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"Stylist Annette Joseph is responsible for many of the perfectly-set tables you&amp;#039;ve seen in magazines and catalogs over the last 20 years. And in her new book, Picture Perfect Parties, she shares many of her tricks of the trade with readers looking to make their own tables (and parties) as lovely as the ones they admire in print. She spoke with ELLEDECOR.com about some of her favorite ways to bring a Thanksgiving table to life: -A tablecloth is the foundation for a beautiful table setting, so having a good arsenal is important. New ones, vintage ones, ones that have been passed down, they all immediately elevate a meal. Even if it&amp;#039;s just the family sitting down to dinner, it&amp;#039;s nice to make things special. -As food stylist, I&amp;#039;m drawn to white dishes because any food looks really great on them. Plus, when you use all-white pieces, it&amp;#039;s fine to mix and match\u2014which is especially useful at Thanksgiving when you have a lot of people at the table and may not have enough matching dishes!  -Bright cloth napkins are the perfect way to introduce color to the table. For November, try a pop of orange, and use a contrasting color for the napkin ring. I like using an electric blue ribbon as a nod to Hanukkah, which is on the same day as Thanksgiving this year!  -At this time of year there are so many beautiful fruits and vegetables out there\u2014I love to fill a rustic pot with some gourds and squash in the bottom, then beautiful fruit brimming to the top. It&amp;#039;s a modified cornucopia, with a still life quality that&amp;#039;s so beautiful. And I&amp;#039;m all about recycling, so if I use any kind of fruit in a table setting, it gets eaten right off the table or put into a pie or salad later that week. -Don&amp;#039;t be afraid to go dark with Thanksgiving decorations. Your guests will be wowed by the drama when they walk in. It&amp;#039;s very hip and very conducive to autumn. -I&amp;#039;m very big on giving people things when they leave. It prolongs the memory of the dinner party. Guests love my twist on leftovers, and it&amp;#039;s so easy to do as you&amp;#039;re cleaning up. After dinner, I load disposable containers with individual foods and then stack them by the door with burlap or linen bags. As people leave they take a bag and fill it with whichever leftovers they prefer.   Photography by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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