How to Set a Table for a Dinner Party | Absolutely Everything You Need to Know [With Illustrated Place Setting Ideas]

 

If you're throwing a dinner party for friends and family and want it to really "wow," we've got you covered. Follow along for our advice on how to set everything from a basic table for a casual get together to a formal table fit for royalty. 

Should You Use a Tablecloth, a Runner, or Placemats?

This depends on the formality of your dinner and your overall style. If you have a beautiful farmhouse table, you can show it off and skip a tablecloth for most dinners (unless you want to throw a Bridgerton style gala dinner). 

For casual events you can do placements, or placemats and a charger. A charger is a piece of decor that goes under your plate to add another element of style. It's usually round and is slightly larger than your plate. You leave it there as people eat, but it can be removed at dessert. 

Arte Italica Vetro Gold Charger

Vietri Baroque Charger

For more formal events, you can do a tablecloth - or if you love tablecloths, you can do them at casual events, too! The rules aren't hard and fast and can be adjusted to your style and taste. 

A runner can be used on its own down the center of a table, or layered on top of a tablecloth to add visual interest. You can also use a runner in creative ways, running it across the table from different place settings, like here in our Provence Linen Runner. 

What Utensils Do You Need for a Dinner Party?

This depends on what you're serving. A fork and knife are usually the basics. For most dinner parties, you'll want a dinner fork and a salad fork. 

Do you need a spoon? Well, only if you're serving food that requires eating with a spoon. 

Check out our illustrated guides below for an in-depth look at what utensils to use. 

How to Set a Basic Table for a Dinner Party - What Do You Need? 

Having a simple dinner for just the family? If you just need the basics, this should suffice. You can dress it up with flowers from the garden and a great bottle of wine.

For the simplest, most basic table setting, you'll need:

• A dinner plate
• A bowl if you're serving soup
• A napkin
• A water glass
• Utensils, depending on your menu (fork and knife, usually; soup spoon if you're serving soup)
• And decor, of course: place cards, flowers, candles, etc.

How to Set a Casual Table for a Dinner Party - What Do You Need? 

If you're having a more casual affair but still want an elevated look (no paper plates, please), here's what you'll need: 

• Tablecloth if you're using one. A runner can go on top of a tablecloth if you choose.
• If you're not using a tablecloth, a runner and placements will dress up a bare table. 
• Chargers with a tablecloth are always recommended (at least by us - we love a good charger!) - chargers with placemats are optional but add another layer of decor. 
• A dinner plate and salad plate. Soup bowl if you're serving soup.
• A napkin
• A water glass and additional glass, depending on your menu. Usually a wine glass (red or white, depending on what you're serving). This could also be a champagne flute, if it's a brunch and you're serving mimosas, or a cocktail glass if you're serving a fun signature drink with dinner. 
• Our Arte Italica Verona glass set is exactly what you need for dinner parties - it has a water and a wine glass, with handmade Italian Pewter stems.  
• Utensils: fork, salad fork, knife. Add a soup spoon if you're serving soup, and a steak knife if you're serving steak. 
• And then of course, your decor. 

Navy Colorblock Vase

How to Set a Proper Formal Table for a Dinner Party - What Do You Need? 

If you're going all out and setting a formal table for a fancy dinner party or a holiday, here's what you'll need. 

• A tablecloth is de rigueur for formal dinners. It doesn't have to be crisp white; you can always do something more interesting and colorful, while maintaining the formality of the dinner. 
• A beautiful charger underneath each plate will elevate your table - we definitely recommend it for a formal dinner.
• A dinner plate and salad plate. Soup bowl if you're serving soup.
• A napkin 
• A water glass, white wine glass, and red wine glass if you're serving all three. If you're not (or you don't have that many glasses), you can get away with just a water and a wine glass... we won't call the etiquette police!
• Utensils: fork, salad fork, knife. Add a soup spoon if you're serving soup, and a steak knife if you're serving steak. A dessert spoon goes above the place setting. 
• A bread plate and bread knife opposite the glasses. Your bread plates don't have to match the rest of your dishes! You can mix and match.
• And of course, your decor. Candlesticks and flowers galore for a more formal setting! 

Hello Beautiful Sabrina Blue Pheasant Bread Plate

Cero Candleholder

Shop Dinner Party Decor and Essentials

Shop all of our dinner party decor and essentials at Lavender and Company here. Don't forget to register for dishes, stemware, and tabletop for your wedding, too! 

Four Ways to Add Spring Style to Your Home This Easter

 Spring is here, and we're sharing four unique ways to add a touch of spring style to your home this season. You don't need to do a total overhaul of your decor - you can just add a few fresh touches to bring in the seasonal color!

Throw pillows for spring - add to your bed, sofa, or chair

Throw pillows are a great way to kick out the winter doldrums. You can also add a fresh, pretty throw blanket to your sofa or bed to jazz up the space, too. Our Laura Park collection is full of bright, happy colors. For a more garden chic look, try Designer's Guild. 

