Meet Dana McClure, Chris Lanier, and their son, Parker. Former Brooklynites ?she’s an artist/textile designer, he’s a chef/food stylist?three years ago they decided to head for the hills to combine talents and set up their own upstate New York creative center. At Ravenwood, their newly remodeled 1850s barn, the couple stage Hudson Valley harvest meals one weekend a month in the fall, spring, and summer and also host a weekend farmstand. The Ravenwood motto: “Where farming, food, and design meet.”
Join us for their advice on how to set a table that’s both simple and sophisticated, rustic and refined.
Photography by Brooke Fitts, courtesy of Ravenwood.
1. Mix don’t match.

Above: Their expandable maple table (made by András Gipp of Hudson Workshop) seats up to 30. Dana and Chris are careful to celebrate their setting without getting hokey: No hay bales in sight. They also added urbane elements to the mix: The surprise brass chandelier hanging from the rafters is one of Lyndsey Adelman’s DIY Pendant Lights (Chris built it using instructions on Adelman’s site). They laid the new pine floor themselves?and, after “an insane amount of research and tests,” bleached it (go to Remodeling 101 to learn how to make Easy Whitewashed Scandi Floors).
2. Intersperse bouquets with single stems.
Arrangements of local flowers by Kelli Galloway of Hops Petunia are in brass pots to add a touch of glamour to the setting. Ga...