Earth-friendly entertaining

Lifestyle guru Susie Coelho believes that in this depressed economy, now is the time to expand rather than contract your lives. Just do it with an eye toward the green of nature rather than of money.

“It’s natural that during these tough times,” Coelho says. “People want to conserve, economize, cut back, cut down and reduce their nut. I am doing the same.

“At the same time however, I encourage people to get more creative and resourceful and expand their lifestyles. It just has to be done in a different fashion.”

Coelho, who hosted “Surprise Gardener” and “Outer Spaces” for HGTV, is also a best-selling author on decorating. She designs a line of indoor and outdoor decor for the Grandin Road catalog.

Here are Coelho’s tips to get the most out of your creative spirit in the coming season.

ECO CHIC PARTY

The hot trend this holiday is to mix organic elements that can be found in nature into traditional holiday decor. Whether you are setting the table for a sit-down dinner or creating a beautiful buffet table or just styling your entry or living room, take a nature walk to collect branches, pine cones and leaves and then mix them in with other natural textures such as burlap, twine and natural linen.

Bring in the chic by mixing in your elegant pieces such as crystal, china and silver.

FABRICS

Feel free to mix fabrics. “I will often use a painter’s cloth from the home improvement store (one that doesn’t have paint on it, of course) as my base and then layer textures on top of it. The reason for this is so that I can drape it to the floor. There are not too many, if any, tablecloths that are floor length so you have to sew your own or use a painter’s cloth.”

Add burlap on top to set the tone for the organic textures and then top that off with a runner in linen, either in a color or a bright white.

NATURAL PLACE CARDS

Use pine cones as is or spray them with a bit of gold or silver paint to add that elegant metallic look. Use beautiful paper and write the name in a metallic color. You can use magnolia leaves as place cards by writing the name on them using a metallic gold or silver leaf pen. A magnolia leaf looks beautiful placed on top of a napkin and wrapped with a sheer ribbon.

ORGANIC CENTERPIECE

Create a centerpiece using branches, leaves and pods down the center of the table. Cutting small branches of leaves from a tree is good for the tree as it promotes new growth.