As the holiday entertaining calendar unfolds and stepped up demands are made on the table, thoughts turn to menus, prep and presentation.

Make styling the seasonal table fun, not stressful, especially with a little tweaking of what has worked in the past. Whether you go all homespun, boho, bold and bright, glittery, or mix it up with an eclectic look that's casually elegant and chic, there's a lot of latitude for table dressing in the context of your own home's decor.

And there are plenty of style choices. Even if you opt for the tried-and-true, traditional table settings that might include heirloom china -- pieces held dear by grandmothers, moms or favorite aunts -- there's always room for a fresh ingredient, just as there is for a new recipe.

Retailers (both brick and mortar and online) have streamlined the shopping process by expanding all categories of entertaining, with thematic options for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas, as well as glamorous offerings that can serve New Year's Day and other more formal events year round. As you navigate, you're likely to see recurring themes. Choosing some key pieces -- salad plates, serving bowls and serveware, place mats, napkin rings -- can add just the spark you need to freshen up the table.

Take cues from popular blogs and from retailer websites, such as Crate and Barrel, which advises creating "a curated, collected look instead of going matchy-matchy." Also, "celebrate contrasts like shiny and matte, metallic with rough hewn." These also are trends in home decor, and they span a wide range of decorating styles.

Table decorations really spring to life with an artful presentation of fruit and produce of the season. Real Simple magazine says that it just takes a trip to the farmer's market or grocery store to create the bountiful look shown in its current issue: red apples, pomegranates, green and red grapes, fancy pumpkins or squash, acorns, purple cauliflower -- "in a loosely undulating line." The beauty of such a riot of colors is its permission to "pair with any mismatched patterned dishes you have on hand for an easygoing vibe."

Celebrate the season. It's always exciting to see what's new in seasonal motifs, just as it is to check out the latest ornaments and lights for the holidays. Some of the obvious symbols of autumn, winter and the holidays -- leaves, pumpkins, turkeys, Pilgrims, Hanukkah menorahs, stars of David, reindeer, trees, angels, nutcrackers and snowflakes -- have become signature looks for some china companies. Each year, new painterly or graphic imagery lends an artisanal element, which always is appealing because of the handcrafted look.

Some images are more like sketches, often whimsical and sometimes childlike. The trend of scripted messages hasn't faded, either, with simple directives. Earthenware appetizer plates decorated with pumpkins, feathers, acorns and leaves from Pier I each display a different message: "Grateful Hearts," "Gather Together," "Count Your Blessings," "Always Be Grateful."

Add a pop of color. It's so easy to layer in your fave hue or those of the season -- autumnal orange, aubergine, gold and berry tones, red and green, or blue and silver, -- especially on neutral tables, which really can add life. Stretching the boundaries of the traditional can be exciting, too (like hot pink and a more citrus-y green, or coral and olive, or different shades of blue, such as teal and turquoise. Colors can explode in a centerpiece of fresh flowers or fruit -- or on a tablecloth, or the napkins (also the perfect spot for layering in patterns). Introduce modern patterns or unexpected colors, as in a beautiful fresh paisley print table runner in apricot and rusty red on a natural linen ground from Pottery Barn that will make the table memorable. Plaids in different scales are again gaining traction, and you'll find them in both red and autumnal blends on linens, serveware and plates, with borders or allover patterns. Consider the colors of the foods you serve and imagine how those hues, along with the tabletop pieces, will be integrated.

Adorn with a touch of beads and bling. Just like baubles you'd wear, beaded accessories are the perfect dress-up touch. They can be subtle -- like "gold dust," a simple thread woven into the fabric of place mats, tablecloths, runners or napkins. Or a little beading on place mats -- borders or allover -- that catches the candlelight. The glow from mercury glass candles, crystal or a mirrored place mat can add a dazzling element. Another idea to consider: strands of LED lights. Tiny bulbs or stars snaking down the center of the table bring their own magic and sparkle.

Turn to a classic: White. A universal favorite for dinnerware and serving pieces, white is pristine and so versatile. Just as in decor, white on white, especially defined by shape and texture, can be very elegant, particularly when teamed with metallic accents. Embossing and scalloped edges add a bit of a flourish, but simple, streamlined round or square shapes have a modern appeal. Many themed salad plates and serveware have a white ground, so they lend themselves well to mixing.

