A Toile Tale: bamboo

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?

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Asian Aubergine

Ooooommmmmm.

I've been sitting on this beautiful piece of fabric for a couple of weeks. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it, but I thought it was stunning.

And the best part was the price. My friend, Amy Barfield,(who is so talented and fabulous that you could almost hate her), told me about a small fabric outlet that has designer fabrics. Designer fabrics????????? Can you say Scalamandre? Holy smokes! Hold onto you hats.....it was less than five dollars per yard. I scooped it up and ran for the hills. (I was afraid they would change their mind.)

Then, the other day, I was at T.J. Maxx and I found this perfect piece to go with it. I had planned to use my white orchids and some river rocks, but I wasn't too excited about that, and I was still thinking about it, so when I found this, I knew I could make it into a centerpiece.

So I did!

Kroger had these lovely white dahlias with just a touch of lavender on the edges, and I filled in a bit with white alstroemeria that had lavender stripes and spots on them. The other material was a neighborhood "donation". I cut the bamboo from my next door neighbor's without even asking him. It's bamboo, people! It grows and spreads faster than kudzu! Anyhow, he loves me and would give me anything! And our nearby nursery has a large area of reeds which they said they were happy to share with me. I offered to buy some, but they told me to just go snip! Thanks, Autumn Hill!

Simple and serene.

I first tried to use a purple toile plate that I recently found at Target. I did a post about it here. But it was WAY too busy, so I tried these taupe scalloped plates from ZGallerie. They almost matched the browny-lavender color in the fabric.

Here's how they looked.

I needed a light colored flatware, so this cream cutlery worked fine.

These light lavender napkins worked, too, and I tucked some reeds and bamboo into the corner of the fold.

Glassware needed to be simple, too. I used a light purple stem and a stemless Riedel wine.

Can you tell it has a light purple hue?

Here's a placesetting.

I brightened the table up a bit when I added these carved soapstone votives with a definite Chinoiserie vibe. These were on clearance at Yankee Candle last week. I was lucky to find them, because I rarely go into the store. I just can't stand the smell. I know it's lovely to some, but my senses are always screaming, "Let's get out of here!". Fortunately, they had them displayed just inside the door, and I saw them from the mall. They were meant to be used with oil, but I took that part out, and used a small candle.