Holiday Tabletops For Everyone
Holiday tabletops can be real eye-catchers at holiday parties, whether or not you want to spend a lot on them.
On The Early Show Tuesday, celebrity event planner Colin Cowie showed how to create three completely different, but "utterly fabulous" holiday tabletops, in three different color schemes, and within three different price ranges: fancy, cheap and chic.
"There literally is something for everyone!" Cowie exclaims.
He describes the first table as "ultra-modern and tres fabulous. We've chosen a 'winter wonderland' theme, so it's all white, silver and gray. It's very minimalist and very contemporary."
The table is cloaked in a white tablecloth, to keep with the feel.
The tabletop display is made up of rock salt and candles. "What's easier than that?" Cowie says.
Start with the rock salt and pour a layer on the table. Next, add the candles and then another layer of salt. Bury the votive candles in the salt so that only the flames are coming out; it gives lovely illumination, and then you get beautiful ambient light from the tall candles. Use a paintbrush to get the salt out of the well of the wick. And of course, all the china and glasses correspond with the winter wonderland theme.
Everything on the table is from West Elm, and "it's all very reasonable priced," Cowie says. "The whole look is extremely modern and spectacular."
The second table is "this year's holiday color scheme for me, and that is lavender and lilac," Cowie says. "It goes beautifully with garland and a wreath," and "is perfect" sitting in front of the fireplace. The table is a dark wood, and instead of a tablecloth, Cowie used a runner.
All the tabletop elements follow the color scheme and have an iridescent sheen to them; almost everything here has a "lovely, reflective quality." Place a white amaryllis, the most common holiday bulb available, into a salad bowl, and add "gorgeous, faux crystal jewels" in the bowl around the flower. Then place votive candles around the bowl with the amaryllis in it.
It has clear Lucite "ghost" chairs.
The look "is rich and gorgeous; everything on the table is from Wal-Mart, for which Cowie designs a line of goods, so it's all "extremely affordable," he says.
The third table is a much more traditional and formal look. Its color scheme is burgundy red and gold, which is more of what some people expect for this time of year.
This is, Cowie says, "reminiscent of the St. Regis; it's a little more uptight and Park Avenue or, as I like to say, a modern St. Petersburg." There is a gold urn in the center of the table, filled with holiday ornaments. Around that urn Cowie placed little gold julep cups, tightly packed with red roses and gold votive candles. This tabletop is definitely a more over-the-top look, but if you break it down, you realize all it is is ornaments, votives and julep cups with roses, simple to recreate.
Plus, you can keep the urn with the holiday ornaments in it out on the table for the whole season. This table is the most expensive look Cowie showed; the china is from Bernardaud, for instance.
For more on items Cowie used in the segment, go to the Web sites of Vivre and Kartell.