Celebrate Fall With a Cozy, Cabin-Inspired Tabletop
Follow along as a stylist shares how to add cozy, colorful touches to your dining table for your next holiday meal
Fall is a wonderful time to get out of town, cook over a fire, hike through crunchy leaves and sip apple cider. But if you’re not planning a weekend away in the country this fall, you can still style a cozy, cabin-inspired dining table at home. Liz Martin, a stylist and owner of Charleston Weekender, shows us how.
Seen here is Martin’s dining room in her colorful 1902 home in Charleston, South Carolina. To get a rustic and cozy look, she swapped out her aqua dining chairs for a wooden bench. “In Charleston, it’s not exactly sweater weather,” Martin says. “So a log cabin theme is a good way to feel cozy but have decor that isn’t really heavy and autumnal when the weather doesn’t really feel like that.”
Styling Your Tabletop
Start with a checkered tablecloth for a classic outdoor feel.
“Don’t be afraid to mix patterns,” Martin says. “It’s my favorite thing.” Here, striped napkins contrast with the tablecloth without detracting from it. As long as there’s a level of consistency, like a unified color scheme, a mix of patterns will add an element of interest and fun to the table.
Tablecloth: Tablevogue; striped napkins: Williams Sonoma; find buffalo-check fabric and similar striped napkins
Start with a checkered tablecloth for a classic outdoor feel.
“Don’t be afraid to mix patterns,” Martin says. “It’s my favorite thing.” Here, striped napkins contrast with the tablecloth without detracting from it. As long as there’s a level of consistency, like a unified color scheme, a mix of patterns will add an element of interest and fun to the table.
Tablecloth: Tablevogue; striped napkins: Williams Sonoma; find buffalo-check fabric and similar striped napkins
Yellow plates provide a delightful hit of color and channel the changing leaves outdoors.
Plates: Alta, West Elm; see more yellow plates
Plates: Alta, West Elm; see more yellow plates
Fern fronds at each setting bring a foraged and woodsy feel to the setup.
Copper flatware adds an unexpected color and another rustic touch.
“I pulled inspiration from the idea of a Pendleton blanket,” Martin says of her color palette. The iconic wool blankets are known for their bold colors. The stylist added a red lacquer tray loaded with mugs for hot cocoa. “I’ll take any excuse to decorate with primary colors.”
The stylist says she likes decorating for fall with a cabin-themed twist because it’s casual and fun. “It’s one of those nostalgic things. It makes your guests feel more welcome when you’re a bit more casual.”
Napkin coasters: Cocktails, Sideshow Press; find similar coasters
The stylist says she likes decorating for fall with a cabin-themed twist because it’s casual and fun. “It’s one of those nostalgic things. It makes your guests feel more welcome when you’re a bit more casual.”
Napkin coasters: Cocktails, Sideshow Press; find similar coasters
Styling Your Centerpiece
Add more greenery to the space with a table runner topped with small vases and a centerpiece. Start by creating a table runner using a sheet of moss, which you can find at a craft or home improvement store. Moss is easy to work with and can be used as a filler for vases, hurricanes and other small containers.
Add more greenery to the space with a table runner topped with small vases and a centerpiece. Start by creating a table runner using a sheet of moss, which you can find at a craft or home improvement store. Moss is easy to work with and can be used as a filler for vases, hurricanes and other small containers.
Low-key white vases are a clean starting place for additional greenery and other foraged finds. “Something about ferns and moss make me think of taking a walk in the woods,” Martin says. “You can almost smell the freshness when you see those plants.”
A mixture of ferns and dark, woodsy filler like a dried lotus pod pack a punch as a centerpiece. As an alternative, Martin suggests using handpicked branches like eucalyptus and scattering pine cones between the vases.
Martin emphasizes the importance of layering different heights, colors and textures in a centerpiece.
Martin emphasizes the importance of layering different heights, colors and textures in a centerpiece.
Use a wooden bowl filled with seasonal produce for extra color. Here, it’s filled with juicy red apples, but consider figs, pears, persimmons or pomegranates as well.
Put it all together, and you have a woodsy and whimsical tablescape. Finish by putting out a soft throw blanket, seen on the bench, for guests who want to keep warm around the table.
Martin says she loves decorating for fall in a way that’s unexpected, with less brown and more whimsy. “I think making people feel casual and cozy, and reminding them of childhood, makes them feel welcome,” she says.
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