Setting a Pretty Table with Paper Placemats

Paper placemats are an inexpensive way to add a pop of color, textual interest or just plain fun to your tablescapes. Let’s chat about some of my favorite paper placemats and where to find them!

I have a thing for paper placemats. 

This all began when I got my first set from my sweet friend Erin. I wrote all about her pretty paper and the art of hand written notes. 

I decided to take the placemats I purchased from Erin to be laminated so they would last longer.  You can go to Office Depot or Office Max and they will laminate them for about $3.00 per placemat.

At the time my kids were little so the idea of being able to use placemats without having to wash them sounded glorious!

Well that opened a whole can of worms.  This was when chevron was really popular and Erin made darling chevron placemats for every season. I got Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July… well you get the idea 😂. Then once our girls were older, I started buying more “sophisticated” placemats that really elevate a table scape.

I love buying paper placemats because I know I can make them last for years. 

When our older daughter was looking at colleges, we visited Nashville on two separate occasions. 

We went to the darling little town of Franklin Tennessee, and found one of my most favorite stores ever! 

Have you heard of Hester and Cook? If not, you need to know about it! 

They have the most beautiful tabletop and entertaining items. 

After spending quite a while in the glorious store my husband said “I’m cutting you off!” and we had to check out and leave immediately. Ha!!

So. Many. Pretty. Things!!

How to use your paper placemats

Most of the time these simple placemats from Hester and Cook are on my breakfast room table. I usually have a fern in a pretty blue and white jar in the center.

In the tablescape below I used the striped placemats for a fall dinner with pumpkins, autumn hued flowers and burnt orange napkins. So easy and pretty.

Here is another fall tablescape I absolutely adore using these from Lucy Grymes. The green and cream design adds a sense of texture even though they are obviously paper. This table was so much fun to put together!

Next is a patriotic table with beautiful floral Hester and Cook placemats, red melamine plates from Horchow and my Spode Blue Italian salad plates. I used blue and white striped napkins from Amazon and a simple white rose arrangement Another easy and pretty table.

It’s such a cheerful colorful table. Easy to set and pretty to look at!!

It would be perfect for July 4th or any summer gathering. 

I love this lively table with the same Hester and Cook navy and ivory striped placemats but styled for a bright summery table. I used Spode Blue Room dinner plates, grocery store flowers and these darling green and white napkins from Pottery Barn.

Then there are these vibrant orange and hot pink floral placemats that I loved styling! Lucy Grymes has so many different placemat options you can’t find anywhere else.

Goodness, I could go on and on!! More to come on how to style a table with paper placemats…

As you can see, there are so many ways you can use paper placemats to make your table more fun. My favorite sources are Hester and Cook, Lucy Grymes and Rosanne Beck.

With the holidays coming, this won’t be the last time you see me set a table with paper placemats!!

Grateful for you!