The charm of 1950s table settings lies in their simplicity combined with a flair for style, celebrating home as an everyday joy as well as the special occasion at hand.
Formal dinners called for polished silverware, neatly pressed linens, and delicate china, often embellished with floral patterns or simple, understated designs. Plates were typically arranged in the traditional order, with the salad plate on top of the dinner plate, and flatware laid out from the outside in, according to the courses.
Glassware was strategically placed to the upper right of each setting, ensuring easy access during the meal. Despite the formality, there was a welcoming warmth to these arrangements, a reflection of the era’s emphasis on hospitality.
Casual table settings of the 1950s had their own charm, favoring practicality without sacrificing style. Melamine dishware, which was both colorful and durable, became a popular choice for everyday meals. The bright colors and playful patterns of these dishes added a pop of personality to the table, making even the simplest meals feel special. Tablecloths and napkins often featured bold patterns or pastel colors, complementing the colorful dishes and creating a cohesive look that was both cheerful and inviting.
One of the key elements of 1950s table settings was the attention to detail. Hosts would often include thoughtful touches like place cards, personalized napkin rings or a small centerpiece that added a personal touch to the table. Flowers were a common choice for centerpieces, often displayed in simple vases that matched the color scheme of the table. These small additions made guests feel welcome and valued, reflecting the social etiquette of the time.
If you’re curious to see these classic table settings in action, we’ve gathered a collection of vintage photos and information that bring the mid-century dining experience to life. Have a look below at our collection of vintage 1950s table setting ideas — direct from a couple dozen magazines that came out between 1950 and 1959.
FOOD TASTES BETTER, the whole atmosphere is happier, when meals are served from pretty tables. And they’re easily set!
On fresh, crisp linens, a flowering plant, fruit, foliage, or your favorite figurines make centerpieces that create a mood for gracious dining.
Start your table with a vibrant green
Avoid monotony by using an assortment of cloths or placemats that provide textural contrasts and play up the color and design in your china.
Here, a vibrant green background and simple centerpiece arrangement of huckleberry leaves and lemons enhance the Blue Doves ovenproof ware.
Red checked tablecloth base
A provincial red-checked, Belgian linen cloth goes sophisticated when set with handsomely plain table appointments.
Milk glass goblets in Simplicity pattern, melamine plastic plates, plastic-handled stainless-steel flatware, and a tidy rosette sansevieria plant all establish an air of unaffected elegance.
Vintage 1950s table settings for a lunch or brunch
A small, everblooming begonia plant brings a lovely touch of color and decoration to a card-table luncheon or brunch set on a gaily patterned linen cloth. The melamine plastic dinnerware and flatware, with Tuxedo pattern tumblers, add smart color interest.
A springtime touch
Use color and decoration to give midwinter meals a lovely springtime touch. Our choice is a pretty linen cloth, softly colored melamine dinnerware, and a graceful arrangement of sweetpea vines and blossoms from the florist. Flatware is Circe pattern stainless.
Making the table an expression of your personality (1958)
BECAUSE THE TABLE you set is an expression of your personality, we believe it should — and can — be exciting. Just a little thought and planning will make your tables as varied as your moods or menus.
Here, working in collaboration with Muriel Lubliner, nationally famous table-setting authority and bridal consultant, Better Homes & Gardens brings you easy, practical ways to put beauty and variety on the everyday table. Here are ideas to copy or adapt.
A dining table in lilac and pink
The Contemporary table happily wears many moods. Footed milk glass goblets and pink marbleized salad plates have been added to the basic white dinnerware to give this luncheon setting a pleasing traditional loveliness.
Ceramic figurines and a “perpetual” flower arrangement repeat in the centerpiece the lilac and pink theme.
Starting with basic white for a breakfast table
Basic white china becomes vivid and dramatic when handled with a flair — even at breakfast time. Orange juice in crystal tumblers, yellow fiber mats, and gay red napkins set the pace.
For added dash, serve juice from a crystal decanter, toast from a triple-tier box — and the morning news from a folding silk basket.
Elegant but simple
At a dinner for guests, the basic white china takes on splendid formality. Tomato juice in tall, slender glasses, matching napkins, and extra-long tapers add brilliant notes of color and drama to the black and white setting.
The glistening black placemats are made of textured plastic — very easy to care for.
