A Beautiful Holiday Tablescape with Fresh Greenery

It’s tablescape day for my monthly dinner club group, and this month is full of Christmas and holiday inspiration! Keep reading to see why I chose my theme, and let me show you how to create a beautiful holiday tablescape with fresh greenery.

If you are coming over from Kelly at The Tattered Pew, welcome! Kelly is our guest host this month, and we are so happy to have her. Wasn’t her Christmas table so beautiful??



Since we started our monthly dinner club back in January, I have found that I really love creating tablescapes. It’s so rewarding to me to try and use things I already have on hand, for the mostpart, and create a beautiful table. And, I love sharing my ideas with YOU!!

There is always so much inspiration with this talented group of ladies, and it’s so fun to see everyone’s different interpretation of a specific theme or holiday.

If you missed last months table, I hope you’ll pop over and take a look. You can see my table here, then follow the links at the bottom of the post to see all of my friends tables.




why I decided on a green and gold tablescape using live greenery

I’ll be very honest, and admit that when my dinner club planned a Christmas tablescape for the week before Thanksgiving, I panicked a little.

I don’t pull my Christmas decorations out of the attic until Thanksgiving day. I know, as a decorator and home decor influencer, that makes me very late to the party.

But, I host Thanksgiving and I really enjoy it being all about pumpkins, turkeys, and all things fall.

As soon as Thanksgiving is over, I hit the ground running to deck the halls. In the meantime, I have all the ideas in my head and I am definitely working on Christmas decor and projects behind the scenes.

So, I started thinking about what I could use for my tablescape that wouldn’t require any of my decorations that are packed away.

It dawned on me, that there are a lot of huge juniper trees in my neighborhood. And, I have a friend with a pine tree in her front yard, and another friend with a couple of magnolia trees.

This became my inspiration. Beautiful greenery, and it’s free!!

other elements for my green/gold tablescape

After I decided to go with the fresh greenery as my inspiration, I started thinking about other things I already had that I could incorporate.

clear glass hurricane with gold rim and white pillar candle inside lit and pine branch and magnlolia branch around it



I recently found a glass hurricane with a gold rim around the top at a thrift store for $3. And, I have several vintage brass candlesticks. I thought the gold/brass would look beautiful and elegant with fresh greenery.

Now, my theme and colors were set and I just had to pull it all together and use those colors as my guide.

creating a centerpiece for my Christmas tablescape



I started by gathering all of the greenery. I cut lots of juniper branches from the neighborhood, then cut pine and magnolia from my friends yards.

The thrifted glass hurricane was placed on a small white plate and I added an ivory pillar candle inside. The hurricane became the center of the tablescape.


Five vintage brass candlesticks were placed on either side of it and I used ivory tapers for those, as well.

I like to use a bit of spanish moss inside the candle holder to add a bit of interest and it also helps anchor the tapers.



Once the hurricane and candlesticks were placed, I began laying my greenery down the center of the table like a runner. I began with the juniper, then tucked in some of the pine and finished with bunches of magnolia leaves.

gold spray painted hydrangea and gold spray painted horse apple and magnolia leaves and juniper branchand brass candlescticks with white tapers on tabletop for centerpiece


I love the golden color on the back of magnolia leaves, and it just added another element to my green and gold themed tablescape.

Don’t you just love repurposing things you already have, and finding new ways to use them???


I remembered I had gathered some horse apples for my fall decor and still had them.

wicker gathering basket filled with green horse apples

You can see the woodsy themed tablescape where I used the horse apples here.

I decided to repurpose them for my green and gold tablescape, so I spray painted them gold and tucked them in places thoughout the greenery.



You could easily use gold Christmas ornament balls for this, but I already had the horse apples. And, it was a great way to repurpose those instead of buying gold ornaments.

And remember those dead hydrangeas I nabbed from my neighbors trash pile a couple of months ago? I spray painted some of them gold a couple of weeks ago, and decided to tuck a few into my centerpiece.

place settings for a green and gold holiday tablescape

Last summer, I went to a barn sale with a friend and bought these really cool and very tarnished brass plates for $2 each. They are supposed to be decorative, but I bought them to use as plate chargers.

3 vintage brass plate chargers



I love the look of the brass with my fresh greenery and the brass candlesticks.

A white plate with a gold rim, which is part of my thrifted plate collection, went on top of the brass charger.

Several years ago, I bought these Christmas plates, and honestly I don’t remember where. I think it may have been Hobby Lobby.



Anyway, they have a holly pattern with a red berry. Since, I don’t really use red in my Christmas decor, I almost got rid of them. However, it occured to me I could use a gold glass marker and color in the berries.

It worked great, and now I’ll be keeping those plates!

My holly plates were the final layer to my place setting.

I found a set of 8 linen napkins with a goldish brown cross stitch border on them, at a thrift store last year. So, I pulled those out to use with my green and gold tablescape.

green and gold holiday place setting with vintage brass charger white plate gold rim white salad plate with holly pattern all stacked gold fork and knife beside plate white napkin with brown cross stitch border placed under salad plate magnolia leaves and juniper in front of plate on table top



The color worked beautifully with all of the brass and the gorgeous color of the back of the magnolia leaves.

