A beautiful and simple DIY spring table setting idea for home

Your creative spring tablescape

Your celebrations and family dinners may look a little different this year, but no one said they couldn’t look good. Whether you’re on your own, setting a table for two, or your immediate family of 4, 5, or 6, you’re still worthy of a glam vintage-inspired tablescape using your favourite pieces up-cycled from around your very own home for a special meal or two this Easter.

How to set a table beautifully

Just before Thanksgiving I had a piece published in East Coast Living Magazine. It’s a step-by-step DIY guide to create your own glamorous (like seriously glamorous) DIY vintage tablescape for fall. You can check out the piece from the fall issue of the magazine, the 20th anniversary edition, to see the table setting in all its full page glory!

Brigid Milway of What These Old Things put her talent to hard work to create a gorgeous table setting. She even curated all the vintage pieces used for the story into collections for sale on her website.

The finished product: A glam vintage Tablescap.e #tablesetting #diy #vintage #homedecor

Tablescape by @whattheseoldthings
Food styling by @chefdanyduguay
Flowers from @kokomodfloral

Create a DIY simple table setting

Fast forward to springtime. Here’s the twist! Using all the advice from the article, now you can create your own glamorous DIY vintage tablescape for Spring! And just in time for Easter.

Gather the pieces for your table setting

What you need for your tablescape

Plates
Glassware
Cutlery
Napkins
Platters/Serving trays
Candles
Candleholders
Small glass jars or vases
Foliage
A long narrow board, picture frame, or runner
Springtime decor from around the house

Bring the outdoors in: foliage, sticks, branches, rocks, vintage dishes, and spring-themed decor items from around the house to help set the table #tablesetting #springdecor #vintage

Now the fun part: thrifting and antiquing through your own home to find some pieces to do this yourself! There are lots of great tips in the story to guide you. So raid the basement, the storage closet, the attic, the bookshelves, and the cupboard. Use what you find to set up your own gorgeous and fun table setting for brunch or dinner - or both! - this weekend.

All that stuff collecting dust, that you never use? The special family heirloom you fear of breaking? You’re not enjoying these pieces when they are locked away. So bust out a few pieces and work them into your style.

The more eclectic the mix the better! Just try to stick to a running theme. A floral pattern, pick a pastel palette, stick with all white, go with natural, muted neutral tones - or mix it up! Speaking of mixing…you can mix and match your dishes, dinnerware and cutlery.

Use mason jars, glassware, or any clear containers as vessels for foliage and nature elements you can forage for outdoors.

Spring table decor ideas

While there’s not a ton of fresh flowers or greenery growing around Nova Scotia right now you can still embrace an Easter weekend vibe with what you can find outside. Collect twigs and sticks to incorporate (think bird’s nests!), forsythia branches, pussy willows, even some nice smooth rocks in different colours will add to the scene, a few little tulip snips (they are starting to pop up around our garden beds!), even some of the trees around our yard are starting to bud. These early signs of spring are perfect to add a touch of nature to your table.

You can also look for little decor items you love around your house to incorporate. A quick look around the house and i’ve found faux greenery, two little bird ornaments, glass stones, pinecones, sticks, and candles.

Forcing forsythia blooms inside at thome: just in time to set up a spring tablescape this easter weekend #springdecor #tablesetting #diy

Now the fun part: thrifting and antiquing through your own home to find some pieces to do this yourself! There are lots of great tips in the story to guide you. So raid the basement, the storage closet, the attic, the bookshelves, and the cupboard. Use what you find to set up your own gorgeous and fun table setting for brunch or dinner - or both! - this weekend.

All that stuff collecting dust, that you never use? The special family heirloom you fear of breaking? You’re not enjoying these pieces when they are locked away. So bust out a few pieces and work them into your style.

The more eclectic the mix the better! Just try to stick to a running theme. A floral pattern, pick a pastel palette, stick with all white, go with natural, muted neutral tones - or mix it up! Speaking of mixing…you can mix and match your dishes, dinnerware and cutlery.

Use mason jars, glassware, or any clear containers as vessels for foliage and nature elements you can forage for outdoors.

Spring table decor ideas

While there’s not a ton of fresh flowers or greenery growing around Nova Scotia right now you can still embrace an Easter weekend vibe with what you can find outside. Collect twigs and sticks to incorporate (think bird’s nests!), forsythia branches, pussy willows, even some nice smooth rocks in different colours will add to the scene, a few little tulip snips (they are starting to pop up around our garden beds!), even some of the trees around our yard are starting to bud. These early signs of spring are perfect to add a touch of nature to your table.

You can also look for little decor items you love around your house to incorporate. A quick look around the house and i’ve found faux greenery, two little bird ornaments, glass stones, pinecones, sticks, and candles.

How to set the table

Find a long narrow base, like a picture frame or piece of wood for the centre of the table (or use an actual runner if you have one of those and not the wood or frame).

Place your plates, glassware, linens, and cutlery out as you set the table. You’ll want some uniformity on the table to ground everything, so maybe all the glassware is the same, or use matching plates if you don’t have extra dinner plates to mix and match.

Next, fill that centre piece with the trinkets you’ve found around your home. Any and all candles and candlestick holders, little ornaments, and the clear glass vessels to hold the outside elements you’ve brought in. Try to collect items in various heights for variation. Arrange your sticks and branches into the jars. You can also lay the foliage, sticks, branches, rocks along the centrepiece to fill in space.

Pull out platters or any serving trays you have to fill with an assortment of delicious eats - a tray of fruit for brunch, or charcuterie of crackers, cheese and meats before dinner, adorned with some twigs or sprigs. Et voila! Your scene is set.

The finished product: spring-themed vintage inspired tablescapes

Here is how my glam, vintage-inspired table setting turns out! I tried to set our table up with something bright and fun in the morning for brunch. I wanted a more sophisticated, muted, natural vibe for dinner.

I set the table for brunch the night before and had so much fun with it, sipping on a strong daiquiri while I worked!

Every item on the table was from around the house and I didn’t spend a cent.

A spring themed vintage-inspired table setting for brunch. mix and match dishes, blend old and new, bring the outdoors in with natural elements. #springtablescape #DIY #tablesetting #brunch

I’m not going to lie, by the time dinner rolled around I was tired. The table setting was not as imaginative as I’d anticipated, but sweet and simple nonetheless!