I love styling Thanksgiving tables, especially in colors that delight and surprise my guests. For an event at my friend Phoebe Howard’s store in Charlotte, I updated traditional brown transferware plates with bright pink runners made from inexpensive fabric from Jo-Ann’s. For our first Thanksgiving table at our old farmhouse in upstate New York, I paired a purple tartan blanket from the Goodwill with antique lusterware plates I found at a flea market. A year later, I used Imari porcleain plates on a geometric linen from Quadrille and even dyed antique monogrammed napkins to match! Like most of my work, this year’s table for Design*Sponge mixes high and low, new and old in a vibrant color palette, combining traditional golds with a brilliant blue inspired by an antique rug-turned-table-covering I picked up at Brimfield. For a fresh, more modern take on a traditional harvest centerpiece, I filled a woven cornucopia with fall fruits, chestnuts and gilded leaves. I scored the hammered brass chargers at the Southampton Hospital Thrift Shop last summer ($20 for 10!), while the Paris Porcelain china I found at an estate liquidator in Brimfield. As soon as I saw that matte peach band, accented with rust and gold, I couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving!

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For the place cards, I took old bookbinding paper with a pretty marbleized pattern from Argosy Books, cut out two pieces to size, glued them back to back, and then adhered a smaller place card from Caspari. Chestnuts with tiny slits cut with a razor blade hold the cards perfectly in place. Just make sure the chestnuts are nice and flat on the bottom, so they stand up straight.

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The stemware is hand-blown from the 20s with gilded edges in near-perfect condition. I paid $60 for a set of 24 at the same thrift shop in Southampton where I found the chargers. The carafe is from the 70s with a great, modern shape and a stylish cork stopper. I found it at the Goodwill for a buck.

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The candlesticks are by Andrea Sadek, probably from the 80s, while the sawtooth salt cellars are Irish crystal from the 30s.

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The napkins are made from  my friend Steve McKenzie’s beautiful new line of fabrics in his signature orange colorway, while the flatware is a mix of gold bamboo and bone with a gorgeous, old scrimshaw monogram.

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The buffet, too, mixes new and old serving pieces from disparate time periods atop a rug-turn-table-covering from Brimfield.

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Thanksigiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and now that my table is set, I’m ready to entertain in style!

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Enjoy the holiday everyone, and thank you, as always, for your readership, your loyalty and, above all, your friendship. Happy Thanksgiving!