Shop Laura Park Poppy Blue Throw Blanket

Shop Designers Guild Pahari Platinum Velvet Pillow

Shop Laura Park Dogwood Pillow

Shop Easter Table Finds - Add Something Springy to Your Tabletop

We like tabletop finds that can do double duty: look great for Easter, but also work all spring and summer long. Our Vietri collection is perfect for an Easter brunch, but can also be used throughout the season for farm-to-table meals and al fresco dinners. 

You can even opt for just the salad plates or just the pasta bowls to mix and match for different dinners and menus! 

Get Your Garden in Gear with Seeds and Garden Supplies

We've stocked our garden section with pretty seeds this year - plant them now and keep them in containers all summer, or move to your garden when it warms up a little more. They also make a great gift! 

Get your garden into shape with a fresh twine dispenser and forged steel pruning shears. 

The Sunflower Ring of Fire Tarot Seed Packet

Forged Steel Pruning Shears

Shop the Deluxe Garden Twine Dispenser

Freshen Up Your Outdoor Space with an Indoor/Outdoor Rugs

Nothing freshens up a porch or a patio like a new indoor/outdoor rug. These fade-proof, easily-cleanable rugs make your outdoor space into a warm, inviting oasis. They come in every style, from jute to coastal to fun and beachy. 

Dash and Albert Black and Ivory Herringbone Indoor Outdoor Rug

Shop New Spring Arrivals at Lavender and Company 

Shop all of our new spring arrivals online at Lavender and Company! Get free shipping on orders of $75 or more and don't forget to register for your wedding and join our rewards program, too. 

Featured in House & Garden UK April 2022 Issue

 We're excited to have been featured in the April 2022 Issue of House and Garden UK! Take a look below. 

Now Offering Stark Custom Rugs

 We're thrilled to now be offering STARK Custom Rugs!

STARK classic designs have a timeless elegance that’s always in-style. Shop the styles that earned STARK its luxury reputation, available now and ready to ship from Lavender Fields.

Get one of STARK's classic patterns cut to a custom size for your home in just 3-5 weeks, or customize the color, pattern, or size of an existing STARK product starting at an 8 week lead time. You can also get a completely custom product starting at a 16 week lead time. 

Get in touch with us today to begin your STARK journey!

An Interior Designer's Ultimate Guide to Rug Sizes for Every Room in Your Home

 Last month, we shared our guide to different rug types and materials. This month, we're sharing another important how-to guide: how to pick the right rug size for every room in your house. 

Choosing the right rug size is important, and it's something many people struggle with. Even if you have a tape measure and determine that the rug will actually fit in your room, there are some cardinal rules of rug and furniture placement that you should follow to make sure your home will look the best. 

If you choose a rug that's too small, your furniture will look out of place and Alice-in-Wonderland-esque in your place (or in the case of your dining chairs, you'll be tripping every time you get up). If your rug is too large, it might not fit in the room. 

Here's our illustrated guide to choosing the right rug size for every room in your home. 

How to Choose the Right Rug Size for Your Dining Room 

There's one cardinal rule for dining room rugs: your rug should be large enough that when you pull out your chair to get up, the chair should stay on the rug. 

For a standard rectangular 72" table that seats 6 (the most common size dining table), this means that a rug should be no smaller than an 8x10'. 

This is the biggest dining room rug mistake people make - they'll measure and think that because a 6x9' rug looks like it'll just fit the table and chairs, they can save some money and opt for that size. But when the chairs are pulled out slightly, the back legs will be hanging off the rug - a major design no-no. Not only is this a design faux pas, it's unsafe and can be a tripping hazard. 

Dining room spaces in most houses can easily fit an 8x10' rug, so you should be able to fit one in your dining room - but make sure to measure first. 

If your dining room is large and you want to get a table that seats 8, or you have a smaller table, remember the cardinal rule - make sure that there's plenty of space around the chairs. 

For dining rooms, we love the warmth and elegance of wool rugs. If you want a more casual, beachy look, opt for a sisal (but it'll be harder to clean up spills). If you have messy little ones (or especially raucous dinner parties), try a hardy indoor/outdoor rug for exceptional cleanability. We also now offer custom Stark rugs!  

How to Choose the Right Rug Size for Your Living Room 

There's also one simple rule for living room rugs: your furniture should either be completely on the rug, or the front legs of your seating should be on top of it. You should not have a teensy little rug floating in the center of your seating arrangement, with nothing but the coffee table balanced on top of it. 

If you have a smaller living room and fewer furniture pieces, you'll likely be able to purchase a 5x8' rug. Some spaces could get away with a 4x6' rug, like a small NYC apartment with a petite sofa, but make sure to measure first (and when in doubt, size up as long as it'll fit in the room). 

If you like the look of your furniture fitting completely on the rug, 8x10' is a good starting point. 

Living rooms are versatile when it comes to rug styles and materials - check out our guide for more. 

How to Choose the Right Rug Size for Your Bedroom

Because bedrooms and beds themselves come in so many sizes, we broke our guide down by bed size. Bedrooms can be the hardest room to find a rug size for, because there are so many bed sizes and looks can be deceiving when you're measuring. 

