A Starfish Summer Tablescape

May 02, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

Summer is just around the corner so it’s time for an ocean themed tablescape. I love starfish and I did a starfish tablescape four years ago but this one is a bit different. A couple of interesting facts about starfish; they can live up to 35 years and they have no brain and no blood. There are about 2,000 different species of sea stars (starfish). I found this starfish tablecloth at HomeGoods earlier this year. It was made by Sigrid Olsen Home.

I found these Akcam Iridescent Turkish Glass Starfish Plates on Ebay a couple of months ago. I love the different colors and they match the tablecloth too.

This is a Fiesta White dinner plate. I found them on sale in Salt Lake City on a trip there a couple of years ago.

This is one of my favorite glass chargers. I bought them when I first started tablescaping. They are a heavy blue glass and I love the color and the tweed like design in the glass. They are made by Villeroy and Boch and the pattern is Verona. Not sure where I found them online. I have this charger in a few other colors as well. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers, please click here.

I have had this frosted blue flatware set for a few years. It is labeled D & D Inox in Italy. It was made by Vietri and the pattern is Aladdin Brilliant in light blue. (Don’t mix it up with Aladdin Antique, that stainless set has a darker matte finish on the stainless.) I bought this set at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale several years ago. There are similar frosted patterns available for sale online now. I have other frosted flatware sets from different companies and I use them often. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I have several different blue napkins but often I don’t have the right shade for a table setting. It took two tries on Amazon before I got this color right two years ago. I needed this color for my napkin collection anyway. I wish computer monitors were better at showing colors correctly. I found these silver finish metal napkin rings at Bella Coastal Decor online a couple of months ago. Hubby painted them blue for me and I didn’t realize that they would be a perfect match for the napkins.

To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I found these white starfish place card holders on Etsy last month. I was going to paint them blue but I decided to leave them as is. The place cards came from Amazon a few years ago. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

I’m not sure where I found the blue glass goblet on the left but I love this shade of blue. The blue and green glass goblet on the right was one of the first goblets that I bought when I started tablescaping and I can’t remember where I found them. The pattern is called Bormioli Rocco Bahia. The blue and green color goes perfectly with this tablescape. I see this pattern on Ebay from time to time. 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.

I think this starfish stack came from Michaels. It was a white gray color and Hubby painted it blue for me. I really like the design on the stars. I set it on a white wood cake stand and added some small starfish and sea glass to the base.

This is the thirtieth ocean themed tablescape that I have done over the past ten years. Because we are about a mile and a half as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean I seem to be drawn to that theme sometimes.

To see 220+ 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.

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We are planning a gathering for tablescapers sometime early next year.

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

This blog post was featured at The Cottage Market, https://thecottagemarket.com/ Please visit this blog, you will enjoy it!

A Petal Power Tablescape for Spring

April 25, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have had this cotton tablecloth for many years and I have wanted to use it on a tablescape for a long long time. I finally decided that it was now or never. Many years ago I collected vintage tablecloths and I found most of them on Ebay. This one probably came from there. I don’t think that it is vintage. It has a label that indicates that it may have been made in Brazil.

The colors on the tablecloth dictated what colors I used on the tablescape.

I knew that I wanted to use three different colors of plate stacks on this tablescape to match the tablecloth but I wanted the top plate on the plate stack to be the same plate on each setting and I wanted it to be a plate that was full of flowers. Luckily I had this plate already with the right colors on it. I used it two years ago on another Spring tablescape. I like to check the Sur La Table website online from time to time, I have bought salad plates and napkin sets from there on sale in the past. Sometimes they have really cute plate designs. I found these small Jardin Floral porcelain appetizer plates there two years ago and they looked just like Spring to me. I like all the different flower colors and designs.

Two of the table settings on this tablescape have yellow items. The dinner plates on this tablescape are all Fiesta plates in different colors. This color is called Sunflower. I have this plate in several different colors now and I use them often.

How I love the bright yellow on this charger. If you read my blog you have seen many chargers in this pattern in different colors over the years. This is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time several years ago because I loved the quality and the colors. I have this pattern in several different colors.

I really like this flatware set, it is well made and a strong bright yellow color. The knife is marked MEPRA INOX. I found the set at Pottery Barn a few years ago. Pottery Barn calls it Fantasia Italian. The set is made in Italy and is 18/10 stainless. Pottery Barn has this set in fourteen other colors and I have my eye on a few of the other colors if they go on sale for a good price. It is difficult to find flatware that is good quality in different colors. The five piece place setting also include a much smaller spoon. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

To make things easier I decided to use colored flowers on the napkin rings and place card holders. I found all the faux flowers at Michaels. The clear acrylic vase napkin rings came from Amazon last year. They were made by Deco-Mate. I love being able to add small flower arrangements to these napkin rings depending on what is on the tablescape. The red plaid napkin is marked DII (Design Imports) for the Home. I think I bought them at HomeGoods a few years ago.

I picked these white vase place card holders for this tablescape so that I could put faux flowers in them as you can see here. I really love these small vase place card holders. They often appear on my Spring tablescapes. I bought them on Amazon four years ago.

It can be difficult to find yellow glass goblets that don’t have a gold tint to them so when I saw these yellow goblets on Etsy two years ago I immediately bought them. I love the color and the size of them. I suspect that they are vintage but I am not sure of the maker or the pattern. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection here.

Two of the table settings on this tablescape have red items. This Fiesta Scarlet dinner plate is one of our every day dinner plates. We bought them when we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago.

This is a charger that Hubby bought at the Dollar Store for me last December and I had him spray-paint it a bright Christmas red to use on a Christmas tablescape. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers, please click here.

