Follow Nate Berkus' Advice For A Budget-Friendly Beautiful Centerpiece You Won't Get Tired Of

Nate Berkus, the affable designer and TV personality, has built a career around the idea a home should feel personal and deeply connected to the people who live there. And Berkus offers a fun and affordable way to bring his creative inspiration into your private spaces, specifically your dining table. 

In an Instagram posted episode of Elle Decor House Party, Berkus shared a simple way to create a personalized dinner table centerpiece without spending a dime. It involves using items from around your home, ones that mean something to you for one reason or another, whether they're nostalgic or considerably significant. In the episode, Berkus described making a dinner centerpiece the way he does in his own home, "I think my favorite centerpiece is a little bit weird, but I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. I'll go through the bookshelves and tabletops and stuff like that in our home before we entertain, and I'll just have a bunch of different objects and things like that on the table, mixed with greenery and fresh flowers, and of course candles lit." 

There's no hidden artistry involved, and no stress to cultivate a theme or style — you're just reaching for what speaks to you at that moment, placing the items in pleasing compilations on your table, surrounding them with candles and fresh greenery from your garden, and letting those tangible tidbits tell little stories of your life.

The key to gleaning everyday inspiration from Nate Berkus' techniques is recognizing that he's all about an accessible approach to interiors. With that in mind, it becomes easy to work within your own budget to create any number of affordable dining-table centerpieces — even if your budget is dollar-store level. Consider creating sophisticated centerpieces with three cheap Dollar Tree finds – you'll find suggestions for a specific three-item display, plus other random items to spark your own ideas. It's as simple as taking ordinary super-affordable items and repurposing them for transformative dining spaces. 

Mother Nature's bounty can also serve as fresh, earthy, and aromatic components of colorful centerpieces. You've likely seen gourd-centric table decor in autumn months, but other fruits and vegetables can perk up your table throughout the year. In this guide for turning a batch of lemons into an elegant dining-table centerpiece, you'll learn how this humble-yet-spunky citrus darling brings a riot of color and vitality using a dozen lemons, some bamboo skewers, a decorative vase, and some scavenged, handpicked foliage. Try the same concept with other bright-hued fruits, such as limes, oranges, apples, kumquats, or grapefruits. For a bit of whimsy, nestle two or three clumps of Buddha's Hand citron fruits into beds of greens and place in a center line across your tabletop. A big plus is that you'll be freely zesting your meals with the Buddha's "fingers" for many days to come.