Welcoming the Season

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Text by Elizabeth Ann Wells
Photography by Jeffrey Bebee

A warm and welcoming holiday home may start with the front door, but when food is involved, the crescendo moves to the table.

For festive table tips, we turned to three decorating pros who have been involved with the annual Christmas Caravan Home Tour sponsored by the Assistance League Omaha.

The first step, the pros say, is to determine your entertaining style. Ask yourself, "What's the table's purpose?

"Are you using the table to serve from or sit at?" asks Andrea Ramsey, owner of Andrea's Designs in Elkhorn.

The home she decorated for the 2010 Caravan tour was traditional and had a formal dining area that opened to the foyer. The space was perfect for an elegant dinner party setting. "Determining the level of formality is important ... because there are many reasons for having a dinner party," says Ramsey.

Layering was an important element of her table decor. Gold-rimmed salad plates topped gold-flecked glass plates that rested on gold chargers. The stylist placed a gold ornament in each dessert cup as a party favor.

Ivory dinner napkins wrapped in sheer gold overlays were bound by gold-beaded napkin rings. Crystal candlesticks sat on a shimmering, metallic tabletop mirror, making the layers appear endless. The layered look, Ramsey says, can be affordable.

"Borrow it, rent it or build it over time."

Another consideration is how to incorporate the home's existing decor, says Donna Wilcox, interior redesigner with The Papillion Flower Patch.

She and the shop's owner and floral designer, Mary Beth Harrold, worked within a more modern home. Heavy mission-style influences led them to create a "simple, symmetrical and linear centerpiece that ran the length of the table.

Loops of copper tubing spanned the length of the bronze, gold and copper vases. Each vase was topped with a moss sphere for a look that could last all winter long. Pine cones and artificial moss and greenery formed the arrangement's base. Wilcox suggests avoiding real greens because they drip sap and produce moisture

that's not good for the table.

Both Wilcox and Ramsey say it's important to make sure the decorations don't crowd the eating area or interfere with conversation. What works on the buffet table at medium height may not work for seated dinner guests.

They also caution against having too many focal points because that makes people feel uneasy. "It confuses the eye because they don't know where to focus," Wilcox says. "It makes a better statement if there's one main thing to look at. Other smaller things can amplify it."

For the tour, Ramsey also created a sweetly appointed dessert table in a less-formal kitchen nook. Crystal, silver and opaque serving trays, pedestals and jars with colorful candies and baked goods were set at varying heights for visual interest. "I like it (the display table) to be comfortably crowded," she says.

Finally, the pros like to look up and to include, where appropriate, chandeliers or light fixtures. Special attention can make the area above the table a crowning glory. Safety is paramount with lights and wiring.

Using artificial greenery and clove-studded lemons and oranges, Robin Nielsen, buyer and gift shop manager for Conoyer Garden Center in Papillion and Griswold, Iowa, enhanced a Tuscan-style home's Old-World feel.

"You could use real fruit and greenery, but it's messy and heavy," she says. "You also want to make sure you don't block the lights so people can still see when they're eating dinner."

She featured live, lime-green sedum in faux bois at each place setting. Mini urns or vases are a simple way to casually dress a table and share holiday spirit with guests because the miniature doubles as a party favor.

"The most important thing is to make sure you think of all your guests," says Nielsen. "That's what they remember."

If You Go

What: 2011 Christmas Caravan home tour, boutique and bake sale. Sponsored by Assistance League Omaha. The tour features four homes decorated for the holidays: 9005 Leavenworth St., 9111 Farnam St., 13253 Hamilton St.,

and 14229 Cuming St.

When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 3.

Tickets: Tour, $15 in advance; $20 at the door. Luncheon at Champions Run, $12 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at Yesterday's Best Thrift Shop, 36th and Leavenworth Streets; and Omaha Hy-Vee stores. Tour proceeds benefit Assistance League programs, including the signature Operation School Bell, which will clothe more than 3,000 children this fall.

Information: 402-312-2580