The 2020 Christmas Recap continues! This week, we explore the dining room transformation. We live in a standard Florida home, with a generic open floor plan, lighting that falls in the “meh” category. But we make it work! It is a rental after all, so at a certain point there is only so much we can do.

But I’m a sucker for a good tablescape.

I wanted the dining room area (which is truthfully maybe 15 feet away from the actual Christmas tree, but who’s counting!) to semi coordinate. In years past I deviated a little with some table décor that didn’t really match my tree, or at looked a little out of place with the space we were in. I loved what I made, but ultimately, I knew this year I wanted something a little more coordinated. You can see more of the Christmas Tree decor I made here.

Here’s what my Christmas tree looked like:

You would think the logical next step was to get the table going, come up with a strong design, and run with it. It was anything but that! I REALLY, really, realllllly, wanted to play with a champagne tree. I already had a pink, slim fit pencil tree. But when I saw they made them in champagne…..well that was really all I needed to know.

So I ordered one. I wish I got one pre-lit, but at the time they were not available. In my head I knew having a champagne tree base combined with my navy/midnight blue orchids was going to be GORGEOUS. To make the dining room a space of it’s own, and provide a little more visual interest, I opted to mix in white floral onto the tree.

Looking back at the pictures, I’m still obsessed with it:

It looks gorgeous, but what I unexpectedly found out, was that I almost liked it more during the day  with the natural lighting illuminating the tree, even if the lights were on it. It just glowed!

At night, the contrast between the champagne tree, bright led lights, and the dark blue navy floral accents, there was a weird visual conflict, but nothing terrible. Just a problem when you have a lighter tree base and darker décor. And now we know!

There’s a short video of this tree coming together, if you’re curious about designing and decorating a slim fit tree. This is my first time really decorating a pencil tree, and I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

Once the tree was up in the dining room, I moved on to the tablescape. The process moved smoothly since I had a loose idea in mind what I wanted to do. I had picked up these gorgeous, giant snowflakes from Hobby Lobby, because they reminded me of my “Snowflakes Frozen In Time” centerpiece from years ago.

The new and improved, 2020 version turned out like this:

Elegant, right?

I’m usually a more is more kinda girl. But I was really vibing with how this simple but refined tablescape came together. I even threw together a quick video to show you my process of selecting and layering this table décor:

This concludes my 2020 Christmas décor recap. It’s so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, so taking the time to reflect on the effort and energy that went into my decorations and seeing how great they turned out, thinking of new ways to improve, and getting excited for 2021 Christmas was a marvelous experience.

Stay tuned for my Christmas in July décor! It’s my first time officially celebrating, and I am STOKED to show you what I’ve made.