Stephen Scoble, Food & Wine's creative director, and stylist Alison Attenborough set the cheap-and-chic table for Serrano's dinner. Their tips:

1 Check out chains like Ikea and Target. Because the cash investment is low, you can experiment with square plates and other new shapes.The wine and water glasses shown here cost $2 and 90 cents each from Ikea; the square salad and dinner plates, also from Ikea, are $4 and $5; the wooden serving bowls and chargers are $3 and $6 from Target.

2 Make your own table linens from inexpensive bolts of brightly colored fabric. Instead of hemming, save time and add texture by pulling threads out along the edges to make a neat little fringe. The napkins on our table were created from a bolt of raw silk that cost $20 per yard.

3 Invent your own candleholders. Fill inexpensive highball glasses with delicate arrangements of fruit, such as kumquats, crab apples and small plums, then add water and top with a floating candle. The highball glasses shown here are $4 each from Target; the candles, 15 cents.

4 Use plants for a centerpiece instead of cut flowers.Try potted herbs, a container of green grass or the narcissus bulbs shown here (from your garden or $3 for five). Or plunder your yard for flowers and fruit (such as rose hips, used here, and crab apples) to place across plates.

5 Try cardboard or textured-paper place mats. They cost next to nothing and can make a dramatic, colorful backdrop for white plates.

--Lily Barberio