If you have a traditional dining room design in your formal eating area, your décor should complement your classical taste. In addition to paintings and candles, which add an elegant touch, dining room table centerpieces further solidify the color scheme and design style to create a cohesive look. Centerpieces made from things found in nature, such as fruit, wood, leaves, and flowers are standard staples in traditional décor, and they can be further enhanced by finding inspiration in vintage items like 19th-century hurricane lanterns.
Even though hurricane lanterns are no longer used (I’ll take electricity, please), their elegant silhouette can be found in modern glass vases, which can be used for pillar candles, flower bouquets, and as a holder for decorative vase fillers. When paired with nature-inspired accents, these vases create a vintage vibe with a modern twist. If you’ve been looking for earthy centerpiece ideas for a dining table, look no further, as this one-of-a-kind arrangement will transform the table and the room in five simple steps.
Step 1: Gather your Supplies
For this project, you’ll need the following:
- One hurricane vase
- Three or four green apples (real or artificial)
- Two berry branches
- Six to eight wooden ball accents (various sizes)
- One strand of inexpensive garland (found at your local dollar store)
Your local dollar store should carry some of these items, and the rest can be found at your local arts and crafts store. Creating a table centerpiece for a dining room shouldn’t break the bank, and there’s no shame in trying to find great deals! Once you’ve found the items that you need (at wallet-pleasing prices), you’re ready to get started.
Step 2: Lay Down the First Layer of the Vase
When making a centerpiece for a dining room table, it’s important to intentionally place each item it a pattern that’s aesthetically appealing. As you arrange the items in your hurricane vase, you’ll be laying it down in three “layers.” This ensures that all of the apples, berries, and wooden accent balls are evenly distributed to create a semblance of a pattern while filling in empty holes to maximize the space.
For the first layer of the vase, place one green apple and two small wooden ball accents at the bottom of the vase. Then, insert one berry branch in an upright position on the right side of the vase. Once those are snugly fit together, you’re ready for the next step.
Step 3: Lay Down the Middle Layer of the Vase
Take another green apple and place it on top of the wooden ball accents that are on the bottom layer. Next, place one medium-sized wooden ball and one large wooden ball on top of the green apple that’s in the bottom layer. Now insert the other berry branch on the left side of the vase so that it looks like this:
Step 4: Lay Down the Top Layer of The Vase
Place a large ball on top of the apple in the second layer, then place another green apple on top with two small wooden balls next to it. Make sure that the berry branches are slightly-angled diagonally to create another level of depth with varying gradients in the lines of the stems.
Once you’ve finished the final layer, your vase should look like this:
The attention to detail in the pattern, combined with the rich earth tone colors inside of the elegant vase, provides a sophisticated focal point for the table, which takes us to the final step!
Step 5: Place the Vase on Your Dining Room Table and Add a Garnish
Now that you’ve finished your vase, place it on the center of the table. Grab your garland strand, and remove several bunches of leaves with a few small flowers and berries to place next to the base of the vase. These strands of garland can be found at your local dollar store, and have removable buds at the end of each branch, which will make the garnish look more natural since these leaves won’t have wires at the ends.
After you’ve removed three or four leaf clusters and two or three sprigs of berries and small flowers, arrange them around the base of the right side of the vase, ensuring that they hug the cylindrical curve. Now that you’ve added the final touch, your centerpiece is complete – and so is your beautiful dining room.
Making décor for a dining table doesn’t have to be complicated, and can actually be fairly simple if you have the right tools and templates. When it comes to traditional rooms with earth tone colors, you can’t go wrong with nature-inspired décor, as the combinations are endless in creating warmth and comfort while capturing your classical style.
What are some unique ways that you’ve brought old-world-inspired décor into your modern home? We’d love to see pictures in the comments below!
