This post is from our Stagg Design project archives and originally posted in November 2015. We hope it gives you inspiration and some tips for tackling that next project! xx- Team Stagg

Hello if you’re here via Chic Little House!  Happy you clicked on over!

Let’s be honest, entertaining can be expensive.  As someone who loves to host a party, I’m never content to just pull out some paper plates and plastic cups.  I want the table to look as lovely as the meal, and holidays go double for all things beautiful.  But boy, can a beautiful table break the bank.

So when my friend, Lindsay, asked me to be a part of the #bloggerstylinhometours Thanksgiving edition, I wanted to challenge myself.  Spend less than $15 to put together an entire Thanksgiving table.  At first I laughed (aloud at myself) at the idea.  Then I started to ponder what is most beautiful and inspiring around me lately, and something I can’t get enough of right now is one of the first sights I see when I wake up each morning– the sun hitting the aspen trees in my backyard.  And by trees, I really mean shoots (read: weeds) from our unfinished landscaping after remodeling our home.  Our yard is full of them– little mini aspen trees spouting up leaves that are now turning the most lovely shade of yellow.  There is just something about the sunlight shining through those golden leaves that just feels warm.  It reminds me so much of my childhood home, which also had aspen trees growing in the yard.  I love the sound they would make when the breeze hit the branches– almost as if the leaves were clapping together in applause outside my window.

To me, there is nothing that is more beautiful or comforting this time of year than the sight of those leaves with my mountains in the background.  And that was the inspiration for my Thanksgiving tablescape.

I threw on my boots, pulled out my garden shears, and cut off an array of branches from out back.  That was the launching point.  Rather than put them in a vase, which felt sort of expected, I thought they would look so beautiful as a sort of natural table runner.  I added in some branches from a red bush to mix in some richer colors.

I wanted to add in some texture with fabric, but I’ve run into a problem with our new dining table: it’s a bit longer than the table in our last home and all of our existing runners are just a tad too short.  Since the leaves were going to run the length of the table, I had the idea to flip the runner the short way and I was loving where it was going.

As a centerpiece, I used a rustic wood tray I already had in my kitchen and filled it full of my neighbor’s beautiful apples.  She gave me an entire laundry basket full after I helped her pick her epic tree’s fall crop and the colors played beautiful with the branches.

The apples also worked for a little something special atop each place setting.  I used my everyday white dishes.  These napkins have been the best purchase.  I have two sets and pick out the colors I need for different occasions.  And of course these mugs and this flatware from Target I seriously find every excuse to use again and again.

The brass candlesticks were a thrift fine a while back.  In my opinion every home needs brass candlesticks.  I use them for everything from my mantle to table settings to console tables.

The table still needed something more, so I pulled these two brass deer from my bookshelf.  I tend to be a hoarder of brass animal figurines.  Don’t you think they look right at home, as if they’re in a forest?

So, what did I spend my $15 on, you ask?  The goblets.  Picked them up at a thrift store last week for $1.50 a piece.  Thrift store glass isles are like little gold mines, if you ask me.  I love vintage glassware and boy, you can’t beat the price tag.  I posted a photo of the goblets on instagram yesterday and I heard comment after comment about how many of your mothers and grandmothers own the same ones.  I hope all of you inherit these babies because if not, I’ll start hitting up the thrift stores near their houses to add to my lot.  I’m already hunting for more. I looooooove them.

And there you have it folks.  A Thanksgiving tablescape on a budget and I’ve got to say, I’m pretty proud of how it turned out!  Now if only I could put a bubble over my table and keep little toddler hands from touching it until the end of the month, that would be fantastic.  But alas, Ruby has as much of an affinity toward brass animals as I do.  (seriously, I found a brass horse stashed under Anna’s crib.)

Do be sure to check out the rest of the ladies sharing their gorgeous Thanksgiving tablescapes as part of the tour.  Up next after me is Inspired By Charm, who is posting tomorrow and if his thanksgiving is anything like his halloween, we are all in for a lot of inspiration indeed.

You can also get caught up on the tour here:

Monday:
The White Buffalo Styling Co.
The Inspired Room
Swoon Worthy
Blissful Bee
Iron & Twine 

Tuesday:
A Storied Style
Claire Brody
DesignPost Interiors
Dream Green DIY
Chic Little House
withHEART (me!)

Wednesday:
Inspired by Charm 
Mimosa Lane
The Chronicles of Home
Cuckoo 4 Design
Nesting with Grace
Craftberry Bush

Thursday:
A Thoughtful Place
House Seven
Burlap and Lace
DIY Playbook
Dimples and Tangles
Eleven Gables
Restless Arrow

Happy planning for Thanksgiving!