How to Style a Moody Fall-Inspired Dinner Party in a Small Space

Ohhh, boy I have missed sharing small space entertaining tips! Between the year-long kitchen renovation, our wedding, and my unexpected hospital visit, 2019 has been a doozy and has prevented me from sharing more tablescape and dinner party inspiration with you. Such a bummer. But now that the holidays are upon us, I am making it more of a priority to share more of these photoshoots with you. Yesterday, Sarah shared how to make a hanging floral installation, so today I am sharing how I styled this moody fall-themed dinner party set up in our small space.

How to Style a Moody Fall-Inspired Dinner Party in a Small Space

Plates & Tablelinens

I am forever obsessed with black on black. So in this case, I layered these black dinner plates over a black tablecloth. I love how the plates are reminiscent of the moon – and how each is different from the next. To break up the black, I added in a mustard hued linen table runner. For a special touch, I gathered the end of it and tied I with a pale pink velvet ribbon scrap. Sometimes it’s that tiny detail that makes it feel unique!

As for the napkins, I chose pale pink linen napkins to mimic the pink in the hanging florals. I absolutely love using pink in the fall. It feels so unexpected and pairs nicely with traditional autumnal colors like harvest gold, burnt orange, and burgundy. Geometric napkin rings provide a finishing touch and touch of metallic.

Candlelight… lots of it

Because of our floating floral installation, we weren’t able to turn on the overhead ceiling light — which I am totally fine with! I love the soft, sexy ambient glow of candlelight for a dinner party. I set the scene with mercury glass votives that we used at our wedding and filled them with tealights. I also added gold taper holders and olive green tapers to give the table a bit of height and drama.

Cloches

I have a confession: I am addicted to cloches. See the small glass globe with dried flowers in it? That’s a cloche. I love how they make anything look elevated, fancy, and so special. And you can put anything in them (remember our Valentine’s Day dinner party for two?). For this table, I scattered a few mini cloches amongst the votives so that they would catch the light and sparkle.

I’ve been fairly restrained with showing them on the blog when I style, but here’s your warning that you’ll be seeing even more cloches coming soon!

Glassware & flatware

I scored these incredible smoked martini glasses at a local thrift store recently. Every detail about them is perfect: the smoke grey glass, the shape, and the thinness of the glass. I absolutely love them and the moodiness they add to the table. Finally, I added a bit more metallic in the way of rose gold utensils.

So what do you think of my fall themed tablescape? Because our home is so small, we typically only entertain 4 people at a time. But I love having intimate dinner parties and gatherings, so it’s all good by me.