How To Create The Perfect Beachcomber Tablescape

What is tablescaping? Put simply, it’s the art of creatively decorating your tabletop. We recently had a lot of fun decorating this classic coastal tablescape, which would look equally as good at a summer dinner party as it would for the most special feast of the year, Christmas. 

For our table, we chose a soft colour palette, highlighting the shells in our candle holders, using soft pinks with gorgeous pewter accessories and embracing silver scallop shells which have been scattered across the table. 

Let’s cut to the chase and give you your guide to the perfect table for this year's festive season. You can also watch us setting up our our Beachcomber table here.

We've had lot's of requests about our beautiful shell candleholders, so we have created a short video of how to make them and what we used. It's on You Tube and you can watch it here. We'd love to see your creations, please tag us, #creamcornwall. 

How to dress your table for Christmas

Start with a white linen tablecloth.  If you don’t have one, you could use a sheet (by the time you have all your beautiful accessories laid out on top, no one will notice!)  We had a piece of white linen curtain fabric, which we used and then popped a blush pink piece of linen on top of that. 

 Next, we laid down our Beachcomber table runner and arranged our centrepiece. You need to get the bones of your tablescape arranged before you can add the more decorative bits.  

For our centrepiece, we made these amazing candleholders with shells, starfish and sea urchins we bought from Online Shells. At the bottom of the page we’ve listed what we bought so you can recreate them for yourself if you don’t feel confident about making your own. Alternatively, you can also use candlestick holders and thick pillar candles to get a similar feel.  

Our pewter candle pins look gorgeous on a small or large candle, so don’t feel you have to do exactly what we did. Just remember that this is your focal point, and go for it! 

Once you’ve got your main focal pieces in place you can lay your table with your crockery depending on how many people you have coming.   

We’ve used our classic bone china, but you could mix this with plain white crockery.  

To add structure to the table’s design, we laid our smaller dinner plate on top of the charger plate and then popped our bowl on top of the side plate.  

If you wanted to use the pasta bowl as well, you can put the smaller bowl into it. Adding a small sea urchin in each bowl makes a nice coastal touch. 

Next, we used our Beachcomber napkins with our pewter shell napkin rings and placed them on top of the plates. The detail on these is bound to be a talking point for your guests! 

We also added our clear ribbed wine glass and flute for this tablescape. It looks good to have two different sizes on the table if you can. Additionally, if you have any coloured glasses in the right tones, they would look great too.  

Now that you have your main elements in place it’s time to add the finishing touches.  

Place name holders are always a lovely touch, and remove any arguing over who will sit where! We have a card holder which is just perfect for this, a delicate Seahorse against a fan of coral.  

The final touches were dishes full of Turkish delight, you could pop your cranberry sauce in these or other condiments you might use. 

Don’t forget the salt and pepper, our Pewter mussel shells and we have beautiful condiment bowls which are perfect for sauces or some sweet treats, the finishing touches are always the best bit.  

We placed Cornish sea urchins, scallop shells and starfish which we sprayed silver, sand dollars and barnacles. Again, we bought all of these from Online Shells (link further up the page)

Scallop shells are really easy to spray, just ask your local fish restaurant of fishmonger for some shells, pop them in hot soapy water to clean them or in the dishwasher. When they are completely dry, spray them with a metallic paint.  

We love Montana Gold Silverchrome as it’s SO silver and you only need one spray (and don’t be confused by the gold can, it is silver, that’s just the brand name!) See our video here of some spraying using this exact colour.