I'm sharing some simple ideas to decorate your dining room and set your table for Thanksgiving, plus FREE printable gratitude placecards for you to use!

Hi there beautiful you! Before we get to today's post on setting a table for Thanksgiving, and the free printable, quick update. Mr DIY and I took a few days to fly to Colorado last week. I got my wish for SNOW!!! And I thoroughly enjoyed the cold weather (you have to live in a hot, humid environment to fully appreciate that statement, I know!).

The mountains were breathtaking and the aspens were gorgeous! It was such a nice getaway!! We stayed in Avon, and took day trips to Glenwood Springs, Breckenridge and Vail. A huge thanks to Chris' parents for giving us their time in the Wyndham Resort, it was the nicest place I've ever stayed! (two words...Presidential Suite!). Fall was in full bloom, with Winter not far behind! Here, let me just show you. Gaah, right?! As a Canadian born girl who grew up in the Rockies, it felt a lot like coming home! 💓

We got home and immediately got sick with a stomach bug 😰 which is why I've been MIA all week! But I'm finally starting to feel better, and excited to share my Thanksgiving dining room with you!

How to Set a Dining Room with Copper Accents for Thanksgiving

I've actually been working on my dining room for a couple weeks, and have made a few changes and additions along the way, as you'll see.

I love making a bit of a splash in the dining room for special occasions! Our dining room is one of the first rooms you see when you enter our front door, so it's fun to keep it decorated.


The neutral furniture (including my recently recovered houndstooth patterned chairs)* allows me to play around with color, and this year I'm embracing copper! It's such a perfect metallic for fall. I don't love orange, but copper feels more elegant while still having that saturated color that we love for fall! *I've since reupholstered these chair yet again in blue and white toile using this <$20 fabric tablecloth from Amazon - see them HERE  


The grandfather clock that I painted serves as a great piece to showcase something special, like a jumbo copper gourd (see similar HERE).


The table was set with my thrifted white ironstone dishes and blue transferware. I layered each setting by using a woven willow charger, then a linen napkin with fringed edges, an ironstone dinner plate then a blue and white lunch plate, topped with a napkin. Layering the place settings makes for an interesting table and gives each place setting presence! I pretty much use a combination of these dishes for every special occasion because I love them that much! It's easy to change the look with napkins. We'll talk more about the place settings in a minute.

Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece

A table centerpiece really sets the stage. I like to keep mine low so talking across the table isn't a problem.

I started with a large magnolia wreath as the base for my centerpiece. I layered a wood tray on top of the wreath and topped that with white candles, dried oranges and cinnamon sticks, my copper painted baby boo pumpkins (click here for a video tutorial) a napkin and a strand of beads. This wood tray has beaded handles, which is so unusual and adds extra texture!


I originally set the table without the wreath, and wasn't quite happy with it. Something was missing. I think adding that element of greenery really set it apart! The wreath helps to ground the centerpiece, which looked a little puny before. If you're struggling with your Thanksgiving table centerpiece, try placing a wreath in the center of the table and build a centerpiece around it! I do love how my blue and white dishes look with the copper accents. There's a lot of color going on in this room but it feels cohesive.

Thanksgiving Table Setting

Let's take a closer look at the individual place settings. I love challenging myself to use what I already own in a different way each year.


The 'live thankfully.' napkins (similar  HERE) were loosely tied with a black striped ribbon (currently on huge sale!). Then I tucked a dried magnolia leaf and a sprig of greenery into the knot. I have saved the magnolia leaves that I used for the fresh magnolia wreath I made a couple years ago. The backs of them are the softest brown color, they almost look like suede! They work so well with the copper accents in the dining room!


I had to bring my DIY houndstooth pumpkin pillow into the space because it was a perfect fit! This pillow is not only no-sew, but the design is completely removable!


After looking at these pictures, I realized that my chalkboard was too bare. I was going for a minimalist look, but it just wasn't doing it for me. So I wiped it off and started over and I went BIG this time, but I love it! If you're not comfortable with your handwriting, you can print your letters onto paper, cut them out and trace around them with chalk to get a similar look.


Designer Tip: I used to stress about getting my chalkboard designs perfect, erasing and starting over numerous times. I don't worry about that anymore! It's far from perfect, but one tip for getting letters evenly spaced is to start with the middle letter and then work your way to the left and the right. I goofed on the word 'BLESSED', there was a larger space on the right-hand side. But see what I did? Added the year and now you'd never know it wasn't intentional!

Thanksgiving Gratitude Cards

Something we do each year before we dive into our Thanksgiving feast, is to go around the table and each share one thing we're thankful for. Some years we just verbally share, other years we've done something more physical like this chalkboard tag garland, or simply writing on the chalkboard.

But since there's not much space left on the chalkboard, I decided to create some Thanksgiving gratitude cards. I printed them onto white card stock and cut them out with a paper trimmer. It was easy to tuck the cards into each table setting.


Now everyone can write down what they're grateful for, thankful for, or why they feel blessed. The gratitude cards can be easily clipped to a garland, as I've done, or just set in a pretty bowl. If you choose to use them as place cards, simply write the name on the top with a marker.


I love this way of visually seeing what everyone is thankful for. Because Thanksgiving is so much MORE  than just feasting, family and football! It's taking time to recognize the bounty in our lives and focusing on our gratitude! 

Hearing what my kids are thankful for blesses me so much! Our lives are not perfect, but sharing in our Thanksgiving makes us all a little more grateful ❤

Printable Thanksgiving Place Cards

I'm making these Thanksgiving gratitude or place cards available to you for free! Just print them out at 100% onto a regular sheet of printer paper or heavy card stock, and cut them out.

CLICK HERE for the printable Thanksgiving cards

If you're having difficulty accessing the printable, leave me a comment and I'll be happy to help!  As with all my free printables, please remember they are for your personal use only, they're not to be reproduced for profit.