A Palm Trees Tropical Summer Tablescape

August 05, 2021 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have been gathering palm tree and tropical leaf items for a while to create a tablescape but I couldn’t find salad plates that I liked until I saw these salad plates on Ebay. I have had the green tablecloth for a few years, I think I bought it at HomeGoods.

These palm tree salad plates were made by Sauvignon and the pattern was called West Indies. I found them on Ebay.

I bought these heavy melamine cream dinner plates at HomeGoods a few years ago. I also bought the same plate in a deep turquoise color. They were made by IL Mulino New York. A basic beige colored dinner plate comes in handy especially on Fall tablescapes. I often use this dinner plate because of the color and rim design.

If you read my blog you have seen my red Cambria chargers from Pottery Barn several times. They are one of my favorite chargers to use on my tablescapes. Pottery Barn is discontinuing this pattern (on clearance now) so over the past few years I added these chargers to my tablescaping collection in a few other colors including this celadon color. It is a somewhat neutral green color that goes well with several other colors and it can be used as both a charger and a dinner plate. I often use it on Spring and Fall tablescapes.

I bought these banana leaf foam placemats at Bed, Bath & Beyond online a couple months ago.

I have had this faux bamboo flatware set for several years, I can’t remember where I bought it.

I found the tropical leaf napkins on Amazon last year. They are still available. The tropical leaf napkin rings came from P. C. Fallon Co. online earlier this spring.

These tropical scene place card holders came from Etsy.

I found both of these acrylic tropical themed goblets at HomeGoods earlier this year. They really started me thinking about creating this tablescape.

I found this centerpiece at Hobby Lobby but I removed some of the leaves and added palm leaves. The container was tin and Hubby painted it green for me. I am not a fan of tin. Because this centerpiece is large it should be removed before dining so people can see each other across the table.

A local art center was having a rummage sale and there were photos online. I saw these palm tree candlesticks and Hubby went and got them for me. They are heavy metal and the bottom is bronze.

California has lots of palm trees, my neighbor out the back has several tall ones around their pool.

To see 100+ 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 for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

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Bathing Beauties on a Summer Tablescape

July 29, 2021 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I love the beachie colorful summer vibe of this tablescape. I found the red striped tablecloth on Amazon a few years ago.

This theme was not on my list of Summer tablescapes to do but as often happens, when I saw these small melamine appetizer plates at World Market online a a few years ago, I knew they could make a cute tablescape. There are four different designs in the set and I used three of them on this tablescape. The fourth one had turquoise stripes so I left it off because it wouldn’t have matched anything on the table.

I decided that I wanted to use a blue, red, and yellow color scheme for this tablescape. I used our everyday Fiesta salad plates, the color is scarlet.

The next plate down in the plate stack is a Fiesta dinner plate in the color Sunflower.

This bright blue metal charger came from Pier 1 several years ago.

This flatware is labeled, Made in Italy, Inox. It was made by Zaffiro and I think I bought it on sale online at Horchow several years ago. I have the set in a few other colors as well. I love the intense deep blue color.

I found the beach umbrella napkins on Etsy and the beach ball napkin rings as well. The napkin rings were custom made for me after I bought some other napkin rings and mentioned to the seller that I was looking for beach ball ones too.

I really wanted a beach ball place card holder. I finally found these small plastic beach balls at Oriental Trading online a few years ago and figured that I could use them. (You do have to blow them up.) They could be given as party favors as well. I used my colored place cards that I found on Amazon.

These cobalt blue and yellow goblets were made by Noritake and the pattern was called Perspective. They were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay several years ago. This pattern came in other colors, I have them in sage green also. Ebay often has this pattern for sale in various colors. It is difficult to find yellow goblets and I was glad to find these.

I had seen some female swimmer figures that I could use as a centerpiece several places online but they were really expensive. I went over to HomeGoods a few years ago and I was lucky enough to find this one. She is sitting on a blue drink dispenser stand from Pottery Barn that I bought a few years ago.

Time for the beach!

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 for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

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

Vintage Strawberry Plates on a Summer Tablescape

July 22, 2021 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have been wanting to use these vintage Cemar strawberry plates on a tablescape for a long long time. The problem was their color, kind of a mauve dark pink. I have lots of strawberry items but they are all red. I had to wait until I could find something to match them. The green tablecloth probably came from HomeGoods or Amazon, I have had it for several years.

I found these Cemar pink strawberry shaped plates on Ebay many many years ago, way before I started tablescaping. My daughter’s friends called her Strawberry when she was growing up because of her auburn hair and my mother loved strawberries so they became a favorite of mine to collect. I gathered them a few at a time as I found them. Cemar was a California Pottery company in business from about 1940 to 1955. The company was a part of a large growth in the sale of California pottery during World War II when imports from Asia were restricted or banned.

