of the hues of the tablecloth would be ideal.
Accent Pieces
Accent pieces will also be an important element of your spring table. Again, you could take this in numerous directions. Think about whether you’re going for a simple setup or a more elaborate decorative theme, and work from there.
Candles and Candleholders
Candles add allure to a table in any season, and spring is no exception. The only difference here would be the choice of candle colors and patterns. Keep them in line with the colors in your tablecloth and place settings to avoid clashing. You could certainly use different shades of those colors, though.
To make the candles further meld with the rest of the tabletop decor, you could place them in white ceramic candleholders. Substituting small bowls or saucers for conventional candleholders works well too. If you’d like, you could create a candle arrangement in a larger bowl, a basket, or even a serving tray.
Floral Arrangements
No spring table would be complete without a gorgeous arrangement of fresh flowers. After all, spring is all about new life, budding trees, and fresh bursts of color cropping up all around us. Seasonal flowers can bring a simple, natural, and meaningful touch to your table.
Daffodils are among the most common flowers to bloom in spring, and their yellow hues can bring a sunny burst of color into your home. Camellias, tulips, azaleas, and lilacs also pay homage to spring. Those are only a few of the options. Spring flowers come in virtually all sizes, shapes, and colors, so you’re sure to find some that meld with your color scheme. Be sure to mix in some greenery for the full effect.
Other Additions
Napkins and flowers are only a couple of the possibilities for decking out your spring table. If you’re taking it in a more rustic direction, faux birds’ nests with eggs would be perfectly charming. Braided rattan or woven fiber placemats would fit in nicely with that type of theme. On a more elegant note, ceramic birds or bunnies might be a nice touch. Colored glassware can add a bit of refinement as well. Mixing new pieces with vintage ones is a fantastic way to add diversity and visual appeal.
Bringing Together Your Spring Table Decor
Spring is a time when the world comes back to life after a long winter freeze. Dull, bare trees and bushes evolve into countless shades of green. Flowers burst into an endless array of vibrant colors, attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and bumblebees. All around us, the world springs into motion as animals come out of hiding and bring about a renewed state of vitality.
Your spring table decor can reflect all that beauty and excitement in any number of ways. Start with the right tablecloth, and add your chosen place settings. Build on those with accent pieces, like flowers, napkins, figurines, and glassware. Keep in mind that these are basic ideas. Think about what spring means to you, and don’t hesitate to use your own style and personality to dress up your spring table.
