Father's Day and Fish Plates

I'm reposting the table I set last year for Father's Day.  We're eating out at Mr. Pressed Pant's favorite restaurant tonight, so there's no table to photograph.  My love and respect for this man will never change!

There are not enough words to tell you what a great father my husband is.  We have raised two beautiful daughters and they would be the first to tell you how great a dad he is.  I wish they could have been here today, but it was just the two of us for a lovely dinner at home.  

I set the table on the lower terrace since it was such a beautiful night.  We have had two bad storms this week, so things are a bit messy outside, but it still felt nice.

For a masculine look, I chose our Portmerion fish plates.  It is the "Complete Angeler" pattern.  Our dinner was grilled sea bass, so this was sort of ironic.  These usually hang on the French plate rack in our bar room. 

There are six different fish designs on these dinner plates and different ones on each salad plate.  I used them with wicker chargers on a dark brown tablecloth.

Aren't they pretty?

I love the ferns painted on the edges.

The bright apple green linen napkin shows up nicely on the brown cloth.  I tucked a bobber into the wicker napkin ring just for whimsy. 

These apple green wine glasses are some of my favorites.  The water glasses are Bobby Flay's from Kohl's.

In place of a bread and butter plate, I used a wooden bowl for the rolls.

Faux bois salt and pepper shakers.

Since there were ferns on the dishes, I used them in the flower arrangement.  These are just two sleeves of spider mums from the grocery store and the rest of the material came from the yard.

You can't see it very well on the table, but I used this beautiful antique wooden bowl as a container....with a plastic liner, of course.

Here it is peeking out a bit.

This is the only serving piece I bought to go with this pattern.  It's a small covered casserole.  Aren't the colors great?

One woven coaster was used for the wine, and one for the water bottle.  Here's to you Mr. Pressed Pants.  I salute the father that you are and the way you love all of your girls!

See this and lots of other tablescapes on Susan's Tablescape Thursday blogparty at:

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Lunch in the Woods

I am posting this previous post with Happy To Design's Sunday Favorites party.  It's an invitation to post one of your favorite previous posts.  It's fun for me to revisit this one.  Not only was it one of my favorite tablescapes, but it is a fond memory of a wonderful day spent with a rather new friend.  A year later, I can't imagine not having this woman in my life. 

Enjoy this re-run!!!!

This beautiful weather was crying for lunch outside, so I made a quick phone call to invite a friend and set up the table in the woods. Lunch was mostly grocery store pick-up, but the table was so much fun for both of us.  She never expected to find out that we were eating in the sun-dappled woods. 

I started with a simple card table and covered it with a curtain panel from Pier One.  I just loved the colors in it and how it made fall tones seem just a little more vibrant.  Then I used our Portmerion "Birds of Britain" dinnerware.

This guy was the centerpiece.  He is usually up in our tv room on the mantle, but I think he enjoyed the fresh air today! 

These few flowers at the base were just stuck into a little bit of oasis.  I was able to find them all in our cutting garden or back yard. 

What do you think drew me to these dishes? The acorns, of course! They're great, classic dishes, but the borders made them must-have.  I used my oldie but goodie Target brown salad plates in between the dessert and dinner plates.

Here's the dessert plate with the Nightingale on it.

And here's the Harlequin Duck dinner plate.

I never heard of this bird, but the colors are great.

Pier One had a stack of four of these wooden bowls in a darling net bag.  I think I'll use them often for nuts and such.  I used them here in place of a bread plate.

I didn't want to use any fine crystal out there, so I grabbed these sturdy Imperial glass stems.  I've had them forever.

This flatware has a good look, but is not very high quality.  Good enough for an outdoor meal, though!  I can't remember where I got it.  It sure works well with the red in this "tablecloth".

I took two of our breakfast room Windsor backed chairs outside and put gold cushions from Pier One on them for comfort.

Here you can see that I just tucked the napkin from Crate and Barrel under the dinner plate.  It was a good space saver on this little table.  I have to admit that by now I was working pretty fast to photograph this before the sunlight shifted.

I thought about using a carpet under the table, but I decided that I already had the most beautiful carpet on the ground already!

I used a nearby stump as a side table for a faux bois tray with the cream and sugar and s/p.  It makes me sad (and poor) to have to take trees down, so it is nice to find a use for the remains.

Here's the close-up view.

So.....what's your feeling about taxidermy on the luncheon table?  It doesn't bother me, but I know some might feel differently.