Complement with gold, copper, silver. Weaving metallics into the tabletop lends warmth and shine. It's a natural adjunct to home furnishings trends, where the metals especially stand out as accent pieces. Mottling, relief and hammering lend texture. Flatware, serving dishes, charger plates and candlesticks also are prime candidates. Don't forget glassware. There's a wide range of metallic embellishment, from swirls to polka dots, stripes to geometrics on glass. The lush add-on can be dressed up or down, with formal or casual dinnerware.

Decorate with natural elements. Riffing off the outdoor landscape or some of the imagery on plates, go for real pumpkins, gourds, evergreens, berry branches or well-crafted facsimiles in wood, resin or glass. Wood and wood grains are especially popular elements of home decor, and they're showing up in chunky charger plates (at Ballard Designs, where the mango wood pieces stand 1 3/4 inches tall and have bark edges), and faux bois patterns in fabric.

Make it your own. Create a personal connection -- salt and pepper shakers or a gravy boat that once graced your grandmother's table; pieces handcrafted by your children; a small collection of pottery gathered from travels; personalized place cards; family photos from previous holidays in decorative frames that are part of the centerpiece or on a dining room sideboard.

The inviting table, as well as the aromas of good food, will seduce all family and friends to gather around. And the visual feast will long be remembered.

Sources

-- Ballard Designs, 800-536-7551, www.ballarddesigns.com

-- Crate & Barrel, 800-967-6696, www.crateandbarrel.com

-- Gump's, 800-284-8677, www.gumps.com

-- Horchow, 877-944-9888, www.horchow.com

-- Neiman Marcus, 888-888-4757, www.neimanmarcus.com

-- Pier I Imports, 800-245-4595, www.pier1.com

-- Pottery Barn, 888-779-5176, www.potterybarn.com

-- West Elm, 888-922-4119, www.westelm.com

-- Williams-Sonoma, 877-812-6235, www.williamssonoma.com

-- Wisteria, 800-320-9757, www.wisteria.com

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Napkin rings have come into their own -- jewelry for all sorts of napkins, from humble linen to fancy silks. And like jewelry, they range from earthy to woodsy to gilded to beaded looks. And they're no longer ring-shaped. From feathers to miniature pumpkins, candy canes to chunky stones and crystals, they have become much more dimensional, adding shape and texture as well as sparkle to the table.

(For editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker at chooker@amuniversal.com.)

Just as spring blooms draw out the desire to refresh wardrobes, interiors and gardens, the crispness of fall air and brilliant foliage inspire a sprucing up at home. It's a fabulous time to take stock, indoors and out, with an eye to toward a few strategic seasonal tweaks heading into the holidays.

One way to collect design information is by checking out designer showhouses. These open houses of existing or builder homes, which often benefit charities and may be sponsored by national or city shelter magazines, are an excellent opportunity to see stylish ideas and new materials in the flesh, rather than in print or online. The cool thing about them is that dozens of designers, and even celebrities, are involved -- like Kara Mann, who fashioned a stunning dining room for the Holiday House Hamptons, sponsored by Cottages & Gardens Media Group, this summer. So you'll get a sampling of different flavors, styles and points of view.

While many showhouses take place in the spring, there are a fair number in the fall, as well as special edition house tours such as those focused on cooking or holiday decorating. (Holiday House Soho, for example, which benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, runs from Nov. 17 to Jan. 8 in New York City.)

"Bringing a magazine brand to life has never been more important in today's digital age," says Elizabeth Ralls, editor in chief of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, which sponsored the Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens' grand 20,000-square-foot home in Atlanta this past spring. "It's an authentic extension of our brand -- with trend-worthy cutting-edge content."

Designers like them because "they show off what they can do," says Marsha Raisch, executive editor of Traditional Home magazine, a major showhouse sponsor that features many from all over the country in its magazine.

The standout rooms will spotlight riveting color combinations, dazzling ceilings and floors, outrageous light fixtures and amazing hardware. Unorthodox layouts or furniture pairings are a little bit like set design, with some designers fully intending to shake it up -- because they can.

Some rooms may strike an emotional chord, or even wax nostalgic, though modern is usually well represented. Some ooze elegance or simply scream decadence or Lady Gaga theatrical. Then there are, the take-your-breath-away, drop-dead gorgeous rooms. Others, meanwhile, are masterful in the mixing of materials and elements that just stop you in your tracks, uttering "How clever, why didn't I think of that?" or "I'm not sure I could pull this off ... but wow!"

Literal translations are not necessarily the goal, although some showhouse visitors are so inspired they have been known to recreate an almost line-for-line version in their own homes -- if they can afford it.

