Coral and Turquoise On the Coral and Turquoise Terrace!

Since this isn't a terribly hot evening, we're having a couple of neighbors over for a simple cook-out.  I couldn't wait to use these pieces which I've had for years with our new cushions and tablecloth on the stone terrace. 

Even the flowers are re-runs from an event earlier in the week. 

I added a piece of white coral, some sea shells, and a bit of sea glass to make the centerpiece a bit more interesting.  Then I snuggled a votive with an orange candle into the mix.

Then I added these little china starfish.

I started without the orange placemats, but the plates were lost on all of that pattern.  That's ok, since, even though the cloth is outdoor fabric, I probably won't have to wash it now.  :-)  

Here's the placesetting I settled on. 

These dishes are from a wonderful store that has closed in Atlanta called The Plantation Shop.  They are made by Murval and are very heavy, which is good for outdoors.  I thought the bamboo flatware would be a good choice to go with them.

I think I bought these embroidered napkins at the same time at The Plantation Shop.  I'm wondering why I bought eight napkins and only 4 placesettings of the dishes.  Maybe that's all they had, but I sure wish I had 4 more.  The coral shaped napkin rings were from Pottery Barn, I think.

I really don't remember where I got these coral stemmed plastic glasses.  Aren't they cute?   I have no problem mixing "real" dishes with plastic, or melamine, or even paper.  Many would faint at the idea, but I say, that unless you are entertaining royalty, the mix is interesting and fun.

Since I had these cute little bowls to match, I decided to serve gazpacho as a first course.  It's perfect for a summer night, and soooo easy.  I was at the Alpharetta Farmers' Market this morning and all of the produce I needed for it was so beautiful.  It was a no brainer. 

Serving soup also meant I got to use these spoons from World Market.  I got some other serving pieces like this, too, but I was already bordering on coral overkill!

Something tells me that I'll be using this frequently this summer, as it is the perfect combo for our new outdoor colors.  You can see a post I did about them here.

See that dock at the lake at the bottom of the lawn?  I bet the men will be down there fishing before dark.  Janet and I will be reading my new copy of Annie Falk's Hamptons Entertaining.  It's so inspiring that I think I might plan another dinner party for tomorrow!

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The Summer of Orange and Turquoise

I seem to be in love with this color combination, so I've re-done our terraces in these cheerful cushions and pillows.  Even the pots have been planted in a much more vibrant, coral and white palate. 

(Disclaimer: I've been waiting weeks to have our stonework pressure washed.  I finally decided to photograph for this post with grimy stones, because, well, summer is almost HALF OVER!!!!)

This makes me smile every time I look at it.

Doesn't this make you want to grab a good book and chill out?

This has so much more pizzazz than our former color selection for the cushions.

 

This was last year on the terrace.  I was all about a woodsy color combination, and it worked really well........

until I spied this fabric!  Then some sort of hunger for color kicked in and I was all about turquoise and coral.  

I'm so glad for the change.

I even changed all of our swim towels to turquoise and coral.  Monogrammed, of course!

This large pot at the corner of the wall is loving the summer rain.  Can you see those tiny coral petunias?  They are so cute.

This pot has just a touch of coral begonias in with the hardy grass.

This one is full of begonias with a couple of white impatients.  

 

The hummingbirds just love this hibiscus.  And I love it, too, as it is just outside my kitchen window and I can admire it AND the hummingbirds!

And this $15 palm from Lowe's makes us all feel like we are in the tropics.

Let's go up the stairs to the white deck.

With the left over material, I made a runner for this table, and turquoise stripped cushions for these side chairs.  Things are looking so good.  Usually, we are beginning to feel the effects of the 90 degree weather by now, but we've had lots of rain to help things stay green.

Even the fern pots are filling in nicely.  Thank goodness that one of the improvements we made when we first moved in was to add drip lines to all of the pots.  I could never keep them watered by hand.  We also just had the deck re-stained and it's beautiful.

That's the view from the upper terrace to the lake.  Maybe I'll soon find time to take those kayaks out, but for now, I'm anxious to set this table for our neighbors tonight.  Wait till you see what I have planned!

Bird Cage Fabric

Here's the table I set for dinner tonight.  We have been so busy and I have cooked so little lately, that I thought I would fix a nice dinner and set a pretty table for the two of us.

This cheerful fabric was the inspiration, and I knew I had lots of turquoise and pink to go with it.  I thought about doing a bird theme, but decided to just let these clear, pretty colors shine.

And this was the inspiration for the location.  This is on our lower stone terrace and the beds here are filling in so nicely.  Of course, like most of the country, we are ahead of the game seasonally, so I decided to use this space which we almost tend to forget about.

These dishes picked up the turquoise and the strong pink. The flower shaped plate is plastic and came from Target a couple of years ago.

This is the back of the china.  I picked it up many years ago at a consignment shop in Cleveland, Ohio and it has a ton of serving pieces.  I think I got a treasure here.

Our peonies are getting close to the end.  I wish I knew what variety these are, because I would love to plant more.  The pink has a touch of salmon in it and is almost shocking.  This is an old McCoy vase.

I was willing to let the peonies be the only flowers on the table, but then I spied these blue hydrangeas in the fabric.

I simply turned to my left and picked matching flowers to tuck into the napkins.  How often does that happen?

The glassware consists of Waterford Lismore stems for water, and turquoise Martha Stewart (for Macy's) tumblers that I was going to use for wine.

Mis-matched silverplate with a mother-of-pearl handled knife worked fine for flatware.

Just for a bit of earthiness, I added old oak barley twist wooden candlesticks.

It made such a fresh, pretty but unfussy table.

I forgot to take two chairs away before I was snapping pictures.

Here's the long view.

Here's the view taken from the upper terrace.

And this angle shows you a bit of the lake.  Those yellow things you see are kayaks on the dock.

As I was loading these photos, I remembered that I did a very similar table in this same area last spring when our peonies were at their peak.  Here's a picture of it.  These same colors were on this table, but have a very different feel.  You can see that whole post here.  If you go to that post, notice how much difference there is in the maturity of the flower beds this year compared to last.

Here's irony for you.  Last year, after I set that table, I heard the weather channel say that bad weather was heading in and I reluctantly brought the whole thing inside when it began to look threatening.  It turns out that it was a devastating tornado that went through the area and we could never have eaten outside without being blown to Kansas.  And today.....I had to bring everything inside again, as it began to rain about four p.m.  It just wasn't the same in the breakfast room, but we were dry and safe. My heart still goes out to those who suffered such terrible loss last year.  Many are still re-building and many lost so much more than material things.  How do you heal?

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