Dallas Home & Gift Market
This week the Dallas Home & Gift Market began as did Dallas Design Week at the World Trade Center in Dallas. The Center offers an incredible lineup of events, insights, and inspiration during Design Week. Living in Celina allowed me to pop over to the Market and take advantage of attending one of the events this week, while also attending the Home & Gift Show.
One of the showrooms I had an appointment with was Ivystone, who has the Beatriz Ball line we carry. If you’ve shopped with us, you’ve seen Beatriz Ball’s luxury melamine pieces. We’ve carried the line for years, but I’ve never actually met Beatriz in person. To my pleasant surprise, she was going to be one of the designers on stage in the roundtable discussion I planned to attend!
“Serving Up Design: Elevating Projects with Luxury Tabletop” was the kickoff to Design Week. I have always loved tabletop design. What would Beatriz Ball and this distinguished panel of women have to say about tabletop trends?
The panel did not disappoint. Beatriz Ball, Courtney Petit, Kimberly Schlegel Whitman, and Missy Peck shared their insights, trends, tips and tricks on creating curated tabletops for entertaining and hosting special occasions.
I learned Beatriz had come from Cuba as a young girl with her family with only sixteen dollars amongst them. She led the discussion by telling us a table tells a story. Everyone on the panel agreed.
Tablescape Panel, Dallas Market
Tabletop Trends - Tell a Story
Entertaining this fall and going into 2025 will be all about creating a story for your guests. Ask yourself what is the purpose of this event or dinner? Is it an official celebration like a birthday or an anniversary or is it getting to know your neighbors? As with any story, when setting a table, consider the characters and what they would enjoy. One trend we will see more of is the use of a tablecloth. For Beatriz, a tablecloth brings back childhood memories. When the tablecloth was brought out it meant it was dinner time. A white tablecloth will always be in style. If you have one that was passed down to you, use it! Which, brings us to another trend. Vintage and family heirlooms are trending in decor and tablescaping. People are embracing the warmth of a cozy home and carrying on family traditions with their own twist.
Kimberly Schlegel Whitman shared “There is just something magical about recreating the special touches that your mother, grandmother, godmother, or aunt employed when hosting a family get together.” Mixing family pieces with new pieces is very on trend.
As you plan a tablescape, whether its an intimate dinner or a big party, start with the story, or the theme. It’s much easier to gather supplies and be inspired with a story goal. From there decide on a color palette. Again, this makes it easier to not get overwhelmed with multitude choices. Deep warm colors like burgundy are trending for fall are as are reds, rich plums, deep greens, and browns.
Every table will have dishes, utensils, drink ware, napkins, tablecloth or runner, placemats/chargers and some type of centerpiece. Then you can add a few special touches in your extra pieces like serving pieces and individual decorations.
Mix the Everyday with Vintage or Heirloom Pieces
If you have wedding china or “good dishes”, that aren’t getting used, pull them out and use them! You are really on trend if you mix the seldom used fancy dishes with the every day and fill in what’s needed with Ikea or the Dollar Store. Animal motifs and animal prints are on trend in fashion and your tabletop. Missy Peck shared her museum putty trick when setting an interesting table. When incorporating memorabilia or souvenirs she uses museum putty to adhere them to serving pieces or trays.
After the panel discussion the group got a tour of some of the best spots in Dallas Market for tabletop. Our first stop was Ivystone Showroom, where Beatriz Ball’s collection is represented.
Beatriz and Rachel
While we were there Courtney Petit spoke to her signature style of surprising her guest with an unexpected item. She pointed out different pieces from Beatriz’s line that she would incorporate into her tabletop design. One such piece was Beatriz’s beautiful hand made Mexican silver cracker dishes. Yes, they are on the ANNIE JACK order arriving in October!
As you entertain during the fall and holiday season tell your story and surprise your guests!