Last Minute Thanksgiving Tablescape Ideas

This year I get to host both sides of my family at my home for the Thanksgiving holiday so I have been in full planning mode over the last couple of weeks. As a hostess, I know that often our time is more focused on the food than the decorations, but you need not spend oodles of your time crafting or purchasing a lot to make your table beautiful. In fact, this post shows you that that by shopping your very own home and adding a few inexpensive items from Goodwill, you are just minutes away from the perfect Thanksgiving table. 

Here are six great last minute Thanksgiving ideas to pull together a beautiful time for your holiday feast.

Add Thoughtful Layering

I am seeing so many beautiful layers this year for Thanksgiving decor. Holly Mathis Interiors shows you a beautiful table that you can achieve easily by layering items from around your house or from Goodwill.

A couple of items to note in this shot, you can add backyard leaf branches in glass jars from Goodwill to add a rustic element, flannel throws add warmth to the table without a more formal tablecloth, pumpkins add another natural element, and you can mix and match your chairs or mix in chairs found from the store to create that homey detail that I love. How pretty is that?

Add Unexpected Textures

Once again, I am seeing that people are pulling away from the traditional tablecloth and going for the unexpected texture on table. In Home Stories A to Z, she has used a beautiful cabled throw to add warmth and texture to the table. White linens can be stamped with gold (I love my friend Michael's easy gold foil napkins tutorial for this!)

Check Goodwill for pretty knit blanket throws or white linens for stamping. You never know what treasures you can find in housewares until you go browse!

Additional details like pretty ribbon, personalized tags, and a few well-placed feathers never hurt either, do they?

Make Your Guests Feel Cozy

If I was going to design my perfect Thanksgiving table, it would look just like this. Gatherings of friends in the crisp fall air with cozy blankets are such a beautiful and lovely way to celebrate the season. 

Once again, we see how cozy the mismatched look can be. From mismatched pillows to blankets to chairs, it all comes together beautifully when placed around a table. A glass vase can hold a rustic bouquet from the backyard and pumpkins offer a beautiful detail leading up to the barn. 

This is definitely my dream tablescape and can be achieved just by bringing a few of the items you have from inside your house to the great outdoors. (image source: Lexington Company)

Personalize It

When something has my name on it, it immediately feels special to me. I love this idea for taking a simple Plexiglas circle and adding a little calligraphy to it to personalize each table setting for your guests. 

Is your handwriting as terrible as mine? I sure hope not! If it is though, Almost Makes Perfect provides the template you need to create your names and simply trace them, making this a beautiful and painless craft for the table. 

Add a 5-Minute Detail

Centerpieces can be pricey and feel tricky to pull together especially if you lack that designer instinct. I have found that the simpler the centerpiece though, the easier it is to see and chat with my dinner guests. 

My sweet friend, Julie Blanner, is the queen of beautiful and simple decor and she shares her easy 5-minute centerpiece for the holidays on her blog. With a quick trip to the grocery store and a stop at Goodwill for a platter, you can add a little natural beauty in no time flat! 

I also love these give thanks printables to tuck in your cutlery from Craftaholics Anonymous. That is another 5-minute detail I feel confident that I could execute! 

Put the Leftover Herbs to Work

My kitchen is filled with sage for our favorite stuffing and herbed turkey that I have loved to serve over the years. If you have any leftover, it can add a beautiful detail to your table. Simply place the herbs in a glass jar from Goodwill and tie with a simple satin ribbon to finish. Not only is this pretty to look at, but it also smells so good too! (image source: Buzzfeed)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and I hope these easy last minute ideas inspire you for your holiday meal! 

DIY Lampshade Ideas

One of the quickest ways to update a room is to spruce up a lamp in your home and today I wanted to show you some easy and affordable ways to transform a lampshade from Goodwill. I love these ideas so much, in fact, that I have plans to add a new lamp or two to our space now for Spring! I hope you will be as inspired as I am by these bloggers and their incredible lampshade makeovers.

Add a Fun Print With Leggings

You can find a pair of leggings in just about any pattern or color combination right now at just about any store. Consider snagging a pair of inexpensive leggings and using this material to stretch over a lampshade in your house to add a trendy color or pattern to your home without a big financial commitment.

Head over to Vintage Revivals to get the scoop on how to update a lampshade with this inexpensive fabric. 

Add an Adorable Ping Pong Detail

I am a big fan of ping pong craft ideas and love this detail on a lampshade. You can use fabric paints to match a room in your home and then glue on this three dimensional detail for a fun look for any game room.

Get the scoop on this DIY Ping Pong Lampshade from I Love to Create here.

Go Industrial

Goodwill is the perfect place to hunt for lampshades that have beautiful bones underneath their fabric exterior. A simple removal of the fabric can create a beautiful industrial lampshade and the edition of an Edison bulb really completes the look on this easy DIY project. Check out this industrial lampshade makeover on Blythe Ponytail Parades.

