November has us thinking about the ambience of dining in near-darkness; the experience of sitting down to nothing but candles, cosiness and comfort food to take the edge off a cold evening. Which is why we’re embracing a hygge tablescape this month. Gone is harsh overhead or spot lighting, traded in for a hodge-podge of your favourite candles and some easy jazz. If you are going to flick on a side lamp, make sure it’s got a low-wattage bulb. 

Textiles are layered on the table – from tablecloths, to some evergreen foliage from the garden. Invest in a bunch of dried eucalyptus, it’ll last you the guts of the winter and smell even more amazing with time.

Double down on comfort food: a classic, indulgent chicken in Gruyère recipe or a fragrant and warming mid-week rice dish spring to mind here. Served, of course, with a melt-in-your-mouth apple crumble for dessert. Overall, prioritise comfort over showiness and make things as tactile as possible. (Should we make table blankets a thing, indoors, too?)

Also – you’ll be glad to know – candlelight hides a multitude of sins, including red wine stains. 

We’ve rounded up six of our favourite hygge-inspired tablescapes – none too fancy, just super-cosy – so that you can make a meal of it this week. 

Main image: Swedish magazine director Katarina Matsson’s atmospheric dining area (Instagram @ettrumtill). 

Print director of Swedish Elle Decoration Katarina Matsson knows a thing or two about a hygge tablescape. Not least how candlelight can accentuate a dramatic gallery wall.

Food influencer Kirthanaa Naidu fashions her own tablecloths and napkins from deadstock material. We love how the deep blue shade, chosen here, contrasts perfectly with the neutral wall colour.

Cosy doesn’t have to mean cluttered. Err on the side of simplicity with patterns in a neutral colour palette or – even better – a classic white tablecloth executed in linen for that hint of something rustic. Choose one focal point for the table – a giant vase or a bowl of seasonal fruit – to spotlight, and let that be that.

Nothing says festive evenings like classic checks and tartans. We love how the use of green and red looks mega-contemporary in this scene by Signature Editions.

An unlikely colour choice – in this case, shades of cream and yellow – can look winter-friendly when mixed with seasonal fruit like squash or kumquats.

It’s technically not a tablescape, but we can’t think of a better couch-side accoutrement than this candlelit cheeseboard. It’s the drama of the marble, the wooden board and the high candles that do it for us. Cosy socks, mandatory.