A Christmas Tablescape with Vintage Tree Stands
Decorate your Christmas tablescape with a collection of vintage tree stands. Plus more Christmas table setting ideas, combining old and new.
Setting a beautiful Christmas table is a gift in and of itself for your family and guests. Surrounding yourself with a beautiful scene can be as important as the food you serve. Here are some tips I use regularly when I’m setting a festive holiday table. This “A Christmas Tablescape with Vintage Tree Stands” will show you how to use your treasured vintage collections, mixed with new for a gorgeous table setting.
Today I’m joining a couple of my Creative Vintage Darlings Facebook friends to give you Christmas vintage-inspired table setting ideas. If you love vintage-collecting, decorating, making with it, you should join us! You can find us HERE. I’ll have more details, along with my friends inspiration down below.
A Christmas Tablescape with Vintage Tree Stands
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Use an Old Bedspread for a No Iron Tablecloth
I hate ironing. Now it’s out in the open! Instead of using a tablecloth I have to iron, I much prefer using an old bedspread I can easily throw in the washing machine and then take out of the drier. Pop it on the table, and I’m good to go!
This Christmas tablescape features an adorable hand applique’d red and white bedspread I picked up at an estate sale for a song. I’ve used it on several different beds through the years {see it on our bed in “A Sweetly Vintage Christmas Bedroom”}. I love it’s unique charm.
My dining room table is in the middle of the house, so when I set the Christmas table, I try to bring together all the different themes I’ve got going on. Our “Christmas Kitchen with Vintage Nostalgia” centered on red and white candy canes and sweetness, so this bedspread tablecloth continued the look. ( I probably could have ironed it a little…but it’s 2020, right? Expectations are low;)
(yes, we say that’s a piano over the piano;)
Feature a Collection, Like Vintage Tree Stands, as Your Centerpiece
We’re all vintage lovers here, and you know we have plenty of collections! What can be more fun than getting them out of the cupboard and featuring them on your holiday table?
This Christmas tree stand collection has come about organically. I find one every so often at a church sale for $5 or less, and think, “oh, I haven’t seen that kind before”. I’ve also found a few in roadside piles, people upgrading to plastic:( For fun, go to google images and search vintage Christmas tree stands; wow…there is a huge variety out there! Because I know you all need to start a new collection;)
A couple years ago, I hung my tree stands on an old ladder for a fun Christmas display {you can see it in “Living Room Christmas Tour, All is Calm, All is Bright”}. I’ve added a few more since then!
Only 5 of the vintage Christmas tree stands fit down the center of our table. If your vintage collection is too big for the table, spill over to nearby places, like I had to do. Your theme will carry throughout the room.
Guess it looks like I have 8 currently. That cute little one on the bay is the newest find, and I had to spend more than $5 for it.
Let Your Vintage Collection Guide the Rest of the Christmas Tablescape
Since the centerpiece is made up of vintage Christmas tree stands, I ran with the tree theme, but also wove in the sweet candy canes from the kitchen. I also used the mass candle idea from our living room mantel, full of “DIY Repurposed Candlesticks with Sheet Metal Shades”. I actually borrowed a couple of the pillar candles and shades (guess we have to make more!) Setting depression glass green saucers on top of the tree stands worked perfectly to hold the candles.
Bottle brush trees fill the bay window to continue the theme. And did you notice there is also a tree on the tablecloth?
Each place setting features a printable tree or saying, tied onto a vintage cookie cutter with a candy cane.
The tree printables/gift tags/placecards can be found in my FREE Resource library. You can access them today by becoming an Insider, down below.
Layer your Place Settings with New and Old
You don’t have to have all vintage dishes to set a pretty table. I combined new with old on this table, and even used plastic and metal with glass!
Here’s what I used:
- evergreen placemat
- white chargers, metal and plastic
- metal red transferware plates
- green depression salad plates
- vintage silverware
- vintage red and white thumbprint glasses
- pretty paper napkins
A mix of old and new can be beautiful! You don’t have to have all vintage.
