Q:

I have about 6 different sets of china consisting of 3-5 pieces each of mixed and matched place settings. My question – is it approaite to set a dining table with the mixed matched sets?

Sandra

A:

Thanks for the question Sandra! For your question I decided to defer to my great friend Kathryn Greeley. She’s a tabletop expert and the author of the new book The Collected Tabletop. She also has a great blog, The Collected Room.

Kathryn Greeley, Tabletop and Entertaining Expert

Hi Sandra! I am so glad you’ve shown an interest in your own “collected tabletop.” And thank you Tobi for letting me join in on your wonderful “Ask Tobi” series.

Absolutely, I love mixing patterns on a table. There are endless opportunities with different patterns! I would start with the dinner plates. If you have six different dinner plates, go ahead and set each placesetting with a different pattern. If you have matching salads or bread and butters, team those up with the matching dinner plates. If there is a common color in the six sets, pull that color out for placemats or a tablecloth, and napkins. If you have an appropriate size serving piece in any of the patterns, you might want to use that for flowers for your centerpiece. And if you have a variety of cups or bowls, that would be great for serving coffee and/or dessert by the fire or on the porch! When collecting and mixing patterns, I always recommend combining patterns that all have a common color or pattern-something that gives the collection unity.

Cheers!
Kathryn

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