Sometimes Espinda is inspired by a specific table, whether it's glass and metal, carved wood in an Asian motif or traditional Americana. Often she falls in love with a set of china or stemware she finds in the store's stock and takes her cues from it.

She creates intriguing displays by mixing and matching the unexpected — a signature technique. Sure, she has access to elegant china, silver and linens, but she juxtaposes them with imaginative, and sometimes even quirky, items from grocery stores and Chinatown stalls.

The visual merchandising team welcomes those who come to "borrow" ideas, so in that spirit, we're offering up some suggestions for your home, with practical, easy to interpret ideas for your holiday tables inspired by the tables at C. S. Wo and other creative sources.

Island style

Nearly everyone has access to monstera or ti leaves in a friend's or auntie's yard. These can make beautiful place mats or bases for centerpieces. Add some shiny red apples and cranberries and you have a simple, inexpensive centerpiece in Christmasy red and green.

Espinda often uses stemware, including martini glasses, champagne flutes and highball glasses, as vases. On her Island-style table, she placed tiny lady apples and cranberries in a martini glass. She sliced one apple and used it as a place-card holder. Nearly any small, firm fruit can serve as an original, and inexpensive, place-card holder.

Save the cost of napkin rings by tying raffia, a shredded piece of ti leaf or ribbon around the napkin, allowing it to drift off the edge of the table. Espinda layered three different organza ribbons to create a luminous effect.

Ocean inspiration

Espinda loved Versace's "Arabesque Blue" china and based her ocean-inspired table on its blues and whites. Who says holiday tables have to be red and green?

She scattered seashells on a palm leaf "table runner." Make sure you choose leaves that can be flattened or that can have the stem removed so you can press them flat.

For another take on the place-card holder, Espinda used a large nautilus shell perched in a martini glass with a place card peeking out of the shell.

The back of each chair is draped with a lei, and a little guest gift is wrapped in a lauhala box tied with raffia and a shell ornament.

Asian flair

For a table inspired by the gold and burgundy china pattern "Ginkgo" by Philippe Deshoulieres, Espinda placed ginkgo seeds she found in Chinatown inside glass cylinders. She tied little pieces of bamboo into flat horizontal "scaffolding" and placed a single Chinese chrysanthemum on top of each bamboo so that its stem could dangle into the water below. Chopsticks would also make ideal "scaffolding." Cut flowers can become prohibitively expensive when buying dozens of them. This centerpiece requires only five flowers — one in each cylinder.

Elegant Asian-looking napkin "rings" were made by tying copper wire around a gold leaf from a hobby store and letting a piece of gold organza ribbon drape from it.

Walnuts and wood roses sprayed gold would also be beautiful mixed with seeds and flowers.

Miniature parasol swizzle sticks can be charming accessories, either stuck into a piece of fruit or poking out of a mini-vase. Espinda used exquisite brocade parasols sold at Neiman Marcus, but you could also buy the paper variety, found at Asian specialty stores.

Contemplative, contemporary

Another judicious use of flowers was evident on a table featuring Haviland china's "Serengeti" pattern. "I loved the white of it and immediately thought of white roses and ice and snow," Espinda said. She placed a single white rose in a small square votive candle holder and lined up a dozen of them in two rows down the center of the table. In the center she layered vases — a square within a square within a square — with rose petals between each layer. (Note: The white roses may last until New Year's if you cut the stems on an angle while they are submersed in water and add flower food — florists sell it — to the water right away.)

White capiz shell place mats finished off this winter wonderland table. Tutu's white lace tablecloth, or even white paper, would be beautiful with this theme, as would simple white linen napkins.

On another contemporary table, Espinda created a centerpiece with an oasis wreath into which she stuck sprays of white dendrobium orchids. In the middle was a flat, round glass bowl with white candles floating in it. (Oasis is the green stuff you can buy at the florists' or Flora-Dec that you can dampen and into which you can stick flowers, leaves, twigs — anything with a point. It comes in many shapes, including blocks and circles.)

Another original idea: A white bowl at each place was filled with grains of white rice (uncooked, of course) and topped with a bundle of rice noodles.

Autumn splendor

The combination of Royal Crown Derby's "Old Aves" china, resplendent with autumnal colors, and a traditional American table inspired Espinda to create a cornucopia of colors, shapes and textures.

With a trip to the grocery store you can score most of the stuff needed for a themed table like this, which can take you from October through December.

Grape vine wreaths, available at hobby or home and garden stores, make ideal plate chargers. Pomegranates, persimmons, pears, dark purple grapes and gourds can be piled up or spread out along the center of the table. Espinda used layers of round bowls with cranberries in between for this table.

To give each chair a festive air, a simple sash is all you need. For the autumnal table, a wide organza wired ribbon was tied at the chair back and a sprig of greens, a single chrysanthemum and a cinnamon stick added. These can also become gifts for the guests to take with them. They might even be worn as a lei.

A hula skirt can also make a fun tie-back: A grass skirt for an old-fashioned theme; a cellophane skirt for kitsch.

For keiki

For a cute keiki table, candy canes can be hooked over a cylindrical vase or tied to a napkin for a burst of color. Espinda used her vase-layering idea, adding a bunch of pink roses in the center.

At each place a little stuffed dog sat on a chair and poked his nose over the table edge.

An idea borrowed from a previous Espinda table: Over a plain white tablecloth, place strips of multicolored ribbons either loosely woven together or laid out like the spokes of a wheel. For Christmas, you could use red and green; for Valentine's Day, red and white; for a child's birthday, either pastels or the child's favorite colors.

On the whimsical "Fashion Table" created by Doug Jago, head of the visual merchandising department at Neiman Marcus, open fashion-related books were placed side by side across the entire table to create a three-dimensional "table cloth." Fashion magazines, or pages taken from them, might be less scary as an alternative — especially if soup is being served.

This would also be delightful done with children's books on a keiki table. For the keiki, however, you might want to use comic books or cover the books with a clear drop cloth!

The bottom line is you don't have to break into your gift budget to create a fabulous holiday table. Go to the grocery store, hobby shop or Chinatown with your eyes — and mind — wide open.