Dress up your holiday table

Anyone in search of fresh ideas and inspiration to set their Thanksgiving table or decorate the rest of the home for the holidays can rejoice: Professional table and floral designers are offering tips to create trendsetting holiday looks.

So scope out some new table-setting ideas and ways to showcase your heirloom holiday decorations.

Compleat Gourmet & Gifts in Denver drew on the recent trend toward casual dining and table-setting for one set of tips. Store designer Terri Harmon and co-owner Barb Trexler selected ivory, pink and green ironstone tableware from Johnson Brothers, Waterford crystal champagne flutes and collectible Santas and angels.

"People are not going out and buying a set of everything that matches," Trexler says of this year's holiday table-setting trends. "People can do their own thing and have a more interesting table."

She also noted that Thanksgiving and Christmas colors have gotten more contemporary.

"We're going from traditional reds to deeper tones or even pink shades," Trexler says. "The greens have gone from traditional hunter to apple green and other colors that work with today's decorating."

The key is to build a tablescape around a single, statement-making decoration such as a tall Santa in a fur-trimmed robe, a spray of pine boughs, a series of candles wrapped in organza ribbon or a basket of branches and berries from the yard.

"The trend really seems to be away from the formal and into more creative casual" table settings, Trexler says. "Especially in this economy, you can make (the table) your own and make it seasonal very easily."

Neiman Marcus visual manager Sydney Peterson picks a more conventional tablescape with white linens, J.L. Coquet dishes, Waterford stemware, crystal candlesticks, poinsettia napkin holders and bright red chargers.

"The last few years were either white and silver or white and gold," Peterson says.

"This year we've really gone strong with bright red. There's a certain richness to it that works well" for holiday table-setting, she adds.

Peppercorn of Boulder, Colo., uses traditional holiday dishes from Gien and a few eclectic pieces from its Vietri Italian dinnerware collection.

And instead of a floral centerpiece for the main dining table, Peppercorn assembled an array of round pillars and round candle holders, complemented by individual vases filled with greenery.

Janice Manville, Peppercorn's head buyer, says the table-setting trends she's seeing this year are simple but sharp, meaning the level of formality on the table can be dictated by the home, the furniture and the other holiday decorations.

"If you already have a nice table," she adds, "place mats are the most versatile."