 Let's start at the smallest rug size for a bedroom and work our way up. 

For rugs in bedrooms, there are two ways to place your furniture: 

• Completely on the rug (may only work for 9x12' rugs and larger, depending on the other furniture in your room)
• Just below the nightstands (see our illustration above). For 8x10' and smaller, this gives a balanced look - if you try to fit all the furniture on these rugs, it'll look quite squished, if not be falling off. 

5x3' Rugs: These work for a bedroom if you'd prefer two smaller rugs on either side of the bed. The benefit of doing it this way is that this works for any bed size, from twin all the way up to king. 

5x8' Rugs: This is a great size for guest bedrooms or kids' rooms, when a full or queen size (queen size is pictured in our illustration) is pushed to the wall. If you try to fit a queen in the center, there will be very little room for nightstands on either end (you don't want the edges of your nightstands to extend further than the edges of the rug). If you have a twin, it would fit in the center.

6x9' Rugs: These rugs would fit a full, queen, or twin in the center, as long as the nightstands aren't exceptionally wide. You could also put two twins, with about 28" or so in the middle for a shared nightstand. 

8x10' Rugs: This works for any bed, but it's the smallest rug size if you want your rug to extend all the way under your king size bed. Our illustration has a bench at the foot of the bed, so this rug wouldn't work in that space - without the bench, you may be able to push the rug under the nightstands without it looking too squished. For a king size bed, you'd need nightstands that are around 20" or narrower for this rug (any wider, and you'll want to go up a rug size).

9x12' Rugs: This is a comfortable fit for a king size bed, especially if you like large nightstands or have a big bed frame. It allows for 34" of space on either side of the bed. You could also very easily fit two twins, or even two fulls with a nice-sized nightstand in the middle. 

10x14" Rugs: This is for a very large room! With this size rug and room, make sure you fill the space with well-proportioned accent furniture so your bed and nightstands aren't just "floating" on the large rug. 

For bedrooms, our designer favorite rug section is a great place to start. 

Need help choosing a rug? Want us to design your space for you? Get in touch for our virtual design services!

What Bedding Is Right For Your Style | Registry Guide

 With over ten bedding brands and thousands of bedding items in our shop, there's so much to choose from when it comes to outfitting your dream bedroom. 

When it comes to registering for your wedding or treating yourself to a brand new set of bedding, it's best to start with the bedding brand that best fits your style. You can always mix and match between brands, but we've found it's easiest to get the main pieces from the collection that most closely goes with your personal aesthetic. 

Click here for a larger image of our quiz!

If your style is a mix of everything or if you're registering for your wedding and you and your fiancé can't agree on a specific look, Pine Cone Hill is the best place to start. They have something for everyone and every style, and so many options for different bedding looks. 

Best Bedding for Preppy, Southern, and Grandmillennial Styles

If you like the traditional or Southern look down to the crisp linens and the monogrammed bedding, Peacock Alley is right for you. Their crisp bedding is reminiscent of the finest hotels, and they offer a plethora of monogram styles and thread colors for your pillows, sheets, and duvets.

If you like more of a colorful, posh, British preppy look, London-based Designer's Guild is a great choice. Their fine satin quilts and bold colors fit right in at a countryside estate or a house in Notting Hill. 

Best Bedding for Farmhouse Style Homes

If you're into the traditional farmhouse look, Taylor Linens is what you're after. With pinstripes, ruffles, ginghams, and seersuckers, their collection is perfect for any farmhouse style home. 

For a modern farmhouse home we love Pom Pom at Home's bright whites and relaxed aesthetic. Their bedding can translate to a farmhouse, boho, or coastal style home, depending on the rest of your decor. 

Best French Country Bedding

If you like a more romantic and feminine French Country look, Taylor Linens is again the brand to choose. They have romantic floral prints paired with feminine ruffles for that shabby chic vibe. 

For a more neutral shabby chic look, TL at Home offers rich textures in whites and more neutral colors. 

Best Modern Bedding Brands

If you want only the finest, choose Sferra Linens, renowned for sourcing the world’s choicest natural fibers and spinning the most gossamer of yarns to weave luxury linens of impeccable quality and comfort. This is the bedding of Hollywood starlets and royalty, handmade in Italy - you can't get anything finer. 

For a more relaxed modern vibe, try Pom Pom at Home. 

Best Colorful Bedding Brands

If you like more formal bedding, Designer's Guild has gorgeous, saturated colors and prints. 

For a more casual colorful bedding brand that doesn't sacrifice on beauty or quality, try Laura Park's vibrant collection. 

Best Neutral Bedding Brand

If you love the Restoration Hardware look, Matteo is the brand for you. With organic textures and a moody color palette, it's the height of urban sophistication.

For a softer look that still has that organic vibe, try TL at Home. 

Shop Luxury Bedding at Lavender Fields

Shop all of our luxury bedding and bedroom furniture online at Lavender Fields.