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No matter if you’re celebrating with your pod or across oceans (and Zoom screens), Thanksgiving this year is still a wonderful opportunity to whip out your best dishware, put together a seasonal centerpiece, and try your hand at Grandma’s famous stuffing recipe. From the desserts Team Domino can’t wait to make to the cookware we hope to serve them in (our style director is eyeing a vintage pie dish), we’ve gathered our members’ tablescape must-haves for the biggest meal of the year to inspire your own.
Benjamin Reynaert, Style Director
Tablescape vibe: A green thumb naturalist’s French château in New York City. Palette: A set of vintage buttery yellow and navy leaf plates is the starting point for this year’s table. These unexpected colors really stand out against the more traditional aubergine, mustard, and deep greens of autumn. Must-have moment: Match strikers. They’re the perfect objects to add visual interest and variety to your table. Plus if a candle is accidentally extinguished due to the inevitable roaring conversation and laughter, it’s quite handy to have matches at the ready. Centerpiece of choice: I’m bringing plants to the table and mixing them with pale pink and yellow flowers and decorative objects like marble grapes, vintage candlesticks, and basket-weave placemats. I love the border on these from Juliska. Go-to dish: I like roasting root vegetables in beautiful vintage pie dishes, as well as these new ruffled pieces from Emile Henry that come in three fall colors. Personal touch: Filling small milk pitchers with extra flowers and scattering them on the table at each place setting feels personal and adds a low-height layer to your main centerpiece. Tying a small gift tag to each is a great place card solution as well. And if you use inexpensive vessels like these, they’re the perfect parting gift for your guests to take home.
Julia Stevens, Associate Style Editor
Tablescape vibe: Rustic California. Palette: An array of indigos balanced by a sandy off-white foundation, with hits of green and yellow foraged from the garden. Must-have moment: This will be the first time I gather with my family since the election, so a bottle of champagne to celebrate the news is essential. Centerpiece of choice: An Il Buco Vita candelabra I got for my mom a few years back. The flat base makes it perfect for layering with greenery. Go-to dish: I recently made pumpkin soup, and it was pretty out of this world. I need to make it again so that my family can experience it, and what better time than Thanksgiving? I’ll serve it in these bowls by Colleen Hennessey, a local artist from Marin County. Personal touch: My mom is an incredible seamstress and always collecting textiles from around the world. We designed a pattern-on-pattern tablescape with napkins she made, in her go-to palette of indigo and sand.
Kate Berry, Executive Creative Director
Tablescape vibe: Pastel with pops of harvest hues. Picture Tahitian squash mixed with fresh garden picks and Indian corn from my garden. Palette: Peach, lilac, and blush with deep reds and plums. Must-have moment: Candlelight, always. Centerpiece of choice: Fruit and fauna from my garden or the farmers’ market and found objects from my home. Go-to dish: Roasted and raw root vegetables that match my tabletop palette. Personal touch: Mini bottles of fernet for each place setting as a digestif, which I picked up in Rome last Thanksgiving Day.
Rachel Lasserre, Design Director
Tablescape vibe: We usually travel to Atlanta to be with family for Thanksgiving, but because of the pandemic, my husband and I will be homebound this holiday season. This year will be all about making new traditions. Palette: Canary yellow, aubergine, and ochre complemented by cobalt blue. The one perk of staying home? Getting out my great-grandmother’s transferware, which will add a touch of blue to fall’s traditional warm color scheme. Must-have moment: This beautiful crackle serving bowl from Pillar for salad made from local lettuces, crisp persimmons, pecans, and cider-sherry vinaigrette. Centerpiece of choice: My sister takes Thanksgiving decorations very seriously, so this year I will miss her table lined with ceramic turkeys. However, I look forward to getting fresh flowers for my version and enjoying them all week long! Go-to dish: We are going to support a local restaurant by getting Thanksgiving to go from Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar & Grill. But there are a few staples that we’ll make from scratch, like this fresh cranberry relish, which is always a nice balance to a heavy meal. Personal touch: Brass Frama candleholders that I picked up on our vacation in Copenhagen a few years ago.
Linda Denahan, Photo Director
Tablescape vibe: Champagne picnic in the forest. Palette: Ivory linen napkins paired with forest green and rustic wood accents. Must-have moment: My vintage champagne coupes! Centerpiece of choice: A Woodshop cutting board that I use as a cheese platter, along with some simple blue thistle to complete my forest picnic vibe. Go-to dish: Homemade rolls served with rosemary butter and sea salt (which I keep in a mini Le Creuset). Personal touch: Paper takeout boxes for guests to bring home leftovers. I usually seal them with a cute sticker.
Megan West, Head of Brand & Creative Studio
Tablescape vibe: This year I’m opting for a zero-waste tablescape that allows guests to take something from it home with them. Palette: An earthy, warm clay pink table linen roots the palette. I’ll complement that with tonal pops of red, rust, and ochre. Must-have moment: I’m a firm believer that every tablescape needs a touch of nature. I’m drawn to bringing in materials you can find during November: branches, dried leaves, and bits of brush. Centerpiece of choice: I’m keeping the centerpiece open for a dish of food and centering it with vintage candlesticks and scattered leaves and crab apples. Go-to dish: Orange olive oil cake is the perfect end cap for those that might be pumpkin-ed out. I make it a part of the tablescape at the end of the meal and put it on a cake stand in between those candlesticks. Personal touch: I love to paint, so I repurpose old card stock to make hand-painted name cards, which allows an intimate gathering to feel extra-special.
Lydia Geisel, Associate Editor
Tablescape vibe: I’m all for bringing the outdoors in, so the overall mood I’m looking to set is à la Roman and Williams. I want to be swimming in white wildflowers. Palette: Cream, ecru, and lavender. Must-have moment: Tall tapers that double as sculpture. These ombré ones are a sign to guests that dinner doesn’t have to be formal or serious. Centerpiece of choice: A candelabra (you can still see the person across from you!). I also love natural elements like rocks and shells. Go-to dish: I always look forward to my family’s potato gratin, served in a simple white ceramic dish that lets it be the star. I don’t cook much over the holidays, but I do tackle dish duty. Personal touch: I’ve been getting back into making photo albums lately, so I’ll be handing everyone a printed 4-by-6 that recalls a memory I shared with them. They can take it home and frame it or just hang on to it.
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