50s table setting ideas: Budget-wise expert tips (1956)
By Patricia Phillips – The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) March 13, 1956
A flower-arranging expert with a very down-to-earth approach addressed members of the Northwood Garden Club the other day. “These are ‘hamburger and mashed potato’ table settings I’m going to show you,” explained Mrs Irvin O Wright, the guest speaker.
“In other words, they are designed for the average housewife on a limited budget who can’t dash off to the florist every time she wants flowers for her centerpiece.”
Fix the centerpiece last
She had a warning for average Mrs. Baltimore: Don’t think of the centerpiece first, but rather start with the table covering; proceed to the china and glass, then blend or contrast the centerpiece with the rest.
And don’t forget that the dining room is basically the place to eat. Never make the floral display on the table so large that there is no room for the food.
For each of the table settings, Mrs. Wright used crocheted mats in many colors. “It’s not that I dislike white tablecloths,” she explained. “The mats are just easier to use for my lectures.”
Demonstrating that the centerpiece should blend with the china, she used heavy, blue Danish pottery ware against a dark-blue mat, matching napkin, white milk-glass and, enhancing the effect, a cheese pot painted blue, containing red geraniums.
Container problem
“One of the hardest things about table settings,” she said, “is finding the proper container for the centerpiece.”
“Look around your house, your attic, even the trash can,” she advised her audience. “You’ll be amazed at the possibilities for containers to be found.”
The proper table, it seems should be of one color. The viewer should think, “What a pretty green table, pink table or plain old white table,” as the case may be.
For an interesting effect, Mrs. Wright employed colors of the same family, but not of the same value, in a predominantly yellow table setting.
Varying shades of yellow, even to the pale chartreuse of the oblong bowl for the flowers, lent drama to the heavy modern chinaware and the yellow goblet.
Perspective for task
“When you arrange a centerpiece, sit down to do it, because this is the way it will be seen at the table,” she said. “And keep it low. Nothing is quite so awkward as trying to talk to someone across the table who is completely hidden behind a mass of bloom.”
Mrs. Wright said there is a temptation among amateur flower arrangers to place flowers in vases in a woefully repetitious manner.
“Experiment!” she urged. Some examples of Mrs Wright’s ingenuity noticed in her table settings [not shown] were dried brown magnolia, leaves which she rescued from a neighbor’s trash can; large plastic beads bought at the five and ten, which she painted; and an unusual combination of flowers and fruit, whose color she had heightened by liberal use of lipstick.
Choice of china
She commented that the young bride today has an interesting choice to make between buying contemporary or traditional china.
Traditional with its varied, intricate patterns allows a freer use of color in table settings. Any of the numerous colors in a flowered pattern can be picked up and repeated in the glassware and floral display.
Modern china and pottery ware, on the other hand, can be used more dramatically in a strong contrast of colors.
“Never make table setting a major production,” Mrs Wright concluded. “After all, food is the most important thing. If time is short and the choice is between a dramatic centerpiece and home-made biscuits, concentrate on the biscuits.”
See more vintage 50s table setting ideas
Pretty vintage ’50s table setting with lots of ’50s floral accents
ELEGANT & FORMAL TABLE SETTING IDEAS
Traditional dining room table setting arrangement
Lacy vintage tablesetting from 1953
ALSO SEE: Festive Christmas table settings: Ideas for holiday tables with retro style (1900s-1990s)
Elegant clear glass tableware accented with flowers and a purple tablecloth
An elegant old home with the table laid with separate bread plates
Long table with salmon-colored highlights
For a dinner party in a classical formal dining room – 1950s
Old-fashioned all-white dining table settings from 1957
Cabbage-look bowls and plates, mixed with orange and pewter
A coffee table set for dinner
Table-setting suggestions from the fifties
Every hostess takes pride in a beautiful table set with sparkling china and gleaming silver.
The 3 table settings shown below demonstrate the dramatic effect you can achieve with a monochromatic color scheme, making table linens out of decorative or dress fabrics to match the color of your china and your serving pieces.
More than a thing of beauty in itself, a carefully worked-out table setting is a graceful compliment to your guests.
Table set in grey, white, red
Round table set in grays demonstrates the dramatic effect which can be achieved by use of a monochromatic color scheme and by making two table runners from a decorative or dress fabric in place of the traditional round cloth.
