A Grey, Grey Day

It's grey here.  Grey, grey, grey, grey.  In fact, it snowed this morning.  Yes,....SNOW in GEORGIA in MARCH.  This is not right.  But, a very fun couple are coming for a casual dinner tonight, and they will brighten things up a lot.  So I was inspired to set a grey table and keep it simple.

A grey table has been on my mind since I received this beautiful gift in January.  We had a lovely man here as a houseguest during the Atlanta gift show.  In fact he turned out to be the perfect houseguest with impeccable manners and incredible charm.  Thank you, David.  Thank you, thank you.  You're invited back anytime.

Here's a close up of this fabulous urn.  It is a composite material, but looks like grey carved granite.  It is distributed by a wonderful showroom at Americas Mart called Art as Antiques.  You can see their stock line here.  I am so crazy about this.  Can you see the incredible detail?

I knew I would use it with this grey and cream striped linen by Windsor Smith Home.  This is just a remnant from a project I did a while ago.

Here's what I came up with.  It's a very uncomplicated table that perfectly suits the dinner I have planned. 

The whole table.  It didn't bother me that the fabric didn't entirely cover the table.  I just felt it made it look a bit more casual and modern.

The only shot of color are these hot pink roses in old French seed pots.   

They look much better from this angle.

The chargers are some I made last year.  They are just inexpensive gold plastic chargers from Old Time Pottery that I sprayed with a primer, then chalk board paint, then covered with the side of a stick of chalk.  Then you wipe most of the chalk off and it looks like zinc.  I wish I could credit the blog I saw this on, but I have forgotten who it was.  

 

Then I chose this scalloped cream plate from Z Gallerie.

Next, I used a cream, linen faggot edged napkin with this chicken wire napkin ring from Pottery Barn.

These little zinc (well, tin) stands make interesting placecards with chalk names. 

To keep things very simple and clean looking, I chose these Tiffany water goblets and Reidel stemless wine glasses.

I started out with silverplate, but changed to this cream handled flatware that made things more casual.

The water pitcher is from Pottery Barn.

I have these small, square, cream dishes from Sur La Table that I was going to use as individual salt and pepper holders, but I decided that just one for the whole table was a cleaner look.

Rolls are going to go on this sweet little pedestal that I found in Cleveland at The Flower Factory.  Sadly, that has gone out of business.  It was a great source for inexpensive hobby products and giftware.

Ahhh.  Clean and simple and not at all fussy.  Just like our guests tonight.  (Well, I guess they ARE clean, but I wouldn't exactly call them simple!!!!!)

I'm pretty happy with this.  The only thing new is that wonderful gift from David.  Everything else is stuff I already had, but I have never put them together like this.

We'll have our coffee in the living room, so I set this up on a galvanized tray with a pewter cream and sugar set that I've had since we were first married.

We haven't entertained much since Christmas, so I'm thrilled to have this evening to look forward to.  Welcome, friends!!!!

I'm joining:

Tabletop Tuesday

A Stroll Through Life

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Open House Thursday

No Minimalist Here

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps On the Porch

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Cottage

Seasonal Sundays

The Tablescaper

Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen