An easy and ideal way to produce a DIY table setting this Christmas is to keep the design classic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun by throwing in an unexpected twist or two. Veteran event designer Zenas Pineda shows you how.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
Photography by Jar Concengco
What is essential is invisible to the eye. The Little Prince wasn’t by any means referring to Christmas, but he could have been talking about the most wonderful time of the year, a season of hope and cheer that’s better felt than seen.
But adding a bit of visual cheer to such a festive occasion certainly won’t hurt. And despite what the entire world has gone through all these months, there’s no stopping Christmas! If this once-in-a-century pandemic has taught us one thing, it’s that now, more than ever, we need to cling to family and friends (and even age-old traditions) if we are to thrive during this bleak period.
This partly explains why countless Filipino families, no matter how dire the situation is, aren’t about to forego decking their homes with boughs and holly this holiday season, says veteran event designer Zenas Pineda.
Some families, she notes, have begun putting out their Christmas displays even before the start of the so-called “ber” months, in the hopes, perhaps, of spreading some Yuletide cheer early, especially among the little ones.
“A lot of my clients have already brought out their Christmas trees,” says Zenas, as she welcomes us to her modern Japanese-meets-tropical-inspired home in Antipolo. With more time in their hands, some have started decorating their homes with holiday trimmings as early as August.
Recycle and up cycle
“Many of them are either recycling or up cycling old pieces by mixing them up with new ones,” she continues. And since not a few families are still afraid of welcoming anyone, including professional home stylists, into their homes, many are tapping into their innate creativity by coming up with do-it-yourself holiday arrangements.
Zenas, who, just before the pandemic, had her hands full as she and her team worked on numerous events, one after the other, from weddings to debuts, anniversaries to product launches, shows us how it can be done. Her three totally different holiday-inspired table settings take into consideration such factors as your home’s color scheme, lighting and existing furniture, artworks and accent pieces.
A long and joyful story
“My inspiration for my first table setting is actually the long table itself,” she says, referring to her formal dining table. A rectangular piece made of solid dao, the Milo Naval-designed wooden table can easily sit up to 14 people. (For this photo shoot, Zenas limits it to 10 people.)
Since it was made from natural hardwood with uneven edges, the table itself exudes an earthy and rustic charm, which inspired Zenas to pair it with her woven tikog show plates and coasters as well as her cobalt blue stoneware plates and long-stemmed water goblets.
The plates, which echo and contrast against certain shades found in the house, were specially made for Zenas by artist and fellow Antipolo resident Lanelle Abueva-Fernando.
“If you look closely, even the plates are uneven,” says Zenas. And since their colors gradate from cobalt blue to dove gray, no two handmade plates are exactly alike.
The entire setting is limited to shades of blue—from cobalt to teal—green and, believe it or not, black. In lieu of red, Zenas opts for black accent pieces in the form of a long table runner, small gift boxes that double as giveaways and several votive candles simply because black conforms with her dining area’s overall color scheme.
To keep the entire setup from looking a tad too gloomy, she punctuates it with pops of color in the form of teal napkins, long forest green candles, and gold and silver candleholders. She also succeeds in bringing the outdoors in by resorting to a nearly all-natural arrangement fashioned from eucalyptus and cinamomo leaves.
Again, to keep the all-green spread from looking a bit too rustic, Zenas puts several fairly huge Christmas balls, both shiny and matte, in teal, gold and silver into the mix.
“You can probably resort to whatever color scheme you want,” she says. “There are no rules when it comes to Christmas. But if you entertain a lot, which I used to do before the pandemic, you also have to consider your interiors’ color scheme, including certain key furniture and accent pieces like your lighting fixtures, dining table and sitting area, before you begin to decorate.”
Silver, gold and more
For her second table setting, Zenas limits it to touches of silver, gold and green anchored on a black-and-white color scheme. Black and white may be classic shades when it comes to fashion and vintage photography, but when you’re talking of Christmas, only white can stand on its own as a holiday shade.
“For this one, I took into consideration my round marble table in white,” she says.
Instead of going for solid colors, Zenas opts for gingham in the form of a black-and-white table runner with matching napkins. She also produced a low table arrangement made of matte and shiny balls and artificial leaves and hollies in white, gold and silver.
Zenas threw in several antique-looking black and silver pieces in the form of a teapot, milk pitcher and sugar container as points of interest. For good measure, a slim wreath made of cinamomo leaves and white ribbon rests on each plate.
“I asked one of my daughters what she thinks Christmas this year would look like,” says Zenas, who makes it a point to occasionally ask the opinion of other people, especially her adult children, to validate and keep her ideas current. “She thinks black and white would be cool.”
But if you still insist on going classic, it doesn’t mean limiting yourself to red and green. Apart form incorporating pops of blue, orange and even purple into your arrangement, you can opt for other shades of red—from the classic poinsettia to pinkish red. The same also goes with green—which can range anywhere from forest to emerald, lime to mint.
All about Eve
In her third table setting, Zenas made an outdoor arrangement meant for an imaginary couple dining out and sharing private moments on Christmas Eve. She anchors it on a spray of lush and deep green magnolia leaves.
To keep predictability at bay, she spruced it up with different shades of red, violet and green in the form of Ecuadorean roses in reddish pink, carnations in deep magenta, lime green apples and purple grapes as well as mangosteens.
For good measure, she adds unlikely blooms to the arrangement such as milflores and climatis in dainty shades of periwinkle and lilac, respectively.
The key to producing your own foolproof DIY holiday table setting is to keep it classic, says Zenas. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun by throwing in an unexpected twist or two. Christmas, after all, isn’t just about spreading joy and hope.
It’s also all about dishing out pleasant surprises.
