Chalkboard & Gold Thanksgiving Table Decorations
After I shared how to make chalkboard napkin rings and placemats from thrifted finds, how could I not create a Thanksgiving table with them? And I really found this so fun to create! I decided to combine the chalkboard theme with gold, but just touches of it so it all remains pretty subtle I think. Of course it helped that the china from our wedding is cream with a gold edge (yes that’s from the 80s, the last time gold was popular, and I am happy it’s making a comeback!).
I pinned this “Thankful For” idea on my Thanksgiving Ideas board, except it was as paper placemats. It works great with the chalkboard mats, don’t you think? I wrote it with chalk markers so it wouldn’t rub off as easily during use, but included a piece of regular chalk at each place setting for writing on the lines.
The one additional diy project I did for this table was to take a strand of dollar store fall leaves, cut them apart, and spray the leaves lightly with gold spray paint. I decided I liked a bit of the color showing, so I only used one uneven coat of paint (well, that and the fact that I barely had any paint left in the can, ha!).
For some reason, a runner of brown builder’s paper (left over from one of our paper floor treatments) seemed like the perfect compliment to the chalkboard theme to me. It just…works. Maybe because they both are simple and you can write on them. The bonus is that it’s a throwaway tablecloth!
The centerpiece was made with one of the white pumpkins I grow, surrounded by dried Little Lime and Pee Gee hydrangea blossoms, the gold leaves, any small Japanese maple leaves I could found outside that looked gold, and a couple of golden candles.
To continue the chalkboard theme in the centerpiece, I added a couple of craft store mini chalkboards with the phrases ‘Blessed’ and ‘Thankful.’
I not only love how the table looks and how it came together, but I love that it’s another way to remind us what the holiday is all about – being thankful. And I, for one, cannot be reminded of that enough!
I love the idea of a dessert buffet and set up a drink-dessert area on our sideboard that uses more mini chalkboards and leaves. Since I’m still loving my scripted newsprint pumpkin from last year, I gave it a place of honor under a cloche now, though this could hold any additional desserts on the actual holiday. I found the ‘Give Thanks’ printable on Pinterest, which adds a nice touch in a black frame I already had.
But the thing I like best about the sideboard is the apothecary jar to hold notes with thankful phrases (are you surprised it’s not the desserts?). Again with the reminders, I know, but whenever we’ve done this in the past it’s just been wonderful to have these written phrases to help us remember our blessings and focus on them, no matter what the last year has held.
We all have different lives and experiences and many of them could bring us to our knees. But the one thing we know for sure is that if we focus on all we do have, that’s the way to get back on our feet again. God is always good.
And I am thankful for all you guys – thank you for reading, commenting, teaching me new things, and being my online friends!
