A Toile Tale: blue and white

Showing posts with label blue and white. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Rain on the Fourth

When we dumped the trip to see fireworks tonight due to the rain, that meant that we'd be unexpectedly eating inside at home.

I can always lay my hands on red white and blue and set a fast table.

I grabbed my "Toile Tale" china which is Scalamandre by Lenox. I set it on a blue rimmed white enamel charger that I just bought at Michael's. Don't ask me why, but they were in the wedding section.

As a nod to summer, I used a nautical rope napkin ring around a plain red napkin. The red and white gingham checked tablecloth is another thing that says summer. This blue handled flatware is another easy choice.

I would have cut some blue hydrangeas, but it was raining! I had picked up a bunch of sunflowers on Saturday at the Farmer's Market, so they became the centerpiece.

The glassware is a mixture of blue and red stems. Some people do not like colored glass, but I think it adds so much to most tables. There's a time for a formal cut glass, or a fine blown glass, but this is just a fun, casual table.

These individual salt and pepper shakers are a simple but fun addition.

This blue and white dish will hold a caprese salad. It is so easy to mix up a red, white and blue table. Almost any blue and white pattern will work with another. Be bold and jump on the blue and white wagon. These pieces are easy to find and usually very economical.

We'll miss the fireworks, but frankly, our neighbors have been shooting them off for days, so we've had a taste of this beautiful tradition. Let us all celebrate this great country with great pride and gratitude.

Joining:

Metamorphosis Monday, Inspire Me Tuesday, The Scoop,

Wow Us Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, Feathered Nest Friday,

Home Sweet Home, Foodie Friday and Everything Else,

Sundays at Home

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Finally! A Party on the Deck!

It was the most beautiful evening on Sunday! We had 14 dear friends over for a very casual pot luck dinner and it was finally cool enough to dine outdoors. It seems that the same people who will play 18 holes of golf in 95 degree weather find it too hot to eat a meal outside. Myself included. But Sunday the air was nearly cool and I actually took a stack of shawls and wraps outside just in case.

Since everything was simple and casual, I used these paper products now on sale at Target. Aren't they fabulous? My daughter in Ohio found them first, and that sent me on a search for them here in Atlanta. It wasn't so easy. First store had none, second store had only cups, then I finally found only what you see here. Fortunately, they were enough, and a plan was hatched.

Here, you see all three tables, with blue and white pots filled with sunflowers from the farmer's market, yellow napkins, and yellow or bamboo flatware.

You can see what a pretty night it was, and the lake was especially reflective and beautiful.

This is just a cardtable in the corner, but, because I kept it so simple, there was plenty of room for four.

The third table overlooked the pool and fireplace.

I placed several candles around the railing and we did end up lighting them, as we lingered over a beautiful fruit tart dessert.

I had some little blue and white votives as well.

Lots of different chairs, but that's what it took to all be together in one place.

I've had emails asking how our different outdoor areas link up, so here's the round deck that we were just on, with these steps leading from......

here, which is just beside.......

here, which is just across the pool from......

here, which is beside the fireplace.

Got it?

I served from the bar/cabana room just off of the pool.

Here are the dishes before anything is dished up, because, as you know, I loose my focus and forget about blogging as soon as the first guest arrives.

Behind the bar, I set out more Cheeky products (the "Happy Day" cups) and various pitchers for tea and water. Forget the fact that I still have the Press and Seal on the lemons!

I filled this English footbath with ice and wine bottles.

This wooden French crate holds the summer liqueurs.

We're ready for coffee, too!

This area of the same room has nothing to do with the evenings' offerings, but I just wanted to show off the monogrammed towels that my friend Amy (who can do anything) made for me. Aren't they awesome?

I like to extend the feeling of the evening into the powder rooms on the first floor. Here are some daisies that feel like the sunflowers.

And in the other powder room, I tried to do the same.

I almost forgot that I had these hand towels.

And my little French shepherdess got some black-eyed daisies in her brass baskets.

I had a sunflower wreath on the front door, but when I got the news that one of our couples had just become grandparents that morning, I changed it out to this little onesie and a welcome sign for the new little one, Cort.

This lucky baby was born to the beautiful couple I featured in a 3-part blog about their wedding exactly two years ago. You can see it here, here, and here. They are beautiful people inside and out, and I'm so happy to share their happiness.

How many mommies can give their parents a baby on Grandparents Day??? Here is the very beautiful, but very sleepy new grandma. Or rather, Yaya!

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Share Your Style

Show and Tell Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Table It

Rustic and Refined

Home Sweet Home

The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Fridays Unfold

www.nancherrow.com

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Grocery Store Invite

Do you ever do this? Run into a friend in the grocery store and share the fact that you're both stumped over choosing something for dinner? Then invite them to your house? In TWO hours????? I settled on steak shiska bobs and a spinach salad. She'd bring dessert. Fine. Then, as she went down the aisle to find a pie, she said over her shoulder, "Can't wait to see what pretty table you come up with." Okaaaaaaaay. Wouldn't be a problem, but I won't lie......the kitchen floor MUST be vacuumed and mopped before company comes.

These flowers were already in this blue and white pot in the bar, so, even though they weren't the very freshest, they had opened a bit and seemed lush and pretty to me. That meant I would be going with blue and white dishes and I knew just which ones I wanted. Scalamandre's Toile Tale (!!!!!!).

So many evenings in Georgia are too hot to enjoy outdoor dinner, but we have seen a bit of a break in the temps, and so I chose the table on the lower terrace for our table for four. Doesn't it look cool and welcoming?

Here's the flowers. They didn't leave much room for accessories, but I didn't have time for fussing with them anyway.

I picked up the coral color from the roses in the geometric patterned napkins. I thought they made this china pattern seem a little more contemporary. The blue handled flatware reinforced the blue, and the wicker charger made it seem a bit more casual.

I love this pattern. Here's the salad plate over the dinner plate. Don't you love the way the bridge carries over from one plate to the other? You can see another table I did this spring with a lot of these same items, here.

And here's the dinner plate alone. It's like a fragment of a Blue Willow pattern.

These stems are huge, so I use them as water glasses.

This white butter dish is so cute, and it lends itself to almost any style. Fortunately, I had some really yummy bread from Theo's in Alpharetta in the freezer.