A Toile Tale: June 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Three Red, White and Blue Tables

We have a wonderful couple coming over for the Fourth, and I want to change up my go to Red/White/Blue table for the patriotic holidays. I took several things down to the lower terrace today to fiddle around. I only set two place settings today, just so I wouldn't have so much to carry in and out.

I kept the red and white checked tablecloth in all three versions.

And these carnations and daisies in this salt glaze pitcher.

First, I did this.

This was all red and white, except for the flag plate.

This Nicole Miller red and white plate is rather contemporary looking, and I used it with this red handled flatware.

I added this salad, or dessert plate that I've had a long time. I had a little accident the last time I used them, so I'm down to five now.

Red Glassware, some new and some vintage.

White serving accessories.

White linen napkin with a napkin ring made from a satin ribbon and Martha Stewart grosgrain embellishment.

Then, I changed it up a bit.

I left the red pieces behind and added blue and white. Can you ever go wrong with blue and white?

This is not Royal Copanhagen! It's pottery with a very similar pattern.

I used a white Portuguese charger under it to give it some relief from the checks.

I changed out the red handled flatware to this blue, gathered the napkin differently, and used a white wicker napkin ring with a couple of tiny flags on picks.

I like the mixture of glassware here.

Blue willow mixes with almost anything.

I've got some beautiful serving pieces that would work.

Next, I mixed the reds and the blues for one more version.

Here, I used a natural wicker napkin ring and I tied the ribbon one on top of it.

A blue glass and a red one.

I haven't decided.

If only we could have an evening as beautiful as this one!

This table is a little farther to carry our food than the other two outdoor tables, but it's such a serene space.

Those terrace gardens are not filling in as quickly as I had hoped, but I guess they look ok.

What's your favorite version?

On the small side table down there, I like to use this metal sand bucket for ice. Here it is with the red cut glass stems.

Here it is with the blue stems.

I might just decide to go with my favorite red/white/blue table. It seems so much more festive to me.

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

No Minimalist Here

Centerpiece Wednesday

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Table It

Home Sweet Home

Sheltered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

www.nancherrow.com

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Friday, June 26, 2015

Hydrangeas Just Make Me Happy!

Mother Nature decided that my hydrangeas would not be providing very many blooms this year, but fortunately, they are easy to find in grocery stores and farmer's markets. There's nothing like cutting your own, but with a little planning, I'll still be having hydrangeas.

This table celebrates the hydrangea and is full of color.

These plates are made by Nature's Home, and the pattern is called Hailey Sky.

The glassware is an large, old blue stem for water and an inexpensive swirled glass for wine.

I sort of promised myself that I would not buy another straw placemat, since I have so many, but this color was so perfect for this plate, right? The flatware is very old and I've no idea where it came from.

These little Emile Henry pots make fun salt and pepper servers.

This French urn was an easy decision to hold the flowers. The French blue color is lovely, isn't it?

I would have loved darker blue hydrangeas, but these are the darkest that Trader Joe had today. I added lime green hosta leaves to pull out the green in the plates.

Then, for a little extra comfort for lingering conversations, I brought out some French grain sack pillows.

Can you tell that this table sits in the round part of the deck? It is off of the living room and overlooks the lake. It's our favorite place to dine outdoors.

See where the round part meets the straight railings?

We sometimes put extra tables out here if we have more than a dozen people dining outside.

Pretty as they are, I just know that those hydrangeas will be put on the railing during dinner so we can see each other. I'm never insulted by rearranging the centerpiece because, after all, we're there to enjoy each other, not the flowers. Well.....mostly!!!

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

No Minimalist Here

Centerpiece Wednesday

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Table It

Home Sweet Home

Sheltered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

www.nancherrow.com

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A Salute to Mr. Pressed Pants

It would have been a shame for my husband, Mr. Pressed Pants, to spend Father's Day alone, so I moved heaven and earth to return to Atlanta by Sunday. I've been away for soooooo long, getting my mother into the perfect (I hope!) assisted living facility, selling her house, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture. So, between church and golf on Sunday, I served a lovely lunch on our lower terrace. I pulled things together Saturday, very late, and did a quick set-up after church.

I've done fishing tables for Father's Day for the last couple of years. You can see them here and here. So, this year, I went with a nautical theme and he seemed to appreciate it. Here's a simple rattan charger from World Market, with a blue and white stripped dinner plate from Portugal. I love the depth of the cobalt blue in this plate. I got it at Homegoods, and the small plate was from The Christmas Store.

Nothing elaborate here, but fun and colorful.

Napkins are from Homegoods, used over a white caterer's cloth. I must admit that my homemade rope napkin ring is a little lame. I was sure I had white rope to make this knot, but all I could find is this sort of yellowed twine. Oh well, I only had a nano-second to plan! Then I used this very old red handled flatware.

The salt and pepper are in these tiny Emile Henry pots I found at Williams-Sonoma years ago.

Both of these glassware styles have been around so long that I have no idea where they came from.

These rope handled coffee mugs worked well for this table, too. We did take a minute for coffee and Mr. PP's favorite dessert, cherry cheesecake.

The star of the table is this wooden sailboat from Homegoods. I had planned to fill it with white hydrangeas, but unless they had them for sale at an I-75 rest stop, it wasn't going to happen....and it didn't!

I also wanted to bring navy throw pillows out to add some color and some comfort to the chairs, but that didn't happen either. You'll have to imagine them, ok?

I DID, however, have the perfect bottle of wine. It was a recommendation from Whole Foods. It's a white wine from Portugal and it was crisp and yummy. That's the extent of my wine description for today.

And had a pretty label!

After golf and a gin and tonic at the club, we came home and admired the lake from here and finished the bottle of wine.

I took a picture of this while I was shooting the table, but when we actually came back for drinks, I pulled out these.........

clipper etched glasses. No worries that they weren't really wine glasses. We're flexible that way!

Here's the view of the lower terrace from the pool level.

The flower beds are beginning to fill in. I'm not going to have many hydrangeas this year. We had a late frost and I wasn't home to cover them. Boy, that's a disappointment!