There’s something about a dough bowl that immediately makes you think “farmhouse”. In fact, it was the catalyst for creating my rustic farmhouse Christmas tablescape.
Actually, there were two things I knew I wanted to use for my table setting: my long dough bowl and this checkered red and green tablecloth.
It’s one I inherited when the dining table was passed down to me. I don’t think it’s that old, but I wanted to challenge myself to create a Christmas table setting using a patterned tablecloth.
Christmas patterned tablecloths are super cute, but oftentimes people decorate the rest of their tablescape with just solid colors.
They are afraid to add other patterns or textures to their tablescape.
Are you that way?
Does mixing patterns and textures intimidate you?
I get it.
I love the rustic vibe of my long dough bowl and wanted to integrate it into a Christmas table setting.
The hiccup I had in decorating the dough bowl is my is kinda narrow and most candle holders or vases wouldn’t sit inside. The same was true for medium or large Christmas decor pieces.
They just didn’t look good or dwarfed the dough bowl.
I needed something that would easily sit inside the dough bowl, provide height on the table, and be “Christmasy”.
So, creativity needed to kick in.
I made these cute rustic Christmas trees using styrofoam cones. Aren’t they awesome!
They are SUPER easy and inexpensive to make. Plus, you can transfer them to your fireplace mantle or other Christmas vignettes around your house.
Gotta love making something that you can use in multiple places!
Supplies to Recreate this Rustic Farmhouse Christmas Tablescape
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- Checkered or patterned tablecloth
- Long dough bowl
- Red chargers
- White dinner plates
- Red and white pattern salad plates
- Checkered napkins
- Easiest EVER diy pinecone napkin rings
- Flatware
- Water goblets
- Easy diy styrofoam Christmas trees
- Cotton balls & pine cones
How to Set a Rustic Farmhouse Christmas Table Setting
Step 1: Select Your Christmas Tablecloth
Because this is a rustic farmhouse tablescape for Christmas, I would first suggest (if you have one) using an inherited holiday tablecloth. One that has that older, maybe vintage-vibe. A tablecloth that belonged to your grandmother. It doesn’t need to be a new tablecloth.
That’s one of the things about this tablescape that makes it special – it started with an inherited tablecloth.
The tablecloth doesn’t need to perfectly fit your table. If you look at mine, I put the tablecloth on the diagonal, because it was too small to go the full length of the table.
It’s pretty neat to see a tablecloth used diagonally, because the tabletop peaks out, and it creates a unique visual quality to the table setting.
Step 2: Creating a Rustic Farmhouse Christmas Centerpiece
The primary focus of your tablescape is typically the centerpiece. And nothing says “rustic farmhouse” more than a dough bowl.
Dough bowls have that feeling of being used for generations. Something you can envision your great-grandmother pulling out and using. In years past, they were hard to find; only at estate sales or flea markets. But now you can find a variety of options online.
To recreate the look of my Christmas dough bowl centerpiece, start with cotton balls. Weird, I know, but a bag of cotton balls is so cheap and you probably already have them.
The cotton provides the look of snow inside the bowl. Carefully pull the cotton balls apart and line the dough bowl with them. You can even sprinkle a little fake snow on the cotton to enhance the look.
Once you have the cotton base the way you want, add the diy styrofoam Christmas trees. Not only are they super easy to make, you can create them to coordinate with your rustic tablescape.
When you look at my diy Christmas trees you will notice that I used fabrics that had the same colors as my tablecloth. They didn’t match perfectly but complimented it.
Tip: bring your tablecloth when you when shopping for fabric to create your diy styrofoam Christmas trees. It’s too hard to remember exact shades of colors.
You’ll also notice that I used multiple fabrics. Don’t be afraid to mix it up. The different fabrics, colors, and patterns bring a lot of visual interest to your table setting. Plus it’s fun to use checks, stripes, and patterns together.
After you have your styrofoam diy Christmas trees lined up within your dough bowl, fill it with pine cones or other filler pieces like ornaments, fake food, or greenery.
Doesn’t your Christmas dough bowl centerpiece look fabulous!
Step 3: Add the place settings to your Christmas tablescape
This holiday rustic farmhouse place setting is about mixing colors and patterns. That mixture is what creates the charm on the table.
Start your place setting with a charger plate that compliments your tablecloth. I used fabulous red charger plates that I got from Dollar Tree. Talk about cheap!
I then layered a white dinner plate with a red and white patterned salad plate that I found at Target and topped it with a green and off-white checkered napkin.
The mix of patterns works well because they have the same colors found in the tablecloth and in the centerpiece.
To completely tie in the place setting with the rustic holiday centerpiece, I added the EASIEST EVER diy napkin rings to the checkered napkins. Because they are pinecone napkin rings they connect well with the pinecones in the centerpiece.
Sweet!
Then to complete the place setting, add your flatware and water goblets. I inherited mine from my mother. It’s awesome how the snowflakes on them tie into the snowflakes in the tablecloth.
Once your place settings are complete, it’s typically time to add any extra embellishments or decor pieces to bring together everything on the tablescape.
However, with the busyness of the tablecloth, combined with the mixed patterns of the diy Christmas trees, the salad plates, and the napkins, I felt that adding anything else to the tablescape would be too much. That adding more to the table would lessen the overall look and effect.
And sometimes, less is more.
This rustic farmhouse Christmas tablescape is so fun and cherry with the colors and styrofoam trees. I just love it!
I can’t wait for my family to sit down and have a holiday meal around the table.
***Did you notice that I used the red and white salad plates in a completely different Christmas tablescape? Check out my Retro Christmas Table Setting and see how well they work there, too.
I love your centerpiece trees! They are great in the dough bowl, too. Your table is lovely.
Aww! Thank you. I SO appreciate hearing that.