A Toile Tale: September 2016

Monday, September 5, 2016

Tropical Salute to the End of Summer

Last weekend, I decided to give summer it's due! I've wanted to do a completely tropical table all season. Then.....drumroll please......I found these bamboo edged dishes on sale and I jumped for joy. There was no delay! I couldn't wait to invite friends and get going.

It was a bit warm, but this HAD to be set up outside.

I found this grass table skirt at Hobby Lobby, and I pinned it on over a simple white caterer's cloth. Without this, it wouldn't feel quite as festive.

What could be more tropical than a pineapple centerpiece? I've seen so many pintrest posts where the pineapple is used as a vase, but to be frank, I like the top of the pineapple as much as the fruity part. AND, you can then use the pineapple afterward.

I usually avoid the cheap grocery store bouquets, because they sort of look like a fruit salad, but in this case, that's exactly the look I was going for. I just used blocks of oasis around the pineapple and placed them on a pink plastic plate.

These tropical leaves are from the floral wholesaler. I used them under each dinner plate and under the centerpiece. By the way, they lasted forever! These orange placemats grounded the plates on the white cloth.

These plates were on sale at the Pottery Barn outlet. I bought 8 dinner plates and 8 salad plates for less than $70!!! That was a sale to get excited about.

And here's why I was so excited!!! This is the dinnerware I have been coveting for a long time. It's Juliska's bamboo pattern and it is fabulous. This dinner plate runs $42 each and each salad plate is $22. Not extremely expensive, but I haven't jumped on them just yet at that price. Now, I'll just be very happy with the Pottery Barn plates. They are melamine, not pottery, but that is actually great for this style.

Of course, my bamboo handled flatware was just the ticket for this table.

To introduce even more color, I used green cotton napkins and a silk hibiscus ring.

I don't remember where I got these, maybe Party City. That green strip is lined with wire, so you can just roll it into a ring. It came in several colors. That T-pin in the background is what I used to pin on the "hula skirt".

These hot pink plastic glasses came from Homegoods, I think.

Didn't it come together fun?

And everyone got a lei to take home. Believe me, I didn't expect anyone to wear one, and it was much too hot, anyhow, but I love to have a simple little gift for our guests. You never know when you might be invited to a Jimmy Buffett concert, right?

Joining:

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Dishing It and Digging It (Sun.)

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Monday Funday

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Make It Pretty Monday

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Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Share It One More Time (Sat.)

designthusiasm.com

Share Your Style (Thurs.)

21 Rosemary Lane

The Creative Exchange (Thurs.)

The Happy Scraps

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Sunset Dinner in the Garden

Last night was one of those evenings when everything was so pleasant that we didn't want it to end. So we sat with our guest at the garden table until dusk fell and the owls were hooting.

I just love these limelight hydrangeas that we have in the garden, so I decided to let them be the star of the table.

With the addition of a small fern frond, the plate got a little extra personality.

Don't you love these plates?

Since everything was sort of soft hued and natural, I chose this light colored wooden handled flatware, and a medium green charger.

The two green stems are different enough to be interesting.

All of this sat on this tablecloth that I layered over a plain white round caterer's cloth. It features ferns with white flowers, so I thought it was a good choice for this combination.

An off-centered vase of limelight hydrangeas also held some ferns, and I added some asparagus fronds for softness.

And this little bird also held a flower.

Look who came to visit as I was photographing!

We burned through these little votive candles in no time and then grabbed additional candles from the potting shed.

It was a good thing I added these pillows. It made these chairs much more comfortable as we drifted into late evening.

Here's the view from the garden down the driveway.

I think this is the last season for this cute little zinc table. It isn't holding up too well.

You can see the bush the hydrangeas came from here. It's getting huge.

This has not been the best summer for our garden. We had irrigation problems and we continue to have deer that love to dine within the fence, even though we have SIX ACRES of woods for them to eat in. Go figure! I sincerely have a love/hate relationship with them.