By Elizabeth Yeager Cross
WV Design Team
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to my absolute favorite time of the year: Fall.
The leaves are turning gorgeous colors and scattering on our lawns, crisp breezes are cooling off the sweltering summer days, and it seems like there are numerous reasons to gather our friends and family into our homes for celebrations and sentiments of warmth.
Which leads me to just why I love this season more than any other: The plethora of opportunities to design tablescapes and accent our everyday decor to new heights of holiday gorgeousness.
For this week’s how-to, Yeager Design & Interiors would like to give you few examples of fun ways to pump up your holiday dinner tables and even a step-by-step instruction manual for transforming your existing console or buffet into an enchanting holiday scene.
Let’s start with our dining table. Whether you have a rustic chic table with worn wood, a sleek dark wood or something in between, this season gives you the opportunity to go all out with your theme of choice.
We added a little whimsy to our table by pairing fun soup cups featuring a cute turkey motif with our go-to silver chargers and white dinner plates. Low-lying centerpieces filled with greenery, cotton and gold metallic fruits are beautiful and still allow for guests to easily see over top of them
For example, this Thanksgiving, YDI has created a fresh and fun tablescape that incorporates Turkey Day, fall materials and casual elegance. This particular setting starts with our signature MudPie whiteware that has just the right amount of texture in a rope design, on top of our linen scalloped and dimpled silver chargers.
We pull these beauties out time and time again to begin our layered look and even mixed the two together on the same table to create interest and variance in each place setting.
The star of this table is our cutie pie soup cups. We think this little addition is a sweet way to embrace the holiday at hand with its turkey motif and “gobble” inscription that will give your guests a little something to smile about.
One of our favorite recipes to fill up your cup is from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. In her book “Barefood Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust,” Ina gives the most scrumptious directions to make her Winter Minestrone & Garlic Bruschetta that serves six to eight. We love it so much we thought we would share the recipe with our readers. Bon appetit!
To finish this table and bring it to life with color, we added wicker and glass vases filled with fresh (or faux) greenery mixed with cotton stems.
A low-lying centerpiece filled with Spanish moss, even more cotton and fabulous gold metallic fruits and asparagus (for just a touch of glamour), is a great idea that will be beautiful to look at while still being able to have a conversation over top of.
We’ve also scattered dainty silver plaques on the table as a party favor to give our special guests, inscribed “Give thanks in all things.” It’s always my opinion that you should have a little something for your guests to take home and remember their special holiday dinner with you.
Now, on to the main course. Christmas dinner is perhaps my most favorite meal of all, even though most of the time I never get to eat more than two or three bites due to running after little ones and making sure all of our guests are happy and have everything they need.
I can remember growing up in my mother and father’s home and looking forward to Christmas dinner just as much as I looked forward to what Santa would leave under the tree for me the following morning.
Metallic foliage, sparkle deer and gorgeous gold candelabras come together in an elegant centerpiec that spans the entire length of the table. Warmth from mixing metals and the candelabras create the perfect ambiance to make memories with loved ones
The loudness of our family gathering together permeating the entire house, the smells of the prime rib my father would painstakingly cook to perfection. The vision that was my mother bustling from room to room setting the tables with her finest China (which we would beg her not to sit out because my sister and I knew it meant hours of hand washing dishes in our near futures), and putting the finishing touches on absolutely delicious gourmet dishes, all while smiling from ear to ear and looking more beautiful than any other day of the year.
As I look back at these memories, I realize now that she looked so beautiful to me because she was doing her favorite thing of all: Creating meals, memories and taking care of her family literally made her glow. This instilled in me an absolute obsession for trying to recreate that feeling, now that I am a mother and wife, for my own guests and family.
This year, our table is, yes, you guessed it, glamorous from top to bottom and covered in metallic gold and silver. Mixed chargers, monogrammed whiteware, candlelight and our signature sparkle deer are the perfect touches to create a table set for royalty.
Metallic foliage makes a perfect runner and leads the eye from one end of the table to the other. And the favor on this table is an adorable Jingle Bell bottle opener, which we think is a home run gift for most any guest.
Finally, take this how-to before and after as a cheat sheet guide to switching out pieces of your day-in and day-out decor with quick and easy, yet stunning, holiday decor, as illustrated in our pictures.
You don’t have to reinvent the entire table top. Switch out florals and add sparkling touches that make a big difference. These red hydrangeas are dramatic and ever so breathtaking paired with faux ice-covered twigs.
Swap everyday decor for holiday trimmings: switch vase fillers, exchange candlesticks replace traditional glasses with cute holiday mugs and add in a couple cute accessories (like these adorable top hats) for an east transition into the holidays
Replace small pairings of accessories with something a bit more holiday centered, such as impeccable top hats that tie in the new red theme, along with buffalo check mugs and merry polka-dotted pitcher. Swapping the usual candlesticks out for a red vintage set is a super easy way to pop in a punch of color.
Add a show-stopper wreath to any mirror or piece of art to create the perfect finishing touch and draw your guests’ eyes up.
Yeager Design & Interiors would like to wish all of our readers a beautiful and joyous fall and winter holiday season
Winter Minestrone & Garlic Bruschetta
Ingredients
Good olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, 1/2-inch-diced
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
2 cups (1/2-inch-diced) carrots (3 carrots)
2 cups (1/2-inch-diced) celery (3 stalks)
2 1/2 cups (1/2-inch-diced) peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 (26-ounce) can or box diced tomatoes, such as Pomi
6 to 8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups cooked small pasta, such as tubetti
8 to 10 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup good dry white wine
2 tablespoons store-bought pesto
Garlic Bruschetta (recipe follows)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Garlic Bruschetta:
1 French baguette
Good olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half lengthwise
Instructions:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven. Add the pancetta and cook over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.
Add the onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic, and thyme and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add the tomatoes, 6 cups of the chicken stock, the bay leaf, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Discard the bay leaf.
Add the beans and cooked pasta and heat through. The soup should be quite thick but if it’s too thick, I add more chicken stock.
Just before serving, reheat the soup, add the spinach, and toss with two big spoons (like tossing a salad). Cook just until the leaves are wilted. Stir in the white wine and pesto.
Depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock, add another teaspoon or two of salt to taste. Serve large shallow bowls of soup with a bruschetta on top. Sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, drizzle with olive oil and serve hot.
Garlic Bruschetta:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slice the baguette at a 45 degree angle in 1/2-inch-thick slices. Brush both sides of the bread with olive oil and bake for 6 minutes, until lightly toasted. Take the slices out of the oven and rub the surface of each one with the cut clove of garlic.
– To see more pictures of the projects featured in this article: YDI Showroom
– To read the full article: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/life-home