Add a Fabric Detail

If you aren't a fan of the industrial look, but have a great lampshade base to work with, consider adding your own unique touches with scraps of fabric. If you are a sewer, you may have a mystery bag of materials to work with to create this adorable scrappy fabric lampshade for a corner in your craft room like Pen's Nook! 

Add a Feminine Touch

Nothing says Spring like floral and that is why I love this fabric flower lampshade. With simple fabric circles, glue, and a little shaping, this is the perfect craft to work on while binge-watching all of your favorite shows on television. Since you are covering the entire lampshade in flowers, it can really breathe life into a lampshade that may have seen better days thanks to a camouflaging of rosettes. 

Add a Unique Embroidered Touch

I love, love, love the look of embroidery and this DIY Constellation Lampshade from Transient Expression is jaw-droppingly awesome. I have been seeing constellation projects popping up on table runners and wall murals, but have fallen in love with this lampshade for my small home. If you can't find a navy lampshade for your project, consider covering it in navy leggings (as I showed you in our first project listed here) or hunt through the t-shirt section of Goodwill for the perfect navy shirt to use!

What are some ways you have transformed a lampshade? Feel free to leave a comment below! We love hearing your ideas! 

7 DIY Table Runner Ideas

With the new year upon us, I look forward to sprucing up my home more than ever. A couple of years ago I decided to paint my kitchen table with a fresh coat of white paint to give it a new life. Now that the tabletop is freshly painted (and not freshly scratched and dinged), I have been eyeing easy diy table runner ideas to add an element of interest and texture to my tabletop. Not only is this a fun way to add another layer of design to your table, it can also be a great way to camouflage a scratched surface if painting a table just isn't in the cards this year.

Here are 7 of my favorite table runner ideas for adding a touch of beauty to your kitchen or dining table.

Add a Tasseled Fabric Runner

If you know me, you know I love anything that involves a yarn or tassel. You can find loads of fabric to work with at Goodwill from tablecloths to sheets that don't cost a lot. Repurpose this fabric into a simple table runner and add a beautiful yarn tassel detail to each end to add that handmade touch that I love to embrace in my home. You can get the scoop on this simple tasseled runner on Makers Society! 

Add a Touch of Ombre

I am mad for ombre projects and all of my favorite fancy shops carry beautiful dip-dyed napkins and runners for your table. Have you tried fabric dying before? I did my first fabric dying project when I restored an old pair of jeans and was shocked just how easy it is. With this technique you need some fabric dye, water, and a spray bottle. Hunt for a basic white sheet, tablecloth, or napkins you can use to add a touch of ombre to your decor. This easy dip-dying tutorial from Handmade Mood is a great one to help you figure out some great strategies for achieving these beautiful hues. 

Add a Bit of Whimsy 

I love home projects that are whimsical particularly if the whimsy matches the homeowner. Lovely Indeed offers this cute tutorial for creating a polka dotted table runner in my favorite metallic shade. The great thing about this tutorial is that you can make this table runner really speak to you and your own personality choosing a shape or silhouette that really matches your style. In my home, I would be cutting out owls or foxes as a nod to my love for woodland creatures. You could also go geometric and modern with triangles or arrows. Adding touches like this to your home makes people say, "Oh, this house is just SO YOU!"

Add a No-Sew Frill

I love burlap projects especially when those projects do not involve sewing. Did you not know that I am a sewing school dropout? I really am!  That is why I love this fun table runner from Liz Marie created for burlap. The ruffled detail on the edge adds a feminine touch to your table while still remaining beautifully neutral. What a clever way to disguise a scratched surface without a lot of effort!

Add a Little Lace

I am such a fan of beautiful lace doilies and am so inspired by this beautiful table runner made from a variety of lace doilies. I love little ongoing collections that take just a little bit of time and money to create a project and this would be such a fun collection to put together to create a beautiful table runner for your home. Check out this beautiful lace doily table runner created by Bayside Bride that just requires a bit of hand stitching to pull it all together. Isn't it beautiful?

Utilize a Drop Cloth for Styling

Drop cloth projects are perfect for a small budget and can be created into just about anything from table runners to beautiful curtains. Utilize this inexpensive fabric to create an adorable ruler table runner that adds that touch of whimsy I was talking about earlier, for a cute runner on a craft table, or as a fun addition to your back-to-school decor. Get the scoop on this fast & easy ruler table runner on Country Living. 

Add a Woven Detail

As I said before, I love burlap and I love playing with texture on a table. These two ideas are combined into one in this beautiful woven burlap runner on Fab You Bliss that you can create by weaving strips of burlap to create a woven detail to your table. Although this one requires sewing schools (boo for this poor sewing school dropout) it appears that you just need to piece this one together and then sew a simple straight line down the edge to bring it all together. How pretty is that?

I hope these ideas inspire you to dress up a table with Goodwill materials or breathe new life into a Goodwill table you cherish! What are some of your favorite ways to create a DIY table runner? Leave your ideas in the comments below!