DIY centerpiece ideas: candles and white flowers elegance.

11 Gorgeous DIY Centerpiece Ideas to Transform Any Occasion

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A beautiful centerpiece can elevate your dining room table and put an aesthetic exclamation point on your home, venue, or special event. Whether you’re planning a big dinner party or just feeling a bit decorative, a few thoughtful additions to your table can help you capture the perfect tone or mood — as well as the eye of any guest.

The centerpiece is usually associated with some sort of seasonal festivity. However, you don’t need to be celebrating anything special to liven up your table decor. Embrace the joy of design when you create your centerpiece. This is an opportunity to get creative, expressive, or even a little funky! 

If you’re looking for a good starting point, you’re in the right place. Explore our DIY centerpiece ideas and see what resonates with you! 

Colorful floral mix for diy centerpiece ideas on a table

Essential Items for Creating DIY Table Decorations

If you’re willing to tap into your creative side, you can figure out how to make centerpieces out of just about anything. There are no real rules to follow or limits to the sorts of fabrics and crafty items you can work with. However, there are a few simple table decorations that always seem to find their way into the most attractive DIY centerpieces. 

  • Flowers and Flower Vases: A simple bouquet can brighten up and beautify your dining room table all on its own. And don’t forget about the flower vase — it can take your centerpiece to a whole new level by adding its own color and style to the overall look.
  • Organic Decorations: Organic items like fruits, vegetables, and even herbs are also having their moment in the sun. These decorative items provide function and form while bringing life, color, and a fresh twist to your centerpiece.  
  • Bowls: Filled bowls are a classic way to bring texture, color, shape, and style to your table. Because there are unlimited options to fill your bowl — from summer fruit to holiday ornaments — a beautiful bowl offers durability and versatility, making it a key staple for anyone looking to create easy DIY centerpieces. 
  • Candle Holders: Candle holders and decorative lighting can create a soft and gentle element to enhance the mood. They even add style when unlit, making them a great centerpiece addition at any time of day. 
  • Table Linens: They may not be the focal point of your centerpiece, but table linens provide the backdrop and are an important element to consider. So give some thought to the color, texture, and style of your linens — they can greatly impact the overall effect. 
  • Dinnerware: Keep expanding your creative horizons and consider the items around your centerpiece that can take it to new heights. There are endless aesthetic opportunities when you extend beyond the centerpiece and pull in other table elements, like stylish placemats, glassware, charger plates, cloth napkins, and even disposable dinnerware.  

  • 11 DIY Centerpiece Ideas to Set a Gorgeous Table

    All of these ideas may beg the question: why use centerpieces at all? Perhaps you already have a dining room table you love, and you’re wondering if a centerpiece is necessary. The choice is yours, but once you see these simple table centerpiece ideas, you’ll understand how easy and fun it can be to get a little creative and transform your dining room with just a few decorations and your imagination. We have a feeling that once you unlock this creative side and reap the benefits of an elevated tablescape, you’ll be a lifetime fan of DIY table decorations. Explore our favorite centerpiece ideas for inspiration!

    1. Faux Flower Centerpieces

    DIY centerpiece ideas with a mix of roses and greenery on a dining table

    Some may argue that there’s nothing like the real thing when it comes to florals, but plenty of amazing-looking artificial flowers can provide the same visual appeal without any mess, mold, or maintenance. Create a collection of your favorites and then mix and match it with your other decor to suit the mood, the moment, or the season.  

    When looking for inexpensive centerpiece ideas, using a faux flower foundation is a great plan, as there are plenty of affordable options, and you won’t have to frequently replace them. One useful trick is to create a collection of seasonal faux flowers that you can break out whenever the time is right. 

    2. Stunning Candle Centerpieces

    Magical ambiance with DIY centerpiece ideas using lanterns and lights

    Candles are a classic centerpiece addition. You can use them to create symmetry and uniformity or to bring in variations in height, size, shape, and color. Take metal and glass candle holders filled with long, thin candlesticks and combine them with shorter, flickering votives to create a staggered glow and delicate ambiance.

    Lighting and candles can also function as great neighboring elements for highlighting other central decor, such as flowers or fruit. Whether the main attraction or the trusty sidekick, the possibilities with candles are endless.

    3. Seasonal Centerpieces

    Candles, autumn leaves, pine cones, pumpkins on table for DIY centerpiece ideas

    One of the most obvious ways to come up with easy centerpiece ideas is to check your calendar! Bringing seasonal festivity to your dining room table is a tried-and-true method that won't lead you astray. Seasonality provides a simple foundation for a great tablescape that can be leveraged time and time again. 

    There are often seasonal colors, plants, fruits, candles, and more that you can lean on, but where you go from there is what makes your centerpiece all your own. Feel free to fully lean into the season at hand and fill your centerpiece to the brim with festive spirit. Also, consider that seasonal elements don’t have to be the main focus of your centerpiece. They can be complementary pieces to a centerpiece mainstay as well.

