A Starfish and the Sea Tablescape

I love walking along the beach looking for shells and sea glass. I have been thinking about creating a starfish themed table for a while. I wanted a beachie print turquoise tablecloth and I finally found this one on Amazon a couple years ago. It reminds me of how the ocean looks as the waves meet the shore. The camera is showing all the blues as blue rather than the blue green turquoise tone that they really are but at least it all looks beachie.

I was so happy to see these melamine white starfish plates at Pottery Barn a few years ago and when they went on sale I grabbed them. I had been looking for small white starfish plates for a couple of years. I usually have several different tablescape ideas in mind at any given time waiting to find different pieces to add to the table and sometimes it takes a year or even two to gather everything that I want for a certain theme.

These turquoise melamine salad plates came from HomeGoods a couple years ago. They were made by IL Mulino New York. HomeGoods always has melamine dinnerware in the spring in lots of different patterns for summer dining. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying salad plates here.

These white dinner plates came from Pottery Barn a few years ago, the pattern was called Seashore. I love the starfish and shells around the rim. These are large dinner plates (11”) so they can be used as chargers as well as dinner plates. You can read about what you need to think about when you are buying dinner plates here.

I have had these turquoise blue glass charger plates for several years, I think I bought them on Amazon. They were made by Bormioli Rocco, an Italian company, and the pattern was called Inca. I have them in a few other colors as well. They are heavy glass and I really love how solid they are. The goblet in this photo shows the accurate turquoise color of everything. Not sure why the camera got that right just in this photo and the other blues in all the photos are still off. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers please click here.

I bought this frosted white flatware on sale online at Wayfair a few years ago, it was made by Cambridge. It is 18/0 instead of 18/10 so the fork tines are a bit sharper than I would like but I really liked the frosted color. Wayfair has really good sales on flatware sometimes. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I think the napkins came from Pier 1 several years ago, I love the intense turquoise color. I bought the napkin rings at Bed, Bath and Beyond a few years ago. They were distressed white but Hubby painted them white for me. I am not a fan of distressed anything! To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I think these starfish place card holders maybe came from either Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. I have had them for a few years waiting for the rest of the table to develop. I have used them before on a couple other ocean theme tables. To read about the What, Where and When of place card holders, please click here.

The turquoise acrylic goblet on the left came from Pier 1 several years ago, I have them in several colors. On the right is a Waterford goblet but one of their less expensive patterns, I think it is Marquis by Waterford Brookside. I bought them at HomeGoods. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection including the colors that I use most often here.

These glass pillar candle holders probably came from Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. When I started tablescaping several years ago some of the first things I bought were various sizes and shapes of candle holders. HomeGoods is a good source for candle holders of all kinds and candles as well.

I found the large white shell centerpiece at HomeGoods several years ago. It usually sits on a shelf in the family room. HomeGoods often has large objects that make perfect centerpieces. I filled it with some plastic packing material for filler and then added sea glass, sea shells and starfish on top. I love the way the white looks against the turquoise blue.

This photo shows the tablecloth well, it reminds me so much of small ocean swells moving toward the shore.

The phone camera shows this photo with green and teal tones and as the other photos show it is all more turquoise.

After pulling this tablescape together, I can’t wait to get back to walking on the beach!

To see over 270 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my new Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas Facebook group for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

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I put a new tablescape on my blog every week, please check back!

Traveling the World, Hubby's 48 Countries and Territories on the Tablescape

Hubby is retiring this year after working over 48 years, much of it in the commercial GPS satellite navigation business (think ships, construction equipment, and tractors, not cars). He was there when GPS started. His work sent him all over the world including 44 countries and 4 territories. Early on, I started giving him a flag at Christmas time for every country and territory he visited. (Our sons have joined the same tradition.) Eventually, I had to find a much larger flag stand for them all and that’s what you see here. He recently brought them all home from work and I decided to create a tablescape around the flags. I started with a simple white tablecloth that I bought on Amazon last year. Since most of the flags are white, blue, and red, I decided to use those colors for the plates and glasses.

We use these small square red appetizer plates almost every day for snacks and such. They came from Pottery Barn a few years ago and they still have them, in other colors too. The pattern is Cambria. (They are on sale today, 05/13/20.)

These red melamine salad plates came from Crate and Barrel a few years ago.

I wanted to use a square plate somewhere on the plate stack to mirror the straight edges of the flags. These small square white salad plates aren’t marked but I bought them at HomeGoods a few years ago.

I bought these large cobalt blue dinner or charger plates online at Ballard Designs a few years ago. They were part of their Southern Living collection and they are heavy!

This black glass Starburst charger is called Charge It and they were made by Jay. I bought them several years ago on Amazon. They are heavy glass and a simple design and they work well with many different color schemes.

This black flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it.

I really wanted to use some napkins that had a travel theme so I searched Etsy and found these last week. I folded a couple more to use as a runner on the table. I love the design! The napkin rings were really simple. I had the black napkin rings and I just attached some world flag pins to them temporarily that I bought onlne at Oriental Trading last week.

These are make do place card holders! I added flags (off of necklaces) that I bought at Oriental Trading to my Olga Cassini clear place card holders. Find your place by country!

I used my red Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets for this table setting. I bought them at HomeGoods several years ago. If you read my blog you have seen this goblet in many tablescapes. I think if I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. They can be used several times a year. The dark blue acrylic goblets came from Pier 1 on sale last month. I bought them to use on a beachie tablescape coming up but they work well here too.

