The word might sound a bit pretentious but assembling a tablescape is an easy and fun way to get creative on a budget. Being the sort of person that can't pass a junk shop without going in and arrives home from flea markets laden with bags and boxes, I've amassed a lot of decorative bits and bobs. I've just got too much stuff to display at any one time and yet I can't bear to part with it. So I've had to become my own curator, incessantly shifting things about to make the most of my collecting habit. Whether or not you're afflicted with the same addiction, creating a tablescape and then changing it every so often is a great way to add interest to your space, especially if you're easily bored.
Any surface will do: a console table, a sideboard, or even a large coffee table. But themes are best left to wedding planners: choose things that speak to you and your taste will draw them together. Embrace dissymmetry, use objects of varying heights, and create a landscape of different materials, textures, shapes and colours. Found objects and oddities, beloved accessories, table lamps and picture frames are all great starting points. Glass, metal and anything highly textured or faceted will create a play of light and shade, adding depth and interest. Trays can be used to add form to the arrangement, creating a composition with a composition. Lamps placed either side of a console table work really well, but mess it up a bit with a lack of symmetry in the other pieces to avoid a staged, and staid, look. Plants and especially leafy ferns are another great way to avoid your tablescape looking over-done.
While some designers might say a coffee table isn't complete without an artfully placed book, decorating with flashy tomes that you've no intention of reading is just a bit crass. The point of a tablescape is to bring your own personality into it, not to pretend how clever you are. Interesting old books with good graphics are great turned to face the room on a bookshelf, but coffee table books placed 'just so' are pointless and just a bit pretentious. Instead, arrange a few objects in front of your books on shelves, turning a couple of interesting covers to the front.
The great thing about tablescaping is that nothing is fixed. If you get bored or you don't like it, there's no stripping of wallpaper or lugging of paint. Have fun with it, play curator and bring a new lease of life to your room.
Author Resource:-
Catherine Gregg is a features writer at furnish.co.uk. She's recently published a monograph, 'Virginia Woolf and Dress Mania', as part of the Bloomsbury Heritage Series (Cecil Woolf Publishers). When she's not writing about design, she's buying and selling it at her market stall in London. Her dream finds are 1950s coffee tables and art deco console tables.
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