Between the black and white of the table itself, the setting graduates in shade from the off-white plates and underliners, the smoke crystal, the silver-gray table runners, the gray pewter candlesticks and flower container, to the deep elephant gray casseroles and coffee service, with the whole monochromatic scheme relieved by the centerpiece and brilliant pink Irish linen napkins.
The table is 48″ in diameter with a white Formica top on black lacquered legs. The screen [above] is made from composition board covered with wallpaper.
Vintage ’50s table setting: Peach and orange tones with copper
Long, narrow table in nasturtium is a setting in variations on the color, beginning with the pale apricot of the napkins through the gradually deepening shades of table runners, wooden bowls, copper casserole and warmer, and ending in the deep rust-orange of the plates.
The table runners, which you can make of decorative fabric, cover both ends and one side of the table, set in a space-saving one-sided seating arrangement. Also space-saving is the table itself, which is long (72″) and narrow (18″) with a flip top opening out to 36″.
Table setting in hues of blue
Rectangular table in blue is strikingly beautiful study in graduating blues from the pale candles through the soft blue stoneware plates, the green-blue place mats, the brighter candles and royal blue Irish linen napkins up to the deep blue free-form glass salad plate.
White lilies and the warm brown tones of table, salad servers and drapery give color relief. The staggered seating, a new idea in seating four at a rectangular table, provides two free diagonal corners for the candles and serving platter. The place mats are made of coarse linen.
Long informal dining tables
With place settings in blue, orange and yellows; then black & yellows below
Charming old glassware for dining table place settings from the fifties
Simple luncheon tableware
Old-fashioned tables set with pastel china and silverware
Vintage 1950s silverware to set the table
An outdoor table set with everything made of glass
FESTIVE PARTY TABLE SETTING IDEAS
vintage ’50s table setting ideas for parties & celebrations (1959)
ANY DAY OF THE WEEK is a wonderful day for a party. But birthdays, holidays, and all the special days of the year inspire extra-special treatment.
On these pages, Better Homes & Gardens brings you an array of easy-to-do, themed table setting ideas that will make your party memorable.
A poodle party
Any youngster will cheer this birthday table. For who does not love a poodle dog — especially one that totes a gift? Dogs are made of mailing tubes with gifts enclosed. Cover body with ribbon and make tight bows for the feet and head.
A boy’s birthday party
If the “birthday child” is a man, give your table a strong, masculine look. Here, black ribbon strips on a plain white cover make a striking pattern; bold color-contrasts in dinnerware and centerpiece add interest; and clown figurines guarding a one-candle cake set the mood for fun.
St Patrick’s day table decor
What could be more fitting for a Saint Patrick’s Day get-together than a Kelly green bowler on a Kelly green tablecloth?
Gay dime-store candies in saran wrapping circle the hat; pipes and satin ribbons decorate the base; and huckleberry leaves soften the sharp, square outline.
For a pretty birthday tabletop
An inexpensive, make-it-yourself cloth dresses the birthday table beautifully. It comes packaged, all cut out and ready to put together quickly and easily. Arrange small gifts — prettily wrapped to accent your centerpiece and color scheme — as an important part of the setting.
A vision in orange
Serving oranges filled with sherbet, and featuring clove-studded oranges for the centerpieces.
Festive party table setting for kids
For a New Year’s celebration
Your New Year’s Eve guests will enjoy a midnight buffet served on a cobalt-blue cloth set with star-spangled plastic plates.
For more glamour, add hanging gold paper stars, colorful streamers, and scintillating candlelight. Such a setting makes the simplest fare festive.
A table for Valentine’s Day (1959)
We agree with the young man: the valentine setting looks good plates and red carnations highlight the beauty of ruby-colored enough to eat.
On a silver-flecked pink cloth, milk glass service crystal. White tapers — to be lighted at dinnertime — add charm.
OUTDOOR PARTY TABLE SETTING INSPIRATION
Elegant outdoor table setup from the 1950s
Featuring a cool blue tablecloth with a wavy pattern in white
A composition in pink (1957)
The fragrance of roses mingling with strawberries sets the tone for dinner in a garden. Pink cloth, glasses and votive candles echo the coloring of the centerpiece.
Strawberries may be plucked out of the centerpiece to accompany dessert of coeur a la creme.
Flintridge china. Towle sterling. Table setting designed by D. Lorraine Yerkes. Photographed in the Palm Beach garden of Mrs. Charles S. Davis.
