Green and Copper Thanksgiving Tablescape + Printable

My grandmother is the notorious “saver” in our family. I wouldn’t call it “hoarding” because there’s an art to it. And I’m pretty sure she passed down her saving tendencies to me over the years.

Every dish, every candle holder, every scrap of fabric that could possibly serve a purpose one day would get tucked into a closet at my grandmother’s house. And I remember sometimes, as a little girl, venturing into her closets with her on rainy days when she would tell me the stories behind each item she saved.

 On holidays, they usually made a reappearance- those tarnished candle holders would be all polished and new on her dining table, those rarely seen dishes got their yearly spotlight on the buffet, and that scrap fabric would suddenly become a pretty tablecloth. Resourcefulness is a skill I’m convinced she learned from her mother during the Great Depression.

So this year, when Lory from Designthusiasm asked if I would share my Thanksgiving entertaining ideas, I instantly thought of my grandmother and what she would do- find the useful gems already hidden around our house and make cheap, ordinary items into something new.

(Affiliate links are provided in this post for convenience. For more info, see my full disclosure here.)

I ended up strolling through the dollar store while trying to brainstorm tablescape ideas and found these mesh candleholders and some plastic chargers that I knew would look all designer-y with just a couple of coats of copper spray paint.

I dug through my closet and grabbed a couple of plaid scarves I had saved for Christmas presents last month (shh… don’t tell) for a tablecloth. Using a throw blanket works great too.

To go on top of my spray painted dollar store chargers, I used some simple white plates (which were my best wedding decisions registry items ever) and these cable knit plates I got on clearance at 80% off at Michael’s after Christmas sale last year.

I grabbed a couple of green whitewashed shutters I had hanging on our dining room wall to use as a makeshift table runner that originally came from my in-laws’ old barn.

And I pulled my great-grandmother’s green Depression glass out of our china cabinet to join the party.

The only other thing besides my dollar store finds I had to spend anything on were three heirloom pumpkins I picked up in the Walmart produce section and a couple of bundles of eucalyptus branches from Trader Joe’s.

Just for fun, I whipped up these “I’m thankful for” printables on Picmonkey and printed them on brown kraft cardstock for a fun Thanksgiving dinner activity. You know… when you need a break between your 9th course of vittles and dessert. 😉

If you want to print some for your own table, you can download my “I’m thankful for” printable here.

Not too bad for mostly around-the-house leftovers and a couple of dollar store makeovers, huh?

And also… I think I went overboard with the picture taking, as usual. The Thanksgiving lover in me made me do it.

If you want my tablescape’s source list, here’s the full shebang:

• Black and white plaid scarves – Already owned
• Green whitewashed shutters – Already owned
• 3 heirloom pumpkins – $15
• 3 eucalyptus bundles – $9
• Candle holders – $6
• Chargers – $4
• Copper spray paint – $5.59
• Green Depression glasses – Already owned
• Wine glasses – Already owned
• Feather cloth napkins – Already owned
• Plain white plates – Already owned
• White cable knit plates – Already owned
• Thankful printable (on brown kraft cardstock) – DIYed
• Copper dipped pencils – $3 from Target Dollar Spot

TOTAL: $42.59

I got all techy and whipped up a GIF for how to decorate your own tablescape too:

P.S. I’m hosting a giveaway with 1803 Candles over on my Instagram today if you want to enter. This candle has made our entire house smell like baking pumpkin cornbread. Mmmmm

And you can see lots of Thanksgiving entertaining ideas during the rest of the tour this week from 29 amazingly talented bloggers. Starting today, you can check out what these 5 are cooking up:

Monday’s posts:

Designthusiasm | French Country Cottage | Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Kelley Nan | Bless’er House | Maison de Pax

Tuesday’s posts:

Town and Country Living | CitrineLiving | Sand and Sisal
Zevy Joy | Life on Virginia Street | Design, Dining and Diapers

Wednesday’s posts:

Decor Gold Designs | ZDesign At Home | Randi Garrett Design
Ella Claire | So Much Better With Age | My Soulful Home

Thursday’s posts:

Shabbyfufu | StoneGable | Savvy Southern Style
Maison Decor | On Sutton Place | The Enchanted Home

Friday’s Posts:

Sunny Side Up | Finding Home Farms | The Wood Grain Cottage
Setting for Four | Becky Cunningham