Upgrade Your Thanksgiving Table Settings

If You Have a Vintage Mishmash…

Roll with it, using every beautiful pattern at once. The trick is to clarify the chaos (and turn down the granny factor) with a neat, crisp canvas: Plain white linens let you indulge your eclectic tendencies and show off all your favorites. If you happen to have a collection of mismatched goblets, throw them in, too—they look logical if the shapes and sizes are similar. For decoration, try a row of tiny cabbages in small glasses down the middle of the table. Add a personal item (here, a jade bust) to play up the found-treasures charm of the scene.

To buy: Les Maisons Enchantées American dinner plate by Hermès (upper left in photo), $210 for two, hermes.com. Bella silver-plated flatware, $45 for a five-piece place setting, potterybarn.com. Grand Traditional wineglass (clear) by Nason & Moretti, $535 for six, mossonline.com; and I Gotici Torse water glasses (ribbed), $535 for six: mossonline.com. Other pieces shown here are vintage.