A Toile Tale: roses

Showing posts with label roses. Show all posts

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Horse Lovers Come to Dinner

There's an adorable couple that we've been wanting to have to dinner, and last weekend we finally had them over. They are horse lovers, so I dug into my stash of equine decorations and put together this table. I'll admit that it was very hard for me to use these colors in summer. They just say fall to me! I guess I am very seasonally inspired.

But, I pulled out these Ralph Lauren linens and started with a rustic look.

I remember that when I saw these chargers at Pier One, I hesitated forever. I have so many chargers and many of them are wooden. Did I need any more? No. But, of course, I bought them. And I love them. The dinner plate and dessert plate are from ZGallerie.

This flatware is some I use so often. I played around with a light wood handle instead, but decided on this dark wood.

I was so happy to use these pieces. I made the napkins from Ralph Lauren yardage years ago, and the rings are made by Rebecca Ray designs.

Don't you love the detail on this copy of an antique rosette. Each of them has a different horse featured.

This glassware is some I use over and over.

My favorite stationery company, Seven Barks, makes these coasters with similar images to the napkin rings. How cool are they?

They also make these letterpress placecards with a snaffle bit design. This image and many other great ones come on note cards, too. They have a whole line of equestrian designs. Check them out here.

We have a great nursery close by with a beautiful gift shop. I found these stirrup candlesticks there last week.

These faux bois salt and pepper shakers seemed to fit the bill.

I often use two, or even three runners in place of a tablecloth, especially if I am making them. It is super easy to just cut and hem.

The colors of these flowers lift the feeling of the table, but still complement the colors. Roses and alstromeria work together so well. These are arranged on a wooden round and toped with a horse head.

These colors spoke to me!

This horse head is actually one side of a pair of bookends. I just wrapped the base in a bit of plastic wrap and sat it on top of the brick of oasis floral foam that I used for the flowers.

I love a table for four!

Here's what greeted them at the front door. I change out the wreath so often and I have a lot of them, but none of the seemed right for this evening, so I used the horse shoe. It gave our guests a hint about the evening.

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

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Bastille Day!

It was just hours after I posted this that the world heard about the tragedy in Nice, France. My prayers and heartbreak join so many as we struggle to understand what is happening in this world. Please take a moment and reflect in any way that you feel comfortable.

WISH FOR PEACE!

One of my favorite places on earth is Paris! Love, love, love. I could certainly live there, at least part-time. As such a Francophile, I decided to celebrate Bastille Day with a red, white, and blue breakfast. In France, this is called La Fete Nationale, and it always falls on July 14th.

I photographed this in the early morning sun, so it may be a little washed out, but Hey! It's breakfast!

This is set up poolside on the upper terrace. With the sounds of the waterfall from the spa into the pool, it gives the illusion of being a tiny bit cooler.

But here's an example of the actual heat.....if you look carefully at the butter in the Emile Henry dishes, you can see it is melting faster than I could photograph it. And those English muffins????? I know, I know. You are thinking I've lost my mind. You see, I sent Mr. Pressed Pants to the store for croissants, and he brought home muffins. (I guess he has other good points.)

Can you see that the butter dishes have been removed already?

These Cynthia Rowley dinner plates serves as a charger here, because the French "Bonjour" plate is large enough for this simple little breakfast. That black blob is my shadow. Sorry.

The glassware is two different French designs. One is a heavy stem with the Eiffel Tower pressed into the glass, and the tumbler has a French phrase, "Un Verre d'Amite" etched on it. That translates into "A Glass of Friendship".

I was stumped about the napkin ring, so I went to my craft room and put together some red, white, and blue ribbon with some scraps and came up with this. The fleur de lis is a traditional symbol of France, and I had a this stamp in my stash!

I used a wine coaster with the pitcher, because I knew it would sweat in the heat.

Don't be confused by the shadow on these raspberries.

This milk jug came from World Market.

I had to include this glittered Eiffel Tower. Mr. Pressed Pants gave it to me one year for Christmas to symbolize a surprise gift of a trip to France. The best gift EVER.

This navy reproduction French pot is topped with nothing but red roses.

A little jam?

Man, I wish those were croissants! I could have sent him back to the store, but I decided to keep it real here!

Yep.....those English muffins are dumb.

The coffee tray kept the red, white and blue theme. Now, I know that vacuum pot is Blue Willow, which is oriental, but I'm not that much of a purist that I let it bother me. The coffee cups are from a set of blue and white bistro dishes that I've had forever.

This guy IS French, though. It's a pewter creamer, and the little dish catches any drips. Isn't it dear?

The Eiffel Tower made one more appearance. It still makes me so happy to see it.

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Dishing It and Digging It (Sun.)

Rustic and Refined

Share Your Style (Wed.)

No Minimalist Here

The Scoop (Mon.)

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Inspire Me Tuesday

A Stroll Thru Life

Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Home Sweet Home (Fri.)

The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Home

Foodie Friday

Designs By Gollum

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Monday Funday

All Things Heart and Home

Make It Pretty Monday

The Dedicated House

Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Celebrate It Sunday

at Celebrate and Decorate

Share It One More Time (Sat.)

designthusiasm.com

Share Your Style (Thurs.)

21 Rosemary Lane

The Creative Exchange (Thurs.)

The Happy Scraps

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!