A Toile Tale: lower terrace

Showing posts with label lower terrace. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Flamingo Frenzy

I know.....I've been missing. I have ignored my blog in favor of Instagram. It's a matter of time management. I won't totally walk away from A Toile Tale, but I'm posting less. I'm not entertaining less, however, so please follow me on Instagram at #ldpete2626.

I'm soooo not ready to give up summer entertaining. Will the rest of you bloggers please refrain from pushing fall????? This table is a perfect example. It's still hot, hot, hot here in Atlanta, so why pretend.

These plates inspired the table. They came from World Market last summer. I pulled the bold colors from them and set a screamingly bright table.

We needed the shade, so I chose the lower terrace.

Fiona the Flamingo made the perfect centerpiece. She's covered with pink feathers and has a little sister, too.

I found them at Lucy's Market in Buckhead. They are going to go to my daughter's pre-school class when I am done playing with them.

Here's the oasis ring that holds the pink carnations. It has plastic on the bottom which will protect your table, but once it's soaked in water, it will hold flowers for days, just like a brick of oasis.

I wrapped a varigated Apisdistra leaf and a small orchid on the ordinary water glass, and held them in place with a piece of rafia. The plain Tiffany wine glass was filled with Hogwash rose. (Several times!)

These salt and peppers came from The Christmas Tree Shop.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the gazpacho and the salad with mango and shrimp. I could do it all the day ahead, which is the way I like entertain.

These dessert plates came from Target years ago.

I used a flamingo margarita glass on a leaf to hold pineapple/coconut ice cream for dessert.

Caspari handtowels were joined in the guest bathroom by a blow-up flamingo filled with fresh carnations and orchids.

And a flotilla of them were in the pool. I must admit that the sound of the waterfall into the pool was a cooling sound on such a hot day. But the warm friendships felt good!

Friday, June 9, 2017

Peonies on the Terrace

Well, this table came together in a flash. A quick stop at Trader Joe's and a chat with a friend in the frozen food aisle lead to an impulsive invitation for dinner. Almost all the food came from those very aisles, and so did the flowers.

Oh! The flowers!!!! Aren't they smart to put them right at the front door? You see these beauties and right away you put some in your cart and begin to make plans for a special night.

Peonies!!!! A very special flower in our family! They are elegant and fragrant, and beautiful, and magnificent. I just had to grab some.

Since our border flowers are looking pretty good, and the weather was delightful, I decided to set our table outside on the lower terrace. I also thought the pink petunias would compliment the pink peonies.

In the spirit of making things easy and quick, I grabbed these pink toile melamine dishes that I haven't used in quite a while. They were made by Swell, which was sold by Target years ago.

The glassware was a high/low mix of this hot pink bubble glass and clear Juliska stems that I used for wine.

The napkins are from the Palm restaurant line, and these soup bowls were also from Target. I served visychoise in them, as Mr. Pressed Pants has been asking for it.

This plastic flatware is a cute, vibrant knock-off of some ornate silverplate.

This French salt and pepper holder is the only serving accessory I used.

I love the way this all came together.

Can you see the lake through the trees? The Canadian geese were pretty noisy, but, they were not nearly as noisy as the bullfrogs!!!

It was a mosquito-free night, though.

This is a little bit of heaven, and it's even better with friends to share it.

Try the lemon piccata chicken from Trader Joe's refrigerator case! We all loved it.

Here's the view from the upper terrace.

This is what happens when you don't stop to think about things, and just blurt out an invitation. What the heck! The house was pretty clean, the landscapers had been there, and the food was almost ready. When the friends are that good, it's almost a "Come-as-you-are" party. We even ate leftover lemon cheesecake from a luncheon that I gave on Tuesday!!!! Capture the moment and make a memory!

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

Friday, August 5, 2016

Alfresco Dining - Two Tables with Coral

When Chloe Crabtree from Create and Decorate invited me to be a part of her Alfresco Dining blog hop, I was flattered, excited, and inspired. Now that it is time to post, I've decided to feature two tables I have done that both have turquoise in them, one soft and subtle, and one much more vibrant and busy. Take a look:

On this first table, I started with these napkins embroidered with turquoise coral, and kept the colors quite soft and costal.

The table was set down on our lower terrace, surrounded by greenery, flowers, and stonework.

The whitewashed charger from World Market reminded me of driftwood. I added a turquoise scalloped dinner plate from Target, and used antique mismatched flatware.

The napkin was softly folded and laid on the plate with a small fisherman's float used as a placecard. I found them at Pottery Barn last summer.

A real shell serves as a small bread and butter plate.

These stems are etched with costal images and the turquoise tumbler is a Martha Stewart item used as a stemless wine glass.

The centerpiece is simply a pottery dish filled with sand and shell, with some beautiful sea glass.

These sea urchin salt and pepper shakers fit the bill perfectly!

A few stripped pillows made the very ordinary chairs more interesting and more comfortable.

Are you ready to move to the upper terrace and see something a little more exciting? Bring your drink......

Here's the location. It's poolside, and we love to eat here and hear the sound of the waterfall and the frogs.

This coral patterned fabric and cushions are from Ballard Designs. They are such an improvement over the cushions we had previously.

Since this tablecloth (which is indoor-outdoor fabric) is so busy, the orange placemat helps to set the plate apart. The dinner plates are from a store in Atlanta that has gone out of business. They are made by Marval. I chose bamboo handled flatware to keep the tropical feel.

Yes! These ARE the same napkins in a different color. These napkin rings look like coral and came from Pottery Barn.

These stems are so fun. Do you see the coral in the stem?

I used these matching bowls for a cold corn and crab soup.

And I love the soup spoons I found at World Market.

The centerpiece started with a bunch of bright orange Gerbera daisies and a piece of white coral. I added an orange glass votive, and shells.

And these wonderful porcelain starfish.

There is a lot going on here, but because the colors are kept to basically two colors, it works.

One more place that I used a coral design was in these salad servers. Now I think I'm done buying coral items. Enough!

Thank you again, Chloe for the opportunity to join this lovely group of bloggers for your Alfresco blog hop. Be sure to visit all of these posts for a wide variety of outdoor dining. There are five new posts each day all this week. You'll see sunflowers, daisies, classic design, contemporary, funky, elegant, and lots of surprises.

www.celebrateanddecorate.com