Dressing the Christmas table is one of the great pleasures of the festive season.
Stretching from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve celebrations, it's the one time of the year we can really fall in love with tablescaping.
And whether yours is an intimate lunch for two or a sumptuous feast for 20, there are easy ways to create a table impressive enough to match the food you're serving. Laying the Christmas table is a scene-scatter for magical celebrations with those you love the most.
Here, Holloways Interior Designer Annie Blackledge shows how to dress yours with tableware and decorations from our Gift Shop and Neptune store-in-store.
Visit our showrooms - they're full of beautiful table settings to inspire your - and celebrate with a Champagne afternoon tea or festive lunch in the Glasshouse.
All that glisters
Gold has been synonymous with Christmas since the Three Wise Men made their famous detour through the desert.
"Pair these brass Heddon candlesticks with white taper candles and spray foliage from the garden with gold paint, or save yourself some work and stock up with metallic foliage in our Gallery Showroom", says Annie.
"Add Hoxton wine glasses, Fenton china - with its metallic edge for old-school sparkle - silver cutlery and Emily linen napkins for an opulent look. Antique pieces lend a sense of place."
Layering is key. Wrap thoughtful table gifts in ornate, green Odette wrapping paper, and tie napkins with velvet ribbon and tuck a sprig of gold foliage underneath to bring the scheme together.
Three sages
Mirrored trays atop a natural, textured runner add understated glamour to a Christmas table, reflecting your centrepiece for double the effect. Layers of evergreen foliage in shades from sage to the darkest green are pretty entwined with glittered berries, while metallic tea light holders and taller candlesticks add height and interest.
"Add colour and texture with this gorgeous pottery tableware - in stock in our Gift Shop - and pair with dark green linen napkins and neutral place mats to ground the scheme," says Annie.
We love these olive green pillar candles - more modern than the deep greens of Christmases gone by, and the LED function means they're safe for little hands reaching over the table.
For a sense of occasion, layer bowls over chargers - the metallic rims of these Fenton bowls from our Neptune store-in-store - spell grown-up glamour.
White Christmas
Pared-back, natural decor is a key trend this Christmas - a fusion of Scandinavian style and foraged treasures designed to blur the lines between inside and out.
Quietly elegant and beautifully textured, this Lowther tableware - available in our Neptune store-in-store - has a delightful hand-thrown feel to it. Paired with natural linen napkins and either silver or white Handsworth cutlery, it's at once homespun and spoiling.
Suspend a natural wreath above the table - click here for how to make own - hang springs of mistletoe and ivy from the chair backs and fill a basket with cyclamen and seasonal greenery from the garden. Trail ivy over the sides, add tall, white taper candles and dress with these Jasmine Star decorations, or one of th Castleton tea light holders. Frosted glass motives and metallic candlesticks add Christmas sparkle.
Unmistakeably traditional
Drawing on this year's trend for paper decorations, these pretty little fold-out paper trees inspire this gloriously traditional Christmas table - with more than a hint of Hogmanay about it.
Red candles team with a red linen runner, while the plaid napkins, layered on green place mats, tie the whole scheme together.
"Place a ceramic tree decoration on each place setting, tying a name label to it, and add height with pillar and taper candles", says Annie. "Comb our Gift Shop for these faux red berries, pine cones and red glass baubles and vases to hide in amongst the foliage."
For modern country charm, keep in simple with this Emily table runner and snowflake napkins.
Embrace with blues
Blue and silver is a classic combination, and works brilliantly in a contemporary setting. Layer white tableware on silver napkins, add height with candlesticks in frogged glass, cut glass or stone, and weave silver string lights in and out of Christmas foliage.
Recycled glass has a lovely green-dish tinge, bringing together the whole look, while a linen tablecloth will soften what can be quite a formal scheme.
