A Toile Tale: Michael Aram

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Coral and Grey Luncheon

It seems that our "spring clean-up" stretched from March all the way to June this year, so our most of our entertaining had been postponed. But today, we welcomed some friends for lunch on the deck. The chores around the house are not finished, but we are closing in on the end of the list. This coral and grey combination seemed like a fresh, interesting choice for the afternoon table.

Check out the newly painted deck railing and freshly stained decking!

This fun, graphic cotton tablecloth is a new purchase from Boxwoods in Atlanta. I really was there to buy a gift, I promise! But since when have I EVER left there empty-handed? I actually did leave empty-handed, walked to my car and directly came back for it!

Last night, I took these roses for the centerpiece at a table at an outdoor concert. For that, they were packed into a white cache-pot with the stems cut short. Aren't they great?

This morning, I put them into these old French seed pots, since they were already cut short. They are more vibrant than the tablecloth, but I do like the blend.

This resin urn served as the centerpiece. It was a gift from a lovely houseguest, and I just love it. It came from a showroom called Antiques as Art, at the Atlanta gift mart at Americasmart.

It totally looks like carved granite. This detail is amazing.

Since we were outdoors, and the meal was very simple, I used this smoke-colored plastic twig flatware. Trust me.....it is a big step-up from the generic plastic utensils.

I love the way it picked up the color of the tablecloth. I used these faux-zinc chargers that I posted about here with our everyday white dinner plates.

Here's the box from the flatware. It is made by Michael Aram, who usually designs very sophisticated silver, gold, and pewter accessories. This is from Boxwoods, as well.

The cream linen napkin is held by a chicken wire napkin ring, which I chose mainly for the color.

The glassware is sleek, but interesting. The stem is from Tiffany's and the grey and white marbled goblet is from Boxwoods. I bought four of them, but I'm headed back to see if they have more. I just love them. I don't know who makes them, there is just a "B" on the bottom and "made in Indonesia". Believe it our not, I didn't plan on these working with this tablecloth, even though I bought them only a few days apart. When I was finally unloading my car, I had the bright idea to look at them together. Perfect!

These individual salt and pepper shakers seemed to suit the table in color and size. I've had them forever.

I used these orange salad plates for dessert. When I bought them for a wedding shower, I never guessed how often I would use them.

There was not a lot of room, but I plated in the kitchen.

It was so good to welcome friends to our home. They loved the table.

It was a lovely day and pretty warm, but not too, too hot yet.

And we appreciated taking the time out to enjoy this view and tell tales.

Joining:

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at Celebrate and Decorate

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21 Rosemary Lane

The Creative Exchange (Thurs.)

The Happy Scraps

Saturday, January 23, 2016

White, Birch, and Antlers

Sometimes, a table just comes from nowhere. Many times, I sort of "percolate" a design and think and gather and play with options. Today, this started with a quick errand that inspired me to set this table.

Sort of woodland, sort of winter, and sort of serene.

These latex birch placemats were left over at Pier One from their holiday line. I never saw them at Christmas time, but spied them in the clearance area last week. I mean clearance! They were originally $5.95 but were 90% off. Yep! Fifty-nine cents. I sure wish they had more than four.

With the wood grain of the placemats, I decided to add wood grain plates. These came from Boxwoods in Atlanta, my favorite table-top store. (Maybe my favorite all-around store.)

I thought I'd pick up the grey in the placemats with these ikat napkins from Pottery Barn. I never saw them in the regular store, but found them at the outlet. I used them to separate the dinner plate from the salad plate.

Then, for some more grey, I chose this twig flatware that Michael Aram designs for MadHouse. Beautiful!

I tried several different combinations of stemware, but settled on my trusty Waterford. I like rustic/elegant, high/low combinations.

Whole Foods was on my errand list anyway, and their flowers are often so interesting. This week was a bonanza of glorious spring blooms. I don't even remember putting these in my cart, I was so fast. I had this white washed birch vase that seemed perfect, so into it they went. I'm not too good arranging flowers without oasis to stick them into, but these soft stems do not want to be jammed into oasis, so this arrangement is sort of sketchy! I did add some river birch twigs from the yard to give it a little more interest.

Just look at these feather edged Dutch tulips!

And I truly wish you could smell these fabulous hyacinths. Heavenly!

Without a runner, this arrangement seemed sort of lonely and puny, so I grabbed these silvered antlers from the living room to extend the interest.

They helped, didn't they?

Then I remembered these silver antler candleholders that I've never even used yet.

They are a little small for these white faux bois candles, but even if the proportions are a bit off, I think they worked just fine.

A Waterford crystal wine coaster seemed to be the best choice, since I have the Waterford stems on the table already.

Because it's so cold out, I knew we'd be drinking coffee after dinner, so I sat the cream pitcher, sugar bowl, and a small custard dish with sweetener onto a fluted tin plate. Grey and white again, get it?

I can't wait to sit at this table, smelling these spring blooms, while we await the "snow event" here in Georgia. We've been hearing about snow for days. It's ok. We'll light the fire and cozy up reading tonight. I need to finish my book for book club by Tuesday!!!