I borrowed gold flatware from a sweet friend, but that is definitely on my wish list.

the final touch to my green and gold tablescape

I recently purchased these cute faux fir wreaths at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I hung them with an “S” hook on the backs of my chairs.


These will be fun to use in different ways in my holiday decor. They would be cute with a ribbon hung from cabinet doors or on my french doors. Or just sprinkled throughout the house.

my greenery and gold tablescape by candlelight

Don’t you just love the way a tablescape looks with all the candles lit?

I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures of this holiday tablescape as dusk, with the candles glowing.

placecards for a holiday tablescape

I decided not to use place cards for this greenery and gold tablescape, but I think a version of these quote/placecards that I used for Thanksgiving and Fall tables would be perfect.

You could easily substitute a sprig of rosemary in place of the wheat stalk.


I hope you have found some inspiration here today! I loved sharing A Beautiful Holiday Tablescape with Greenery with you.

overhead view of tablescape with gold spray painted hydrangea and gold spray painted horse apples and magnolia leaves and juniper branch and pine branches down center of tabletop for centerpiece with 5 brass candlesticks with white tapers along center of table and white place settings with gold flatware



Be sure and follow the links to see all of my friends tables. SO much creativity here!

Next up on the tour is Anne & Ann Marie from Simply 2 Moms, and you don’t want to miss their beautiful farmhouse Christmas table!

blessings and Happy Holidays,

If you enjoyed the post, be sure and Pin It to remember it…..

pinterest photo for a green and gold holiday table

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30 Comments

  1. Michele what a gorgeous table! I love all the greenery you used! The centerpiece looks amazing!

    1. Thanks so much Stacy! I really enjoyed getting creative with this one!

      1. Thank you for the ideas. I’m going to spray paint horse apples. We have them all over our neighborhood.

        1. Oh, good! So glad you liked it. Happy Thanksgiving!

  2. Michele,
    This is so beautiful! I love using fresh greenery and yours looks just perfect. Those plates are adorable.

    1. Thank you Rachel! I loved your cute plates too. I think we both have a thing for dishes!

  3. I love it..the colors, the nature pieces, love your ideas of mixing all the evergreen materials. Of repurposing your dishes, the horses Apples spraying gold.. Genius in my book!!! It looks lovely and serene. ❤

    1. Oh, thank you so much for your kind words, and I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks so much for following along and commenting!

  4. Love this gorgeous table Michele! You did an amazing job pulling it together and using things you already had on hand. The greenery is stunning. Pinned

    1. Thanks so much! I had fun gathering the greenery to use.

  5. Wow! Michele, this might be one of my favorite tables of yours. It is so pretty and I love how you used all of the greenery. So creative!

    1. Aww, thanks so much Jen! So nice of you to say!

  6. Teddee Grace says:

    This turned out beautifully. In northwest Missouri we call your “horse apples” “hedge balls.” They are the “seed pods” from the Osage Orange trees which were planted as hedge rows between farms in that part of the country when it was first being settled. They are considered a real nuisance because they spread so and take over pastures and most farmers have eradicated them from their property for this reason. Sprayed gold, they take on a totally different character!

    1. Thanks so much for the info! We have them around our property too, and you’re right, typically they are a nuisance. I loved being able to use them in my fall and holiday decor this year though.

  7. Very calm and pretty. It would be nice for Thanksgiving if you changed out the salad plate and added just a few white or gold pumpkins. Dessert on the porch?

    1. Yes, great idea! So glad you like it

  8. Michele, this table setting stopped me! It is absolutely beautiful. I love that you repurposed items that you had. Painting the red berries with glass marker was the perfect touch. Happy Holidays to you!

    1. Thanks so much Kim! So glad I thought to do that before I got rid of them!

  9. Your tablescape is so elegant and simple Michele! Loving all of the green and gold Pinned😊

    1. Thanks so much Cindy! I really appreciate that!

  10. Michele the green and gold combo is stunning!! I love how creative you were and in especially love how you changed the berries in the plates from red to gold. So smart! Thank you so much for having me as a guest!

    1. Thanks so much Kelly! I really appreciate that and we are so happy you joined us!

    1. Thanks so much! So glad you liked it, and I really appreciate you following along and commenting!

  11. You consistently blow me away with your ideas! I would have never thought to use the brass plates as chargers but they are perfect. And to paint horse apples and the red berries on the plates – outstanding! I need to rub elbows with you so maybe you can give me some of that creativity of yours. Can I at least just rub your head? Love it all!

    1. Ha, so funny Cindy! I really appreciate your kind words and I’m so glad you liked my tablescape!!

  12. Hi Michele!
    This is STUNNING! It is so simple but makes such a beautiful statement! I too love using pieces that I already have and re-purposing them for different things. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Oh, thanks so much! I’m so glad you like it!!

  13. There is just something about using live greenery at Christmas that makes it that much more special.I have cedar, pine, and magnolia in my yard along with Nandina berries so I really enjoy decorating with what I have available.

    1. Oh wow, that’s awesome! So many wonderful things right in your yard to use for holiday decorating. And doesn’t it just smell amazing too??

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