A Toile Tale: tortoise

Showing posts with label tortoise. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Clean and Simple

After the excess, flash, and color of the holidays, I feel ready for a neutral, calm look.

We had some new friends over for dinner, and I didn't know their taste, so I decided to keep this clean and simple.

These dishes are from Z Gallerie and they are so versatile. I picked these natural rough linen napkin rings up at the Atlanta gift show from a beautiful booth by Tourmaline Home. I also bought them in a pale aqua linen, and a beautiful rust colored velvet. I'm so tickled with them and I could have ordered everything in their booth. Check out their site here.

These very fine linen placemats are used over a white cotton caterer's tablecloth because they are so sheer and the embroidery doesn't show up on the wood. I chose this dark wooden-handled flatware again. It has somehow become my go-to choice.

These tortoise colored water glasses and raffia covered stemless wines added a little weight to the table.

In place of a bread and butter plate, I chose these little square fluted dishes and they added a bit more interest.

Doesn't this say "stay a while and re-group with us"?

Marching down the table, I placed three single potted hydrangea blooms.......

placed in birch covered pots with reindeer moss over the dirt.

I thought they looked fresh and were a nice change from poinsettias.

Antique barley twist candle sticks with simple white candles gave interest but subtlety.

A simple white porcelain covered butter dish,

and these faux bois salt and pepper shakers are some I use everyday.

It made for a serene table where the food was the star.

Don't you love it when casual acquaintances put their feet under your table and become friends?

Joining:

Seasonal Sundays

It's Party Time

The Scoop

Let's Dish

Wow us Wednesday

Centerpiece Wednesday

The Style Sisters

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

The Tablescaper

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch

Open House Party

No Minamilist Here

Home and Garden Thursday

A Delightsome Life

Inspiration Exchange

Clean and Scentsible

Fridays Unfold

Nancherrow

Feathered Nest Fridays

French Country Cottage

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Earth Day on Paper

In light of Earth Day on April 24, I thought I would feature these paper placemats that I found at Boxwoods a couple of months ago. With just a few simple elements, I set a table that let the placemats shine.

These were made by Cake Kitchen Papers and come in a pad of 50 for about 30 dollars. They are 30% recycled and printed in the USA. The paper is about the weight of watercolor paper and has such a nice feel.

In order to let the printed design shine through, I used clear acrylic flatware made by Cambridge and a clear glass plate.

Here's the "plate". Don't you love it? Disregard the shadows on this post, as I preferred to set this up outside, but it is pouring rain. (But, yea for me......I had sod laid yesterday and I'm thrilled with the rain.)

I just love the way the "utensils" are viney, knotty, twisty, and primitive.

The knife and spoon are even better than the forks! Especially with the little guests painted into the design.

Here's the way the clear glass plate let the wood grain shine through......

and this is the way the flatware looked. You can also see the dark brown napkin with a grapevine napkin ring.

What other choice could I make?

This blurry picture shows you the wooden slice that I love to use as coasters.

I chose these brown tortiseshell glasses to go with them.

This arrangement of fresh ferns with a dracenea spike and moss in the faux bois pot stays on the breakfast table all the time. It seems to go perfectly with this earthy tablescape.

I am, however, very glad that the insects are also faux.

Be sure to see these parties for more Earth Day tables:

Cuisine Kathleen

for

Let's Dish

Between Naps on the Porch

for

Tablescape Thursday

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Brown and Yellow Blanket

Debra at Common Ground is offering a chance to post some old offerings from fall, so I found one of my favorites from last year. Click here! Hope you enjoy it again!

I'll admit that this tablescape has been percolating in my head for some time.

Last spring I found this wool blanket in a thrift shop. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it the minute I saw it.

And I knew that brown centered sunflowers would be the only flower that I wanted to use.

I have so much faux bois that I did have to give the container some thought. I ended up using these vases from Michael's. They are two different heights and only take up a little room on this small table.

These chargers are actually pottery saucers from Pottery Barn that I got 75% off several years ago. I love using them, but boy, are they heavy! They also make great serving platters at a casual cocktail party.

The dinner plate is from a set I bought at Goodwill. I can't decide if they are supposed to be cabbages or lemons. This yellow is so strong, not like the soft yellow you usually see in majolica reproductions.

These salad plates are Kashmir Leopard from Gibson. They are from Old Time Pottery. I did one of my favorite fall tables with these dishes last year. You can see it here.

Another small yellow plate just to separate the colors.

Last year, Michael's had these cute pine cone bowls. Why did I just buy four???????

Here's how it stacked up.

My old faithful wooden handled flatware is so versatile that it gets used constantly. It shows up nicely on this plaid blanket.

I don't usually double napkins, because I find that lots of guests are confused about what to do with two napkins. I don't like to make guests uncomfortable, especially at such a very casual meal. BUT, I tried the brown then the yellow than the brown then the yellow and then I gave in and used them both. The napkin rings are plastic, tortoise patterned squares. They came from Boxwoods in Atlanta.

I can't remember where I got these yellow plastic tumblers. I remember when I bought them that I was thinking about this exact blanket and the strong yellow I needed, but I just can't remember where I was at the time.

These are hanging out on our breakfast table most all of the time. Boxwoods again!

I'm loving how the sunshine is hitting the table and magnifying the sunny yellow colors.

This casserole will hold the beef stew. I must remember to get it out of the freezer!

I brought the wooden Windsor backed chairs out from the breakfast room. They just warmed up the look so much better than the outdoor dining chairs.

So, here's the place setting......

and here's the whole table.

I grabbed a yellow throw at the last minute. We've so suddenly had chilly weather! It feels sooooo good. We'll be back into the 80's this week, but for now, I'm enjoying this crisp, fall weather.

I'll enjoy these sunflowers all week. They are such a versatile flower. They can so aptly say "summer" and then equally appropriately say "fall". Love 'em!