I bought the flags online from different companies over the years and the stand came from one of those companies too many years ago.

A simple table design, the flags take center stage!

To see 190+ tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

A Keeping It Rural Farming Tablescape

I put this tablescape together for two reasons. One, to honor Hubby when he retired from John Deere a few years ago. Two, to honor all the farmers and ranchers who continue to work to put food on our tables. Another tablescape with a gingham tablecloth, these tablecloths are fun to use on tablescapes. I think this tablecloth came from HomeGoods many years ago. I found the table runner on Etsy several years ago.

I bought the salad plates online somewhere several years ago, can’t remember where, they are melamine. I did this tablescape several years ago but the photos weren’t very good and I have made a few changes to the table with this version.

When I started tablescaping some of the first purchases I made were Fiesta dinner and salad plates in a few different colors. They are available online at several stores. They are a good quality basic plate and they come in many strong vivid colors. Our every day dishes are Fiesta dishes in the color Scarlet. This is a salad plate in the color Sunflower.

This is a Fiesta dinner plate in the color Shamrock, I love this vivid green.

This is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time as I saw them on Ebay because I love the quality and the colors. I have them in several different colors.

Using my Madeline Green flatware on this table, I bought it at World Market several years ago. I really like the frosted design on the handles.

I can’t remember where the yellow gingham napkins came from. It might have been Sur La Table online. I really wanted a John Deere themed napkin ring but I didn’t have one. So I downloaded a John Deere scrapbook page design that I bought on Etsy and printed it out and Hubby cut it out and taped it around some flat napkin rings I have. I need to remember this in the future when I need a specific themed napkin ring.

The tree place card holders are courtesy of my daughter-in-law a few years ago. She bought them for a party and gave them to me after to use on my table settings.

The yellow goblet was made by Noritake and the pattern was called Yellow Perspective. These were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay. This pattern came in other colors, I have them in cobalt blue and sage green also. Ebay always has this pattern for sale in various colors. The green plastic goblet came from Pier 1 several years ago. If you read my blog, you have seen these goblets before a few times.

For many years Hubby got John Deere related presents at birthday and Christmas time until he ran out of space. I gave him this wood tractor one year. I can’t remember where I bought it but it was probably Etsy. It is sitting on one of the Fiesta shamrock dinner plates that is sitting on one of my Pottery Barn drink dispenser stands. I use these stands frequently on my centerpieces to add height.

I love Jim Shore designs and when I saw this tractor I knew I had to buy it for Hubby. Can’t remember where I found it. It was made in 2009 and he has had it for many years.

This Jim Shore John Deere barn was also made in 2009. I gave it to Hubby one Christmas, I think I bought it online.

I think I found this salt and pepper set online somewhere, probably Ebay. The set was made in 1998.

Celebrating Hubby’s retirement and farmers and ranchers everywhere!

To see 220+ other tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post (or here) for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

Time for a Picnic Tablescape

If you read my blog you know that I have a thing for red. When we remodeled the kitchen it changed from dark wood to white with red accents. I had been saving red kitchen items for years! I had been thinking about using these three red plaid plates together in a tablescape for a long time. I used one or two together before but never all three at the same time. The tablecloth came from Sur La Table online several years ago. It was one of my first purchases when I started tablescaping. It’s a nice thick cotton fabric.

The plates were made by At Home with Marieke and the pattern was called Sarah. This pattern has been discontinued.

The dinner plate is a nice size. I really love the graduated red plaid design on these plates as they are set together.

This charger is large and heavy, I have used it several times before on Christmas and 4th of July table settings.

This Milano Red flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it. I use it several times a year on tablescapes.

The plastic red Koziol Pip Bird napkin ring came from Ebay several years ago, I have it in green also. It has been discontinued but you might be able to find it on Ebay from time to time. The lime green napkins were made by Fiesta. The red plaid napkin is marked DII (Design Imports) for the Home. I think I bought them at HomeGoods a few years ago.

The white place card holder can be written on as well with a special pen. Can’t remember where I bought them but it was probably Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel, I have had them for several years. It’s a nice simple place card holder, I have used it on many tablescapes.

Can’t remember what company made the red goblet. I bought them on Ebay and I have had them for a long time. If anyone recognizes the pattern, please let me know! I bought the green goblets at Pier 1 several years ago. I love the spiral design and the height. I wish they had sold this goblet pattern in other colors as well.

I bought this salt and pepper set on Amazon last year.

I love these condiment jars. I bought them online last summer on Ebay. They were originally sold by Williams Sonoma.

It wouldn’t be a picnic without a few extra guests. I bought these metal ants at Pottery Barn a few years ago. They were red but Hubby spray painted them black for me. They are place card holders but I decided to add them to this table for some additional interest and fun.

This basket is a Longaberger basket from 2002. These baskets were handmade by the Longaberger Baskets company in Dresden, Ohio. They were sold at house parties (like Tupperware) for many years. The company is still in business and sells beautiful handmade baskets online now.

Definitely time for some hamburgers and hot dogs!

If you like gingham, check out my green gingham and strawberries tablescape here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2019/6/3/a-strawberry-table

This blog post was featured at Scrapality, https://www.scrapality.com/ and Grammy’s Grid, https://grammysgrid.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!