Styling The Easter Table

I look forward to the Easter weekend, maybe even more than Christmas. It is a marker in the year, when the days are drawing out, and like this morning as I type, blue skies are in evidence. We usually have friends and family for lunch on Easter Sunday, and it's a wonderful opportunity to create a beautiful Easter table and bring spring colour from the garden indoors.

Here I style three different tables for the Easter weekend. My approach to table styling is simple and fresh. I love colour, and any opportunity to add fresh flowers, which instantly draw the eye, but I draw the line at clutter, no miniature animals here! I also love using materials from the garden; spring bulbs are a go-to (though, here I do cheat with tulips, since mine aren't out yet). I've also used greenery, birch, and moss, all gathered before starting.

Our brilliant wipe-clean tablecloth is the starting point for all three of these tables (and indeed my own kitchen table year-round). This game-changing tablecloth has a soft draping quality and matte surface, and looks for all the world like a linen tablecloth, yet wipes clean just like a plastic tablecloth. The cloth is perfect for everyday and for special occasions. And new for this styling article are our seagrass placemats, with a jute border available in a range of colours. The natural fibres of these round table mats work beautifully with the soft colours of the tablecloth.

I've assembled a stylist's toolbox, gathered over 25 years of styling shops and sessions at home. Here are my suggestions for a helpful kit below:

Table Styling Kit

• Secateurs
• Floristry wire
• Garden Twine
• Scissors
• Clothes pegs

I've used Spring flowers in all three tables. Daffodils, Tulips and potted Narcissi are obvious suggestions; potted Grape Hyacinths are also a lovely addition.

Table 1: Green Harbour Stripe

Green Harbour is one of our best-selling designs, and the green is a really lovely, soft apple green that sits easily with a kitchen. When I started to think about the look of this table, I really wanted to accentuate this colour.

I love these small pots of tête-à-tête Narcissi, and they are just perfect for the table centre. Placing a trio down the centre of the table accentuates the stripe of the cloth. Again, this is a super quick look to create: place the bulbs in the pots, add a little general peat-free compost, and, to finish, tuck moss around the edges and between the bulbs. The moss creates a lovely aged look and contrasts well against the terracotta. Moss offers a free resource that is easily found in shady areas of the garden and on pantile roofs, but really does add the finishing touch. And finally, the narrow tapas board creates a long, slim base for the pots and slightly elevates them, drawing the eye. I've used our vintage clay pots in this scheme, but any clay plant pot will work.

In this setting, I've used the white place mat, which picks up the white in the tablecloth and also adds an extra border to the white dinner plate. 

The glassware on this table is the new recycled glass tumbler from this season's range, paired with the carafe from the same range. A wonderfully dense green glass, it sits beautifully with the green theme.

And finally, I've dotted eggs along the board and added these to the place settings. This style is simple, and the green is what jumps out from the table. 

Table 2: Natural Gingham

Natural gingham checks are neutral and classic. I wanted to create a really bright and contrasting Easter table centre piece. I know I bang on about how versatile the Indian Brick mould is, but for a table centrepiece, I really don't think it can be beaten. Perfectly proportioned for the table centre, the old timber contrasts beautifully with spring colour, and this table centrepiece literally took minutes to make. I used:

• One bunch of supermarket tulips
• Rosemary from my garden
• Viburnum Tinus from my garden
• A foil loaf tin to line the brick mould filled with water
• Chicken wire

For full details on how to make the centrepiece, read here.

Once in place, I paired the natural check with the natural jute option from our placemat range and added the stone coloured napkin. I used the Italian wine glass, which features the embossed detailing and is a little fussier in design, but it works well with simple styling. A simpler glass would look a little flat.

Finally, I filled Sundae glasses with mini eggs, a detail our Children loved upon their return home from school! 

Table 3: The Orange Table

So, for this table, we went with a more out-there look! I love this orange coral and have previously incorporated it into an autumn look, but I saw it in a different light with the arrival of our new placemats, which are available in orange.

So, on went the rich coral tablecloth, and with it the jute-and-seagrass round placemat with the orange border (incidentally, if this is a little too orange for you, the white, natural, or blue mats work equally well). I then created a centrepiece using a mixture of white and orange tulips. I combined these with birch branches, held in place with twine. This created a more contemporary-style table centrepiece that also has the effect of drawing your eye away from the orange!

This was the only table I used candles with, finding it hard to resist the orange Danish dinner candle that toned brilliantly with the Coral tablecloth. I teamed with the London Glass Candle Holder; this candle holder is both unobtrusive in size and well-suited to all styles of decor.

I added a new drinking glass to this table. Made from recycled glass, this wine glass is slightly uneven, which adds to its charm. It has a slightly Mediterranean look to it, which works well with the orange of this table.

For this look I added decorative hollow quail eggs, the natural look of these added  understated detail to finish the overall look.

I hope I've inspired you to have fun styling your table for this Easter...

All of the products featured in this blog can be found in our special Easter Table  Collection

Thanks for reading Alex x