I was lucky enough to find both salad and dinner plates in this pattern. I found some bowls as well.

This charger was made by Mikasa, it is Color Spectrum in Hunter Green. If you read my blog you have seen this charger in several different colors.

I think I might use this flatware set more than any other color I have. It was called Madeline Green and I bought it at World Market several years ago. I really like the frosted design on the handles and this shade of green goes well with many color schemes.

When I was inventorying my napkins I discovered this napkin set. I had forgotten that I had them because I hadn’t taken a photo of one yet. As I was pulling this tablescape together I was trying to figure out what napkins to use (all my strawberry napkins have red strawberries) and I suddenly remembered these mauve napkins. I probably bought them at HomeGoods, I have had them for several years. I found the pink strawberry napkin rings on Ebay a couple months ago. They have no markings. I knew they would work with these plates but they were more than I wanted to pay because there were 16 of them. I offered less (sometimes that works) but the seller refused so I kept looking. I finally came back to them because I couldn’t find any strawberry napkin rings that weren’t red. I knew if I didn’t get these, I probably wouldn’t use these strawberry plates on a tablescape for some time if ever.

Because I had so many, I fudged a bit and I used a napkin ring as a place card holder. They are freestanding so they worked. I knew I would never find anything that matched otherwise!

The green acrylic goblet on the left came from our Pier 1 store before it closed. Dollar stores often have this goblet in different colors. I looked for tall pink goblets for a couple of years and suddenly World Market had these pink glass goblets a couple years ago. They sold out quickly so others must have been looking for them too. I like the tallness of both these goblets.

I found a vintage cream and sugar set several years ago to match the plates but not a teapot. Just as well, I have no room for one!

I also found a couple vintage salt and pepper sets that matched.

Cookie jars are one of my go-to centerpieces and I was lucky to find this Cemar strawberry cookie jar that matched the plates several years ago. I have it sitting on a white drink dispenser stand from Pottery Barn. I added a small green doily for more definition.

I didn’t put the matching cup and saucer on the table because they are always to be placed on the table after the meal but I wanted to show one. I found them on Ebay several years ago too.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

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

Tablescaping DIY, Part 5, Storage-Napkin Rings and Place Card Holders

July 20, 2021 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

Writing Tablescaping DIY posts a bit out of order, skipped to Storage for this one, will get back to writing about the different parts of the tablescape later. Since I started tablescaping and posting tablescaping photos online many people have asked me how and where I store everything. My system evolved as my collection increased in size. This is a photo of a corner of my study. While it isn’t a particularly pretty area, it works very well for me and I am the only one who comes in here most of the time. I spend a lot of my time in here on the computer doing genealogical research and planning tablescapes. Online you will see gorgeous photos of shelves with perfectly staged minimalist decor, that’s not me. I like to be surrounded by all my bits and pieces. This room was my daughter’s bedroom until she grew up and moved out, it isn’t very large. We added custom built in floor to ceiling book shelves mostly for all my genealogy books but many of them were out of date so I weeded the collection to create space for my napkin rings and place card holders. I use clear shoe box sized plastic containers and I label the end. I like them because I can see what is inside. We bought them on Amazon and at The Container Store. If I were a perfectionist I would create and print out labels to use but I just wanted to get them organized quickly so I could find things. Before they were scattered all over the house and I wasted a lot of time looking for things.

We had the custom book shelves turn the corner and had them put a large desk area in the corner for me so I could spread out all my paperwork when I am doing genealogy research. It created a large space underneath and to the right you can see more containers of napkin rings and place card holders. To the left are boxes of table scatter and other miscellaneous table decorations. To the left of the boxes are my containers of flatware. I will talk about them in another post. I feel lucky that I have this space that is out of the way but easily accessible.

The containers are arranged by holiday, theme, or color. These are my Christmas napkin rings and place card holders. Keep in mind I have been tablescaping for 10 years, lots of stuff!

Above Christmas you can see some nautical and ocean themed containers and some containers arranged by color or metal.

I have inventoried all of these napkin rings and place card holders. Each one has a photo and a record of how many I have. I have the information stored in folders on my computer. The folders are arranged by holiday, theme, or color. I can easily look at the photos and think about the tablescape that I want to create. I am still working on inventorying other tablescape items. People often ask me how many I have of things and I always say I don’t know. Once I have inventoried them I do know but I don’t say!

Hope this gives you a few ideas about tablescaping storage!

To see over 260 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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Don’t miss the Tablescape How-To tab at the top of my blog for DIY tips and tricks.

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