Hacking some of the lofty ideas presented in showhouses can be done on a more modest budget. You need to be somewhat of a student of design to shop, but if you know where to go (One Kings Lane? Wayfair? Target?), you might land a reasonable facsimile of that coveted starburst mirror, sheepskin stool or mid-century chest

What ideas can you take home?

Try a feature wall. Victoria Hagan topped a fireplace with a sexy wall in lipstick red lacquer in her Great American Salon at the annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House. For similar impact, you might try a canvas painted red in matte or high gloss, or paint or fresco the wall with a high wax finish for a similar effect. Paloma Contreras chose a beautiful de Gournay hand-painted paper with a taupe ground to set off the iron four-post bed in a room she designed for Traditional Home's Southern Style Now showhouse in New Orleans. Companies like Tempaper (www.tempaper.com) have amazingly sophisticated designs that range from chinoiserie to palm prints. Best of all, it's DIY peel-and-stick.

Get artsy underfoot. The design firm Sawyer/Berson went with a bold, large-scale marble terrazzo floor in its Kips Bay room. Try Flor (www.flor.com) carpet tiles in bold geometrics for a similar effect. They can be arranged as you wish -- and removed easily if you get tired of the look.

Heads up. Suzanne Kasler took the ice blue from her dining room palette for the Southeastern Showhouse & Gardens and painted the ceiling in that shade in a high-gloss finish. Then she used a chunky square molding on the diagonal to frame the chandelier like a piece of jewelry. Try patterned wallpaper or stencils or textures like grass cloth and wovens to lend interest to ceilings.

Play up forgotten spaces. A narrow stairwell wall is prime for glam treatment, like the brass grummet-studded grass cloth paper selected by designer Brian Watford at the Southeastern Showhouse & Gardens.

Re-think. Instead of conventional moldings, Garrow Kedigian re-imagined a lavish French Empire-style salon at Kips Bay by enlisting artist Rajiv Surendra to work some trompe l'oeil magic, using chalk for the treatment on the walls and ceiling.

Mix up those patterns. Parker Kennedy Living is a design team known for eclectic combos of flea market, antique and new -- plus a marvelous mash-up of pattern and color. The group's Southeastern Showhouse bedroom teaming tangy orange and palmy prints is divine -- as is the eclectic pairing of a grass-cloth-covered, nailhead-bordered nightstand topped with a Buddha head lamp.

Target accessories. Especially in neutral, all-white or all-black spaces, color dazzles. A sophisticated bath with black vanity and gold accents is electric with cobalt blue towels hung on a leaning ladder. Ditto for the pop of black-and-white-striped pillows that Barbara Westbrook propped on white-skirted chairs in front of a beautiful, classic white mantel at the Southeastern Showhouse.

Add texture. It's the key to neutral schemes, especially with an organic pairing of tactile fabrics, ceramics and wood, with contrasts like soft-to-the-touch angora and wool with burlap.

When you visit a showhouse, zone in on details you love.

"People who come to showhouses want to see great new ideas," says Marsha Raisch. "Not just something to look at. They may not be able to replicate an entire room, but maybe how (the designer) did the wall treatment. They want to be able to say, 'I can do that.'"

Sources

-- Paloma Contreras, 832-509-3967, www.palomacontreras.com

-- Kay Douglass, 404-995-0802, www.southofmarket.biz

-- Groves & Co., 212-929-5221, www.grovesandco.com

-- Victoria Hagan, 212-888-1178, www.victoriahagan.com

-- BD Jeffries, 800-954-3004, www.bdjeffries.com

-- Suzanne Kasler, 404-355-1035, www.suzannekasler.com

-- Parker Kennedy Living, 770-272-7800, www.park erkennedyliving.com

-- Garrow Kedigian, 212-517-8451, www.garrowkedigian.com

-- Amy Morris, 404-389-0628, www.amymorrisinteriors.com

–– Christopher Nutter Designs, 202-744-1923, www.christophernutter.com

-- Eve Robinson, 212-595-0661, www.everobinson.net

-- Sawyer/Berson, 212-244-3055, www.sawyerberson.com

-- Brian Watford, 404-409-5532, www.brianwatford.com

-- Beth Webb, 404-869-6367, www.bethwebb.com

-- Barbara Westbrook, 404-355-9430, www.westbrookinteriors.com

-- Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, www.atlantahomesmag.com

-- Cottages & Gardens, www.cottages-gardens.com

-- Holiday House Soho, www.holidayhousenyc.com

-- Traditional Home, www.traditionalhome.com

(For editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker at chooker@amuniversal.com.)

