A Toile Tale: October 2015

Saturday, October 10, 2015

"Borrowed" Fall Flowers

I was flattered to be asked to do the flowers for the serving table at a beautiful event at our church. We call this autumn United Methodist Women's event "Soup and Sisterhood". Pretty self-explanatory. A group of women gather for a dinner of a variety of soups and celebrate our friendship. As I was putting these flowers together in the house, I could NOT stop myself from thinking about how perfectly the colors went with a tablecloth I got at Homegoods last year.

Check out these incredible roses. They were open perfectly to arrange. Sometimes that doesn't exactly happen to me. (Just sayin'.) These joined a couple different kinds and colors of mums, snapdragons, and some gerbera daisies.

I HAD to take them outdoors for a quick pretend dinner. Nobody ate here, I just borrowed these flowers, set the table and brought it all back in. Usually, if I post a table, we've actually dined there.

You need to see these floral picks up close. Acorns! Hello! The only direction the committee gave me was that they were using copper in the centerpieces, so I went with this copper and brass pan.

So here's the table.

And here's the placesetting!

I started with this burnt orange colored charger that I bought this fall at Hobby Lobby. They had the best colors this year. The light colored wooden handled flatware showed up better on this table cloth than my dark wooden set.

Then I added these cream plates embossed with acorns and oak leaves. I use these so much in the fall.

A picot-edged gold linen napkins separates the plate and this sweet pumpkin dish. If this were a real dinner party, I would choose from a collection of fall soups to serve in it.

Whenever I have a busy tablecloth, I sometimes tend to use more coasters and chargers to separate the dishes from the pattern. This wooden slice serves as a good coaster here.

Here's the glassware I chose. Can't see them too well?

Better?

This was sitting on my kitchen counter, so I added it at the last minute.

And, of course, these acorn salt and peppers joined the party.

I really wanted to sit down and take a rest, but I didn't.

Even without the chair pads, it was inviting.

I'll do a post soon about those fall decorations you see in the background. And I'll show you how these flowers looked at the church event. It was beautiful.

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style (Wed.)

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop (Mon.)

Inspire Me Tuesday

Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Table It (Sun.)

Rustic and Refined

Home Sweet Home (Fri.)

The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Monday Funday

All Things Heart and Home

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, October 7, 2015

Plaid, Pewter, and Pumpkins

Well, it was time to have the bachelor neighbor over again! I photographed this table set for four, but took a placesetting away before he arrived.

We finally have some terrific fall weather, so I was determined to eat early enough to sit outside and enjoy it.

I started with this subtle Ralph Lauren plaid throw that I used as a tablecloth. It was so soft and lovely, and I'm sure I'll love cuddling up under it this winter.

I used all three colors, the grey, taupe and cream for the setting. I feel like I could have almost photographed it in black and white, or maybe sepia!

The faux slate chargers are some I've blogged about before. I primed some totally average plastic chargers, then spray painted them with chalk paint. Then covered them in chalk and wiped it off. Voila! Looks like slate. The taupe plates are from Z Gallerie, and the cream are from Crate and Barrel.

Aren't they great? They are embossed with acorns and oak leaves. LOVE!!!

Then, just for giggles, since I wasn't using flowers, I added a french seed pot filled with excelsior, and topped with a mini Cinderella pumpkin. Just that one little gesture made it a fall table. Take the pumpkin away, and it could be any time, anywhere.

Here's the bird's eye view.

A simple cream linen napkin was used with a square pewter ring.

And I added individual pewter salt and pepper sets.

The glassware was chunky and simple. We just brought our wine glasses to the table when we sat down.

A great, chippy cement flower urn sat on the table instead of any flowers. I did slide it back a bit when I removed the fourth placesetting, so we could easily see across the table.

Just chicken kabobs, corn pudding and a caprese salad. Oh, and pumpkin pie!

We're grateful for such a funny, crazy neighbor, and for the evening together in this (finally) fabulous weather. I hope that if you were so unfortunate to be hit with the terrible floods from the weekend weather that you are drying out and didn't loose anything precious. I've been praying for you.

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Table It

Rustic and Refined

Home Sweet Home

The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Monday Funday

All Things Heart and Home

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

www.nancherrow.com

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Chinoiserie Between the Raindrops

We've had an entire week of rain, so I was doubtful that we'd be able to have our lunch outside today, but a break in the weather allowed a quick lunch with some old friends. I have been dying to use these Caspari placemats and so, since the day was still grey, I brought out the bright with this table.

I initially wanted to use these with pale colors but here's an example where circumstances changed my mind.

I used the table out by the pool, because it was the closest to the door and the easiest to bring stuff inside if the rain returned. Fortunately, the weather held and we even had a nano-second of sunshine.

These chargers/placemats are a heavy cardboard with a water resistant coating, and they are made by Caspari. I found them at the local Ace Hardware store!!! Can you see that I have used an octagonal clear glass plate so that the placemat shows through? Then I chose bamboo flatware.

These bright green stems picked up the green in the design. Here's where I was going to go with pale turquoise, but thought better of it.

These napkins are from the Palm line of linens and the Chinese knot napkin rings are from Boxwoods. The tablecloth is a simple white caterer's linen.

I stuck these hydrangeas and some begonias into this little metal building. I know it's an English conservatory, not a Chinese pagoda, but I felt it had a similar feeling and it worked pretty well.

How about these salt and pepper foo dogs?????

They gave a wonderful pop of red.

I almost spray painted the metal conservatory red to echo this pagoda, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

These turquoise tumblers were plain, but I added a pagoda. I cut them out of adhesive vellum on my Silhouette Cameo. I can remove the pagodas in a heartbeat, but I could also keep them on, even through the dishwasher. I also used these Caspari paper napkins for drinks. Also from Ace Hardware! You never know where you'll find something that will inspire you.

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Be Inspired (Tues.)