One of the most frequent questions readers ask about setting tables involve how to start and when to stop.

Starting is easy. Inspiration is everywhere: a beloved china pattern, seasonal flowers, favourite colours, occasions such as birthdays or Christmas. The possibilities are abundant to the point of endless. Which brings us to the second question very quickly.

It is so easy to overthink the table. It sneaks up on you. You start with good intentions, and suddenly you’re asking a lot of questions that don’t really need answers.

Happily, it turns out that 
the table is much more forgiving than our minds are.

So here are my time-honoured observations.

A Set of White Plates Goes a Long Way

Price doesn’t actually matter here. Plain old caterer’s stock does just fine, thank you ma’am.

Don’t get me wrong—I love patterned china. But white plates quietly support almost anything you put on or around them.

Add a couple of platters or covered tureens to serve family-style, and suddenly the table is ready without much effort.

Salad and Dessert Plates Are Where Things Can Get Playful

Inexpensive salad and dessert plates—thrifted, inherited, picked up one at a time—are a small place to enjoy pattern without a massive financial or storage commitment. And they don’t have to match or be precious.

And if they make you smile when you set them down, all the better.

Add a Colour That You Love

When I wrote Entertablement—The Four Seasons, I chose aqua as a “challenge” colour to use with each of the seasons. Partly because it’s a great shade to use in a beach house, and partly because my daughter-in-law, Annie, loves it. Here it is for Spring, set with simple pink apple blossoms.

The linens stuck the aqua note for Summer, supported by a floral salad plate.

Autumn was a cheerful, set of inexpensive coloured plates by Pioneer Woman including an accent salad plate.

Winter was quite “blingy” with a set of gold spotted salad plates from Pier 1.

Greenery Is Often All You Need

I love flowers—grocery store bouquets are a godsend.

But simple greenery also goes a long way. Potted herbs make a great centrepiece and will give you months of fresh ingredients if you plant them outside or keep them on your windowsill.

Plain old branches work beautifully. One kind, nothing fussy!

A pine rope was the backbone of this green and white table.

Admittedly, it got a little help from a box of pinecone Christmas ornaments tied to grapevine napkin rings.

Let The Food Be the Centrepiece

Dessert doesn’t need competition.

A centrepiece of fruit is already doing double duty.

Vegetables also work well.

If it’s edible, it’s pulling its weight.

One Pattern Is Plenty

Layering is lovely, but one pattern can do all the heavy lifting. Here, it’s the linens.

Let one thing have a voice, and keep the rest quiet. Here – multiple china patterns are unified by one colour.

If you do feel like going for it, though, choose a unifying element and then vary the scale and complexity of the other patterns. In this table, the strawberry patterned dessert plate is the element around which all the other pieces fit.

This blue and green table follows the same principle with the different botanical salad plates are the anchor.

Set the Table Anyway

This might be the part I come back to most.

• Even if the meal is simple.
• Even if you’re tired.
• Even if it’s just an ordinary day.

Set the table anyway.

Because we have to eat—and it’s very nice to do that together. And the table doesn’t need to be perfect or clever or impressive to make that happen.

So yes: a set of white plates with a few platters and serving bowls. That’s your core.

For fun, a couple of

• inexpensive dessert plates
• pattern — linens or china
• coloured glassware
• greenery or flowers
• dessert in the middle.

And then stop.

That’s been my quiet discovery over time: the table almost always has enough. We just have to let it be.