Setting the Table for the Season

Pops of color combine with unusual accessories to create festive wintry tablescapes

By Elizabeth Sugg  »  Photos by Chelsey Carico

The holidays are a joyful sweep of scents, décor and nostalgia centered around homecomings with family and gatherings with wonderful friends. Mixing bright touches of reds, greens, golds with other jewel tones and then adding a touch of greenery, a bowl of pine cones and other outdoor flourishes can dress up the focal points in a home in ways that keep seasonal decorating more wintry and festive without the full focus being on Christmas themes. Four area businesses have set a table full of inspired, delightful ideas for this holiday, each one noteworthy and sure to make your season bright.

Charlotte’s Furnishings & Finds

The holidays at Charlotte’s Furnishings & Finds are being celebrated at its new location at 114 West Main Street in Aberdeen, just one block north, an exciting move for the popular furniture and home goods store. Owner Charlotte Williams who has a decorating and design background stocks her store with market sample sources, often selling furniture and home accessories at near wholesale prices but the catch is, items may be there one day and gone the next. The excitement about that is that Charlotte’s gets in new items all the time, which makes it a fun shop to dip into every so often. If you enjoy furniture catalogs that feature old-style cottage, barnyard and vintage-inspired furnishings, then the product lines that Williams sells will strike your fancy. And Williams’ passion is sourcing that special touch for customers that will make them excited about their living space. With wintry weather coming, there is no better time to feather your nest.

A Farm Table Set for the Season

The large-scale farm table encourages a crowd of family and good friends to gather round, the photo of the railway tracks extending the space in a way that invites relaxed comfort, the picture cleverly framed by vintage wood shutters. The bold, wooden candlesticks and lamp atop the mahogany sideboard offer the scale needed to accessorize the big, open space of the dining area. A nativity scene mixes with accents of agate, zeolites and quartz, the blend of the Christmas story with the beautiful, natural formations of the rocks and minerals setting a holiday table with a centerpiece that will carry the season.

Solid Wood Trestle Dining Table (118” with extendable), $1,685; Bramble Mahogany four-door/drawer sideboard (100 “ W x 43 “ H); Vintage wood shutters, $125; 3D Railroad Art, $289; Chandelier in a brushed gold finish, $329; Bonsai 6 ft tree; Vintage Gudri cloths for the table runner, $24; Mini Pillow Stools for risers; Agate, zeolites, quartz for decorative accents.  

Michael Lamb Interiors & Antiques

Step into Michael Lamb Interiors and immerse yourself in the stylish possibilities of mixing antiques and family pieces with the input from an interior designer who has an eye and a gift for blending the old, the cultivated, the new. Each of Lamb’s tablescapes are curated ensembles of furniture, wall hangings, lamps combined with unexpected accessories that with an added hint of fresh greenery or a pop of color conveys that bit of festivity we all seek throughout the season and into the
new year.

French Chateau Style

A mounted American Pronghorn Antelope framed by Wedgewood plates adorned with the Crest of a Horn commands the space above a 19th century French Fruitwood buffet table. Dressed with antique leather -bound books and a pair of brass candlesticks turned into lamps and set off by custom checked shades, the ensemble has layers of textures and points of interest — handsome, old-world appeal enhanced with features of updated refinement. The pots of green ivy add a soft touch of seasonal color, a pretty look well into the new year.

Rococo Fantasy

The backbone of this artistic merging of crafted beauty is an Italian Rococo carved wooden mirror that sets off a lustrous French walnut three-drawer commode. The jade green of the terracotta figures adds the color that the holiday season calls out for, an unexpected flourish.

One Eleven Main

There is a welcoming house in the business district along Bennett Street in Southern Pines that’s full of decorative ideas and warm touches for the home – One Eleven Main. Owners Julie Moore and Erin ReVille stock their store with a staggering range of products and lines, items that are as functional as they are wonderful to look at. As you wander through the up-and-downstairs, original artwork hung throughout, room after room is filled with furniture, home decor, bed and bath products, jewelry, stationery, cookbooks and kitchenware, baby gifts and more, including tabletop items as this joyful display shows.

Elegant & Merry

Nothing says celebration like pops of gold and red. Atop the starched white linen tablecloth are a set of four preserved boxwood placemats, a stunning natural base for the mix of gold-rimmed glass and white Vietri plates, a monogrammed set of hemstitched napkins making an invitation to such a festive table even more personal. A footed vase is filled with fresh cranberries and a cascade of red roses, a beautiful look yet easy to do. The wrapped ornament in the each Rufalo glass bowl adds the “merry” to this elegant tablescape.

PATRICIA

Upon entering PATRICIA your eyes will dance with delight and interest because every inch of Trish Deerwester’s boutique features combinations of clothing, accessories and items for the home that have been thoughtfully blended together, achieving an uplifting sense of style, a true joie de vivre.

Lush Textures and Distinctive Items Create Festive Intimacy

Warmth and texture spill forth from this handsome, unconventional tablescape. A faux cowhide rug is the foundation for this ruggedly elegant table set for two, the furry throws in the table’s chairs adding soft comfort and eclectic style. Fossil plates, staghorn steak knives, horn hurricane lamps and whiskey cups are bookended by two carved wooden horses dressed in red bandanas adding seasonal color. In keeping with the textured intimacy, a simple cutting of greenery and the use of red pomegranates keeps the festiveness of the table under the radar, a setting meant for conversation and sipping red wine.