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

MONDAY
Starfish Cottage | Knock it Off Kim | Life and Linda | Southern Hospitality | Everyday Living

Tuesday
My Kentucky Living | DesignThusiasm | Simple Nature Decor |
Living With Thanksgiving

Wednesday
Red Cottage Chronicles  | The Little Yellow Corner Store | Ramblings of a Southern Girl
CoziNest  | Love of Home 

Thursday
Panoply | Flourish & Knot | The Painted Apron | Dining Delight  |
Celebrate & Decorate

Friday

B. Lovely Events | Lolly Jane | A Toile Tale | Bluesky Kitchen | Rattlebridge Farm

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No Minimalist Here

The Scoop (Mon.)

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Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Inspire Me Tuesday

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Be Inspired (Tues.)

Elizabeth And Company

Home Sweet Home (Fri.)

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The Charm of Home

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French Country Home

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Share It One More Time (Sat.)

designthusiasm.com

Share Your Style (Thurs.)

21 Rosemary Lane

The Creative Exchange (Thurs.)

The Happy Scraps

Turquoise and White Summer Dinner Party

First, I found these beauties!

Then I found these to go with them.

I already had these.....

And these.....

And these!

And a dinner party was born.

Place mats are from Homegoods, dinner plates and salad plates from Z Galleries, and soup tureen from Target.

Here's the way the table came together.  We were expecting six, but ended up with a cozy four. 

I wanted to keep the turquoise and white and coral thing going, so the center of the table was a very simple gathering of a large piece of white coral surrounded by white shells.  Then I threw in a few pieces of turquoise sea glass to give a tiny bit of color.

Couldn't be easier.

I put these large extra-white roses in some clear turquoise glasses from Martha Stewart.  There was an arrangement at each end of the table.

Here's the bread and butter plate I used.  It says "Made in Italy" and the mark reads "Andrea Galvani, Pordemone" and has "Carbone" in script.  I have about 6 complete place settings, lots of serving pieces, and an espresso set.  I bought it years ago at a consignment shop in Shaker Heights, Ohio that benefited the American Red Cross. These butter shapes are made in a Wilton candy mold from Micheal's.

I put a Greek Gazpacho in these.  It was a new recipe that I had never tried and it was yummy.  Perfect for our hot summer night.

We aren't martini drinkers and not many of our friends are, either, but I totally had to buy these at Tuesday Morning.  They are deeply etched in such a cool beach theme.  I immediately envisioned a crab salad in them, but because I was serving seafood for the main course, I used them for dessert.  I just grilled a slice of pineapple, and put a scoop of Hagen-Daz pineapple-coconut ice cream on top and sprinkled a bit of toasted coconut over all.  I diced the pineapple to fit the shape of this glass, but I usually just put the ring on a plate and top with the ice cream.  Listen..........this is great........this is easy..........people love it!!!!  Why bake a cake? 

 

The flatware is my off-white French knock-off.  It looks great and was a fraction of the cost of the set that I thought I had to have.

Salt and pepper in a shell with horn spoons.

I took most of these photos the night before the dinner.  The lighting was not great and these turquoise pieces seem to be sort of fighting, but truly, it was a beautifully harmonious table.

This rattan runner and sea-themed stuff has been on the dining table for a couple of weeks.  I moved it to the sideboard for the meal.

Just a Pottery Barn bowl with sand and shells and a little sea glass.

These Pottery Barn hurricanes have the same treatment.

The small chest in the dining room has a clear turquoise bottle filled with a few simple snips from the yard.  It has a very narrow neck, so only a very few pieces of greenery will work.

I set up some glasses in the bar with these Caspari cocktail napkins.

And here's the coffee service with a shell-handled spoon for the sugar.

We had this appetizer out in the garden after we all got drinks.  Do you remember fixing this all of the time in the late '70's?  It's a veggie pizza on crescent rolls with a ranch dressing mixed with mayo and cream cheese.  Then any veggies (I used broccoli, zucchini, summer squash, green onions, and grated carrots.  Then top with shredded cheddar.  It is so refreshing and tasty, especially for summer.  I garnished it with basil leaves and garlic chive blossoms.

Here's a close-up.  Does it make your mouth water?  I took the left-overs to a picnic the next night and they were licked clean.

I was wishing that my blogger friend, Alycia Nichols from Tablescapes at Table Twenty-One could join me that night.  I really must find a way to meet her for a "for-real" hug.  Do you think that it was Alycia-worthy?

Menu:

Veggie Pizza

(served in the garden)

Greek Summer Gazpacho

(Southern My Way by Gena Knox)

Beach Street Cajun Shrimp

(Susan Branch's The Summer Book)

served over

Orzo Salad With Corn

(Stonewall Kitchen's Harvest)

Pineapple/Coconut Sundaes

*Sorry...no pics of most of the meal.  I just can't talk and serve and photograph at the same time, it seems!

I'll be posting at:

Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

French Country Home for Feathered Nest Friday

http://frenchcountryhome.blogspot.com/

Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

At The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

Stuff and Nonsense for Fridays Unfond

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/