They've been around for centuries, but over the course of a couple hundred years, they've been called different things -- petite salon tables, urn stands, telephone stands, cigarette tables and martini tables.

The latter stuck as a popular label in the 1930s, the era when Dashiell Hammett's Nick and Nora were swigging martinis in and Art Deco style especially suited this namesake table. These pieces stuck around in mid-century models, but after came decades of gap years, especially when cocktail tables trended to greater scale.

But in the past few years, there's been more than a blip on the home decor radar. And the popularity of the television series "Mad Men" resurrected talk about a drinking culture lifestyle from the 1960s and 1970s, according to Michelle Lamb, founding director of The Trend Curve, a forecaster for the home furnishings industry.

"Suddenly there were home bars and all these drink tables. If you think about how millennials live—everyone with few exceptions has a home bar. They're doing cocktails, designer drinks. They live in environments that often are quite temporary. These tables are perfect for that. Perfect for entertaining."

The clever mostly tall-and-thin drink tables also are nostalgic to baby boomers and compelling for Generation X, says Lamb.

"Martini tables are the perfect size to rest a drink, book or the remote," says Bob Williams, co-founder and design director of Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams. "They take up a small footprint and add interesting shape, texture, color and style to a room. They even become a focal point, though they might be the smallest piece in the space. Mitchell and I feel every sofa and chair needs a table beside it (or one in between two chairs), and these tiny tables are the perfect solution. You get tremendous bang for your decorating buck as they are so practical, stylish and are usually not the most expensive piece, so using them is an opportunity to show off your style sense without taking big risks."

Last fall, San Francisco designer Jay Jeffers included five martini tables in a collection he designed for the Dallas-based lighting and furniture manufacturer Arteriors. The group includes entertaining accoutrements such as trays, bowls and ice buckets in his "collected cool" style. In the spring, New York architect/designer Barry Goralnick introduced 15 16- to 18-inch martini tables in a line for Vanguard, part of his take on "Blended Modern." What's noteworthy is that they're not just variations of wood or metal finishes. They are well thought out, with specific design references, definitely shaken and stirred up.

"Each has its own story," says Goralnick. "There are different looks -- something for everybody. They become kind of jewelry. A piece that makes a room look finished attracts the eye, with a little sex appeal. It makes a room feel good about itself. And as we joke, they're small enough you can throw one into your SUV or an Uber."

They range from really tiny, 8-inch-square or round surfaces to about 18 inches, sometimes larger if the base is slim. Many have pedestals or tripod bases (with up to eight legs, straight or splayed), or even open caged looks. They're priced from under $60 to $3,000. Retailers range from Target to RH and high-end designers, where you may find solid bronze models as pricey as $8,000.

At the high end, there are upscale figured woods like macassar ebony, gilt or silver leaf finishes, brass, stainless steel, glass or acrylic materials. There even are rustic models, like the live edge acacia wood slab tabletop over tripod that looks like branches and actually is crafted from brass from Hooker Furniture. One classical shape from Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams in acrylic with a glass tops is dressed up with stylish bands of gold. One of Kelly Wearstler's designs features figured marble with its black-and-white pattern a part of the design. Jay Jeffers pays homage to color blocking and Mondrian with his slim black-and-white table. There are Eastern inspirations and industrial styles as well as edgy motifs. One table from the (East) Indian company Geometria has a black skull inlaid with bone and wood veneer on tapered legs striped in turned wood and brass.

Some new wrinkles: tiers and removable trays. Chicago designer Julia Buckingham even designed an acrylic trinket table for Global Views, available in pale purple, blue and clear, with a jewelry-like box in a chain link frame that extends to its legs. It's 11 1/4 by 15 3/4 inches and stands 22 3/4 inches.

Williams recommends contrasting materials, textures and colors. "If you have wood case goods in a room, use a martini table in a shiny metal. If you have a lot of metal, choose one in wood or acrylic. You can even change out with your mood or with the seasons," says Williams.

As small as they may be, so many of these martini tables have supersized personalities, and it's pretty easy to find one to suit your style.

"We're always coming out with new pull-up tables each season," says Williams. "The scale is perfect -- whether your room is small or large. There's always a space and a need."

"In the last year," says Kim Shaver, a spokeswoman for Hooker Furniture, "martini tables have been in all of our major collections. They're as essential as an end or coffee table."

Goralnick says that these accent pieces are called spot tables in the industry -- "because they hit the spot."

Spot on.

(For editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker at chooker@amuniversal.com.)