    4. Inspired Upcycled Centerpieces 

    Bottles and vases with flowers, leaves in water for DIY centerpiece ideas

    You can create some incredibly inexpensive DIY centerpieces while reducing waste when you go the upcycling route. Turning old glassware into candle holders and vases is one of the best ways to do this. If you have any pitchers, bowls, or tea cups that don’t get the love you wish they did and take up more space than you’d like, see if you can incorporate them into your centerpiece concept. Utilizing upcycled materials can transform your table for free — that’s tough to beat!

    5. Fruit and Vegetable Centerpieces

    Colorful fruit mix in glass bowl: DIY centerpiece ideas with sliced oranges, lemons, strawberries, and limes

    Sometimes, the most attractive addition to a centerpiece isn’t a rare or expensive piece of handmade decor but rather a simple collection of colorful fruits and vegetables brought to you by Mother Nature. After all, dining room tables are primarily designed to hold food, so it’s only natural to incorporate it as a design element! 

    A striking bowl of large, beautiful fruit can be the perfect starting point in centerpieces for round tables, while using smaller seasonal fruits and veggies scattered alongside greenery and candles can balance out longer, rectangular tables. 

    6. Bright White Centerpieces

    Lush floral centerpieces: DIY centerpiece ideas with white flowers and green sprays

    Bright whites aren’t just for the winter or weddings — they bring a simple, striking, and elegant tone to any aesthetic. Bright white centerpieces also allow for more creativity beyond the table, like beautiful backdrops that may bring in pops of color and different textures to the overall decor. The best part is that white goes with pretty much anything, so you’ll have a ton of room for creativity if you go this route.  

    7. Tiered Tray Centerpieces

    DIY centerpiece ideas: Floral arrangement, candles, and ornaments on a festive table setting

    You only have so much room to display all your creative, DIY centerpiece ideas on your dining room table, so why not take things upward? With the help of a tiered tray, you can add vertical decoration and create an eye-catching centerpiece. 

    Feel free to mix and match the elements across the tiers for a balanced style, or let each tier represent individual themes for a clean, layered look. You can always add seasonal decorations to your tiered tray, too, so your centerpiece feels fresh throughout the year.

    8. Colored Glass Centerpieces

    Colorful DIY centerpiece ideas: Three matching vases with single, bright flowers. Turquoise, purple, and red

    Colored glass offers both fun and functionality by providing a way to display your flowers while bringing in different aesthetic qualities. Mix and match colors, shapes, and sizes with our various styles of glass vases for a compelling, yet easy, centerpiece idea

    9. Dried Flower Centerpieces

    DIY centerpiece ideas: Event table adorned with florals and candles

    Flowers offer natural beauty, color, and style to any centerpiece, but it’s no secret they require a bit of maintenance. Dried flowers and grasses, on the other hand, can reduce that ongoing effort while offering their own ethereal beauty to your dining room. We recommend dispersing dried florals and grasses in multiple vases rather than in one large, dry bouquet, as their unique appeal is better highlighted that way.

    10. Fresh Herb Centerpieces

    Fresh and inviting diy centerpiece ideas: colorful flowers and greenery in rustic woden boxes

    Flowers are not the only plant life that can lead to stunning DIY centerpiece ideas. Any greenery can introduce brightness, vibrance, and texture that can’t easily be replicated. Your opportunities are endless with fresh herbs. From leafy basil to hearty rosemary, herbs will not only add a unique visual element to your centerpiece but also a delightful scent! They can be used to complement fruit and veggies, flowers, seasonal decor, and more. 

    11. Vintage Vibe Centerpieces

    Vibrant floral diy centerpiece ideas with painted vintage cans

    Few things can summon the feeling of warm nostalgia like vintage decor. If you’re aiming for a cozy-chic feel with your centerpiece, then consider including some elements from yesteryear. You’ll likely be surprised by how much mood some throwback fabrics or retro lighting can bring to your dining room. So pick a decade and dive in! 

    Create Stunning DIY Centerpieces With eFavormart

    There are endless ways to craft a centerpiece that can unify the aesthetic of your room and transform your living space. You can mix and match organic decorations like real flowers and fruits, our creative and colorful fabrics and crafts, dried florals and greenery, glassware, antiques, and just about anything else to make your vision come to life. 

    While designing stunning tabletop centerpieces in your home can be a lot of fun, starting from scratch can be a bit overwhelming. So, whenever you’re looking for the perfect place to dream up DIY centerpiece ideas, come back to this guide, grab essential decor from eFavormart, and let your imagination run wild!

    image of writer isabella torres

    Written By Isabella Torres - Updated: March 20, 2024

    Isabella Torres is an experienced decor and event design expert with over a decade of experience in creating visually stunning and memorable events. With a keen eye for design and a passion for transforming spaces, Isabella began her career in interior design before finding her niche in event styling.