Summer has been the perfect time to entertain friends and family outside but I do love throwing a more formal dinner party as well. I enjoy barbeques but indoors dining is just more convenient and easier to plan in the autumn. I actually think dinner parties are more my cup of tea. I love planning them and coming up with the theme/colour scheme. I try to prepare some of the courses in advance so that I can mingle with the guests as much as possible. I usually stick to a 3 course dinner with some canapé and matching wines and I never skip the dessert wine – it’s my favourite part!
We had some friends over few weeks ago and I loved our table setting so much I thought why not share it on the blog too? Grey is one of my favourite colours right now. Light grey is very versatile and it’s the perfect colour to transition your décor from summer to autumn mode. I pretty much styled our tablescape around this table cloth from H&M Home. Luckily they also had matching napkins to complete the look. Since grey is such an elegant and understated colour, I felt gold accents will bring a bit of glamour to our table setting. I think they work particularly well together in this case because they are two contrasting colours. In my book when you are decorating your table with gold tableware or accessories, it’s a good idea to mix it up with greys, whites or any other neutral colour that you fancy. If all the accessories are gold it might just look a tad tacky, unless you are going for that ‘bling’ New Year’s look of course.
You might know by now that I am a big fan of Finnish design brand Iittala. I have been collecting their black and white Taika range for a while now and just adore the quirky design. These plates always get loads of complements from my female guests. They are perfectly suited for a modern, minimalist table setting although I could imagine they would look great in a more traditional dinner table as well, especially in other colours.
Our napkin holders required a bit of diy. I’m delighted with the outcome but they did not look like this when I first bought them. They were silver-plated and badly stained. I got them from a second hand shop and loved the style so much I couldn’t leave them behind. I really wasn’t a fan of the antique look so I decided to spray paint them. Gold is my favourite accent colour at the moment so I decided it was the way to go. I used Rust-Oleum Bright Gold spray paint and I absolutely love the finish. Even though the spray paint cost me more than what I had paid for the napkins rings, it was so worth it.
Although our wine cabinet is full of different wine glasses, I prefer to use our Iittala Essence range when entertaining. We’ve got the red, white and dessert wine glasses to keep up with the theme. I do find them very practical as the stem is not too tall. The design is modern and minimalist which looks quite discrete and subtle in a glamorous table setting like this. The marble coasters are from Rocket St George.
I’ve been adding more gold accessories to our dinner table this year and I really don’t see myself getting bored of them anytime soon. The squirrel plate is a recent find from TKMaxx and if I remember correctly, they had more accessories to match this range. The gold napkin holder is from H&M Home. I always make sure that there are extra napkins on the dinner table and it actually looks very decorative which is ideal for this table setting.
I couldn’t imagine a dinner party without fresh flowers. I prefer elegant roses but it all depends on the style you are going for. The most important thing to remember is to make sure that your flower arrangement isn’t too high as it will block the view with your guests. I cut the stems pretty short and use my shortest vase possible. I wrap a string around the bouquet few times and pull out probably 1/3 of the leaves and use them to hide the string in a see through vase like this. The other option is to use 3 small vases (you can use anything really, I like to use old candle jars) and just place a flower in each and you’ll have a striking centre piece that will brighten up your dinner table.
I always add a scented candle into the mix as well. Go for a subtle scent like Diptyque Roses because you might find that some people cannot stand strong scents. Since our kitchen in open plan and connected to the dining room, I always light a candle there too so the cooking smells don’t travel to the dinner table.
I’m pretty obsessed with macarons at the moment. Somehow I’ve gotten my husband into them as well! My top tip is to serve them before the dinner, even though most people would probably have them as part of the dessert. I always find myself too full towards the end and feel that you really appreciate them more as part of your canapé. Serve them with a glass of bubbly or a rich buttery white wine. Trust me, it’s a match made in heaven!
Now that Halloween is just around the corner, it might be the perfect time to start planning a Halloween themed dinner party for your friends and family. If you want to keep it classy, check out some pretty autumn themed dinner party ideas here.
Happy entertaining!
