Hello my friends! It’s time for another fun Pinterest Challenge! After missing out on all the creative challenges this summer due to my Scotland trip and also missing early fall with back-to-school obligations, I am super excited to be joining my friend Cindy of County Road 407 and several other talented bloggers for a Thanksgiving centerpiece themed challenge, especially since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

If you are coming over from Carol’s lovely blog, Bluesky at Home ,or if you are just visiting today, I am very glad you are here! You can check out all of the other beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece ideas by visiting the links at the end of this post.

How to Create a Simple Thanksgiving Centerpiece with Coordinating Place Settings

Our inspiration photo this month comes from Deborah of Hip and Humble Style. I love her simple farmhouse style Thanksgiving Centerpiece with Coordinating Place Settings with lots of woodsy, rustic vibes, reminiscent of November and Thanksgiving. 

Let’s break down the elements of Deborah’s Thanksgiving Centerpiece:

• Wood riser
• Small French Pumpkin in a muted orange tone
• Pine cone wreath or garland in muted fall colors
• Plaid table runner and napkin
• Round burlap placemat
• black plate 
• black candle hurricane lamps with birch log candles
• grapevine pumpkin
• wheat tucked into the napkin

The great thing about using an inspiration photo from Pinterest is that you can use the photo as a visual guide, then add your own personal flair and items you may already have on hand, rather than running out and spending money trying to replicate an exact design.  I was already using a wooden dough bowl  and French pumpkins for my fall centerpiece, so I decided to go from there. (The only thing I regret that I didn’t have was a sunny day for taking pictures! I will re-take photos and update this post when the sun comes out!)

A Simple and Elegant Thanksgiving Centerpiece with French Pumpkins, Bosc Pears and Artichokes

I didn’t have a wood charger/riser, so I used my tried and true smaller wood dough bowl for my centerpiece and filled it with my favorite Musque De Provence pumpkins, Bosc pears and faux artichokes. I didn’t use pine cones around my pumpkins, but dried bitter sweet vines and dried roses work as rustic, natural elements.

I loved Deborah’s pinecone wreath and wanted to use pine cones somewhere on my table. I filled this thrifted, pretty gold-rimmed leaf glass  with mini-pine cones and pumpkins. 

I was glad that this month’s PC focused on a simple Thanksgiving centerpiece, rather than a full tablescape since I usually don’t set my actual Thanksgiving table with my turkey transferware and gold utensils until a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, but this gave me a good start.

Currently I am using my vintage Myott’s bouquet dinner plates and gold chargers. Even though Deborah didn’t use any glasses in the inspiration photo, I couldn’t resist bringing out my vintage amber glass thumbprint goblets and adding festive fairy lights.

I always start out styling my dough bowl by lining it with some faux boxwood garlands that I use throughout the year. Using the boxwood makes it so easy to transition from fall to the holidays by simply adding evergreen sprigs. 

Deborah incorporated texture in her place setting by using a burlap placemat, grapevine pumpkin and a bit of wheat tucked in her napkin. I dressed up my napkins with a trio of wheat tucked inside the woven hyacinth napkin rings, which brought in texture along with the jute placemats.

The dried roses and bittersweet vine in the dough bowl, along with the wheat bundles in the napkin rings, speak to late fall and the seasonal textures we find in nature this time of year.

Using the wheat as napkin accent reminded me to bring out the wheat pillow I haven’t used for the past few falls.

Even though Deborah didn’t use any green in the inspiration photo, green is my favorite color, so I like to incorporate it in with all the other traditional fall colors. The green and white striped mini-pumpkins are also a favorite variety and I think they look so pretty when combined with winter evergreens in a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Deborah’s black plates matched the black candlesticks on each side of her centerpiece. My green napkins and taper candles are a pretty close match.

I already had the faux artichokes on hand, but I plan to switch them out for real artichokes for my Thanksgiving centerpiece.

This Pinterest challenge gave me a head start on my Thanksgiving tablescape as well as the motivation for some seasonal restyling. As November progresses I will switch out the Myott’s Bouquet dishes for my turkey transferware and make a few more changes to the dining room to begin the transition to Christmas, while still keeping a late fall aesthetic.

I am really exciting to create my first Thanksgiving tablescape in our “new” house. We are starting our third year here, but we didn’t finish all the dining room details until just before Christmas last year, so it will be my first time styling a full Thanksgiving tablescape here.  

I hope you were inspired by my simple and elegant Thanksgiving dough bowl centerpiece! I will be sharing my full Thanksgiving tablescape and more of my (hopefully sunny!) late fall dining room in my Seasonal Saturdays post on November 8th, so I do hope you will plan to stop by to check out out. 

For more lovely Thanksgiving Centerpiece ideas, please check out all of the links below.