Finish Off your Christmas Tablescape with all The Textures
Every special table setting should have candlelight, but make sure your candles are not fragrant; it doesn’t mix with the food aroma. I finished this table off by cutting fresh evergreen clippings from the yard, adding a few sprays of faux berries, and sprinkling everything with fake snow. I just love all the textures together!
Are your Christmas table setting ideas starting to flow? I hope so!
Start with one of your vintage collections; it’s such a fun way to set a table. And the theme will help everything else fall into place, too!
This year may not be the year you have a big gathering, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it special for your family. I hope these ideas will find you creating a pretty tablescape right along with planning the menu!
If you enjoyed this “A Christmas Tablescape with Vintage Tree Stands”, become an Insider down below to keep the ideas and inspiration flowing!
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Creative Vintage Darlings
Thank you for joining us on this little Christmas Vintage tablescape bloghop! If you’d like to follow for more vintage goodness and inspiration, you can find us here on Facebook . You can also follow our hashtag on Instagram. In 2021 we will have our own IG handle, CreativeVintageDarlings .
Vintage-Inspired Tablescapes
Virginia Sweet Pea / Lora Bloomquist / Vinyet Etc.
Sharing at these lovely parties:
What fun ideas, Lora! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm–pinned!
Thanks!
I, for one, had never seen OLD Christmas tree stands. What a great thing to collect; I think the Depression glass dishes on them were perfect! What a lovely tablescape!
There are so many fun ones out there, Kathy! Seriously, just search google images for them; you’ll want to start a collection, too!
This is so lovely, Lora! The tree stands and candles are so festive…and I’ve always loved your evergreen placemats! Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Linda:) Yes, those placemats are my go-to’s for winter table setting; love them!
So creative and cute. I love how you used the vintage tree stands.
Thanks, Rebecca!
I love your tree stands, it seems they made everything prettier in the old days. Your dishes are so pretty and I love the colors you used, it made for a pretty table setting and conversation. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas with all your family gathered round that pretty table.
Thanks, Marlene! Now to figure out what will be on the plates;)
Love the mix of transferware with the green depression glass. What a fun tablescape this is. I love those old tree stands, so many great ideas!
I loved finding a new way of enjoying them, Debra! Thanks:) And guess what? I pulled out my mom’s old cookie cutters, and there was a gingerbread man with a holster and gun! Same one you have!
I love your tablescape Lora! I love old Christmas tree stands used like this. I have one… looking for more!! I check the thrift store every time I go this time of year hoping for an old one!
Tania
Good luck, Tania! I usually find them when I least expect it!
Just beautiful Lora, I am smitten with the sweet little green stand on the window sill, it’s lovely! Your whole table is amazing, very festive and cheerful! I adore the different chargers in the same colours, I think I may have to borrow that idea! 🙂
When you don’t have enough, Laurie, you have to get creative;) Yes, when I found that little tree stand, right at the end of a recent vintage shopping trip, I almost squealed! Definitely spent more than the other junk finds, but I guess it all balances out:) Thanks, friend!
I love your idea to use vintage Christmas tree stands as a table centerpiece. You styled them beautifully and the look is so unique. I also love your idea to use vintage cookie cutters with a tag, greenery, and a tag on each place setting. I had to show your piano picture to my mom because your piano is exactly like Mama’s. Mama’s piano belonged to “Cousin Maggie” who grew up in Mama’s 1912 house. We have all of Maggie’s sheet music and both Mama and I have a lot of it framed and hanging on the walls in our homes. Mama had this piano growing up to play and then I used it growing up. It’s now back in its original home in the 1912 house the Cousin Maggie’s father built for his family.
What a family treasure, Paula! We got ours from a church. The pastor’s wife who worked with my mom said they no longer needed it in the place it was, and had heard I wanted one for my littles to take lessons. It keeps the tune so well. I love when my daughter is home and it actually gets played. I’ve been tempted to get rid of it because it takes up so much space, but it’s details are so beautiful and I love to hear her play:)