Ways to Make a Greenery Table Runner Step by Step

The sequence matters: decide the footprint, then the finish, then the accessories. I'm not hosting Christmas dinner this year so instead of putting together a holiday table in our dining room, I decided to dress up our kitchen table that we eat at every day. Now I'm wondering why I never did this before because I'm so happy to be able to enjoy it for weeks instead of just one night! I wanted to try making a greenery table runner for the first time and in typical Kris fashion, I went into it without much of a plan or having any idea how it would turn out. Luckily, if you throw a bunch of pretty greenery together, it's hard not to come up with something polished in the end! I'm really happy with how it came together:

It took a modest amount of trial and error but once I found a look I liked, I repeated it on the second side of the table and took step by step photos along the way to share with you! The best part is that I picked up everything I used from our local grocery store other than the few things that I already had on hand so there was no running around all over to find what I needed during the busy holiday season. Here's the step by step of how I created it (post includes some affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here}).

Step 1: Gather Greenery, Fruit, Pinecones, and Candles

To create my table runner, I used four pomegranates, six mini pears, one bundle of seeded eucalyptus, two small bundles of magnolia branches, and one bundle of berry branches. I also cut a few sprigs of greenery from a tree in our yard to throw into the mix and I used some pillar candles and pinecones that I already had:

Start with a Neutral Fabric Table Runner: Step 2

You could create your greenery table runner directly on the table but I like adding a little contrast by putting a fabric table runner down first. I used a tasseled cream table runner similar to {this one}:

Step 3: Use Magnolia Branches and Pillar Candles as Your Base

I started with the magnolia branches, trimming each branch fairly close to the stem of the last leaf and laying them down the length of the table in an alternating pattern. I used four small branches on each side and kept the remaining two branches to use as filler in my final step:

I then placed two pillar candles on each side of the table at the points where the end pairs of magnolia branches meet. Since the candles are nestled into the greenery, I went with 3″ x 4″ flameless battery operated candles (my exact ones are no longer available but {this pack of six flameless candles} looks very similar and comes with a remote!). The beauty of these flameless candles is that not only do you not have to worry about catching your runner on fire, but they have a built-in timer so they automatically go off a certain number of hours after you turn them on and then will go on and off at those same times again every day forward.

Add Sprigs of Eucalyptus and Greenery: Step 4

Next, I cut off little sprigs of eucalyptus and layered them so that most of the sprigs rest on the magnolia branches while others fill in the gaps between the branches. My grocery store was actually out of the regular kind of eucalyptus with the round leaves which is what I was planning to use, but this seeded eucalyptus ended up working out just fine – either type will do the job! I then did the same thing with some small greenery sprigs – any type of greenery will work for this. If you head outside with your clippers, chances are there is a tree or bush in your yard that you can clip from:

Step 5: Layer in Some Color with Berries and Fruit

Now it's time to bring in some color! Clip little sprigs of berries off of larger branches and distribute them throughout the greenery runner. Then add in some colorful fruit – I used pomegranates and mini pears but you could use cranberries, clementines, or apples too! I topped it off with a few pinecones:

You could also cut little pieces off of a faux berry branch such as {this one} to reuse year after year.

Fill in Any Gaps With Extra Greenery Until it Looks Full: Step 6

Finally, use your remaining greenery to fill in any empty spots in your runner (especially on the ends) until it looks full and even. I used mostly single magnolia leaves to do this:

From start to finish, it took me about 45 minutes to put together the full greenery runner (most of that time was clipping branches to size). I'm loving the life that it added to our kitchen table!

I was originally going to add a vase of flowers in the middle of the runner, but once I was done putting the greenery runner together, the flowers were just a little too much. I ended up using a brass rimmed hurricane instead and it's the perfect simple touch:

I went pretty simple with the rest of the table, using {these round rattan placemats}, metallic gold dots dinner plates (HomeGoods finds!), gingham pom pom edged napkins, and a set of clay + wood bead napkin rings:

The greenery, eucalyptus, and magnolia leaves that I used in the runner will dry out after several days but they're all things that don't really wilt – they simply get less bright green so I'm hoping to be able to keep my runner up and going from now until Christmas. I'll rotate out the fruit to keep it from spoiling – my girls love both pomegranates and pears so after every grocery store run, I'll probably add the new fruit I buy to the runner and put current fruit in our fruit bowl for them to eat.

If you have any questions about putting it together that I forgot to include, let me know! It would help if you all are enjoying the holiday season!