Yummy Choices!

I am presently working with some of the loveliest clients.  I've been lucky to make a connection with most everyone I've worked with and I feel that most of them have very good taste.  Sometimes it's about encouraging them to trust their taste.  This client not only has good taste, but she has made some choices that I would love to put in my own house.

Now that her children are older, she wanted to jump onto the neutral wagon, but she loves chinoiserie. She couldn't quite figure out how to do both.  When I showed her this linen fabric, I knew by her reaction that we were on to something.

An all neutral room is not too exciting, so I urged her to add another color, and we chose a soft, soft, almost turquoise blue.  This leopard pattern is the thriller of the group.

Then I found some solids with texture and some wonderful trims.

There's even a stripe that we are considering.

And grasscloth!  It's back in full force in the design world.  

None of these fabrics are expensive, but the look they give when combined is elegant and rich.  We'll be working hard on this living room after the holidays.  Then on to the dining room, I hope!

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21 Rosemary Lane

  

Chinoiserie Between the Raindrops

We've had an entire week of rain, so I was doubtful that we'd be able to have our lunch outside today, but a break in the weather allowed a quick lunch with some old friends.  I have been dying to use these Caspari placemats and so, since the day was still grey, I brought out the bright with this table.

I initially wanted to use these with pale colors but here's an example where circumstances changed my mind.  

I used the table out by the pool, because it was the closest to the door and the easiest to bring stuff inside if the rain returned. Fortunately, the weather held and we even had a nano-second of sunshine.

These chargers/placemats are a heavy cardboard with a water resistant coating, and they are made by Caspari.  I found them at the local Ace Hardware store!!!  Can you see that I have used an octagonal clear glass plate so that the placemat shows through?  Then I chose bamboo flatware.

These bright green stems picked up the green in the design.  Here's where I was going to go with pale turquoise, but thought better of it.

These napkins are from the Palm line of linens and the Chinese knot napkin rings are from Boxwoods.  The tablecloth is a simple white caterer's linen.

I stuck these hydrangeas and some begonias into this little metal building.  I know it's an English conservatory, not a Chinese pagoda, but I felt it had a similar feeling and it worked pretty well.

How about these salt and pepper foo dogs?????  

They gave a wonderful pop of red. 

I almost spray painted the metal conservatory red to echo this pagoda, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. 

These turquoise tumblers were plain, but I added a pagoda.  I cut them out of adhesive vellum on my Silhouette Cameo.  I can remove the pagodas in a heartbeat, but I could also keep them on, even through the dishwasher.  I also used these Caspari paper napkins for drinks.  Also from Ace Hardware!  You never know where you'll find something that will inspire you. 

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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.

Salt and pepper sit in this little French dish.  I keep it beside the stove top and easily dip into it as I cook.

The wine was served off of this stone wall.

Isn't this wine label great?  The wine's good too!

It was a beautiful night, but I had misjudged the fact that the sun is going down a lot earlier these days. 

The evening started out like this....... 

and ended up like this.  Disclaimer:  Mr. Pressed Pants went into the house and brought these out.  Green candles and all!!!  Don't judge.

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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.

Here's the result!

Fabulous as the fabric is, this little lady makes the table.

Even the back is pretty nice.

You probably think I'm cooking Japanese food or serving sushi tonight!  Nope!  

Is it wrong that we're having hamburgers, potato salad, and baked beans?

Is our feng shui good?

Here's a photo that shows the details better.

Wishing you serenity, peace, balanced energy and good fortune.

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