This red flatware set is Ginkgo LePrix in Milano Red. It was one of the first flatware sets that I bought when I started tablescaping several years ago. I can’t remember where I bought the set. I use it often when I need a more informal red flatware set for a tablescape. I have this set in other colors now as well.

These red glass goblets match the yellow goblets on this tablescape except for a slight difference in the shape of the stem and the color. These goblets might be made by Artland and called Iris Ruby Red. I think Hubby found them at an estate sale.

Two of the table settings on this tablescape have blue items. I wanted to add Cobalt Blue Fiesta dinner plates to my tablescaping collection for a while and I finally bought some online at Everything Kitchens LLC four years ago. This pattern was our everyday dishes pattern before we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. They were really worn so we replaced them with red ones after we finished the kitchen because the kitchen design is white with red accents. I knew that they would be a good match for this tablescape.

This charger was made by Mikasa and the pattern was called Color Spectrum. They came in several different colors and this color was Royal Blue, I love this shade of blue. I bought them on Ebay several years ago, a few at a time as I saw them until I had the number that I wanted.

This flatware is labeled SR 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 cobalt blue color. Over the years I bought six different colors because I love the way it looks.

In this photo you can see the hole in the napkin ring where flowers can be placed.

These acrylic cobalt blue goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago. I have this goblet in several different colors made in both glass and acrylic and it is one of my favorite goblet shapes and size.

I went to Michael’s recently and found red, blue, and yellow faux flowers for the centerpiece on this tablescape. The large white pottery vase is one of a pair that I inherited from my mother. She received them as a wedding present in 1938. I have used this vase several times on my tablescapes.

I added a Fiesta salt and pepper set in the color Scarlet to the tablescape.

I also added a Fiesta butter dish to the table in the color Cobalt Blue.

Can you tell that I love bright colors?

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

Once Upon a Castle Tablescape

April 18, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have been thinking about this tablescape for a long long time, it has just taken me a while to gather it all together. I found the castle tablecloth on Spoonflower online on sale a few months ago. I found the salad plates first and then I started looking for a tablecloth and this one was perfect.

I love the outline of a castle on it with fireworks above.

These collector plates are not meant to be used for food. They would be removed before food is served. I love this image of the castle at Disneyland with Tinkerbell. It took me a long time to find six of these plates to use on this tablescape. I found them one or two at a time at various sites online and I had to keep looking for a while. They are called “Sleeping Beauty Castle” and they were made exclusively for the Disneyland Theme Park. There is a similar version with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in front of the castle that is more common but I liked this one better. It does come in a smaller size so I had to be careful to buy the correct 7 1/2 inch size.

I found this turquoise melamine dinner plate at HomeGoods a few years ago. It matches one of the blues in the tablecloth perfectly. I like bright colors and this is a pretty bright turquoise color.

It is difficult to see this purple glass charger because the tablecloth pattern is showing through from underneath. This is one of my favorite glass chargers. I bought them when I first started tablescaping. They are a heavy purple glass and I love the color and the tweed like design in the glass. They were made by Villeroy and Boch and the pattern was called Verona. Not sure where I found them online. They have been discontinued but you can find them online on the secondary market. I have this charger in a few other colors as well. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers, please click here.

This flatware is labeled SR Showroom Italy. It was made by Zaffiro and I think I bought it on sale online at Horchow several years ago. The color is called Violet and this pattern has been discontinued. I really liked the simple design so I bought it in six other colors as well over a few years. It is 18/10 stainless and a nice heavy set. The pieces are really longer in length than normal flatware. I have mentioned this before. If you are buying flatware and it isn’t 18/10 stainless always check the fork tines to make sure they have been filed enough and aren’t too sharp. Cheaper flatware often has this problem. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I think these cotton napkins came from Pier 1 several years ago, I love the intense bright turquoise color. I wasn’t sure what I could find for a napkin ring for this tablescape. My daughter has an annual pass to Disneyland and she goes often so I told her to look for something small that I could attach to a napkin ring and she found these Disneyland pins. Normally I would cut off the pin part and temporarily attach them to a napkin ring but I decided to leave them as a pin and just pin them to the cloth napkin over a plastic napkin ring that I already had. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I found these castles at Walmart online a few months ago. Normally I don’t like to buy things from Walmart online because I have had problems with them in the past but I knew that I could use these castles as place card holders for this tablescape so I took a chance and bought them. At least they arrived in a timely manner this time.

The turquoise acrylic goblet on the left came from Pier 1 several years ago. I have this goblet style in several colors in acrylic and in glass and I use them often. I just found the purple glass goblet on the right at HomeGoods. It is a great match for the purple on this tablecloth. For many years I only had one purple goblet in my tablescaping collection but I have found a few more different styles and shades in the last couple of years. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection here.

I found this Sleeping Beauty Castle Play Set at Downtown Disney in January. We were there with the whole family for lunch. I was looking for a centerpiece for this tablescape and I really wanted a castle and there it was. It actually has lights and movement. My son and his whole family are huge Disney fans and I knew that I could pass it along to them after I used it on a tablescape. It comes with five small figures and two action rides as well.

Donald and Daisy Duck on the Tea Cups ride.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse riding on the Dumbo, the Flying Elephant ride.

Goofy just hanging out.

This one was a fun one to create!

To see 220+ 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!

This blog post was featured at Modern on Monticello, https://modernonmonticello.com/ and My Wee Abode, https://myweeabode.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!

Mother’s Magnolias Spring Tablescape

April 18, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

My mother was very sentimental about magnolias so I knew that eventually I would create a tablescape around them. And she loved roses too so I added them as well. I posted this tablescape a few years ago but I decided to post it again in memory of my mother.

I’ve had this pink tablecloth for several years, I bought it on Ebay I think. I bought the white tureen centerpiece at HomeGoods several years ago. I am always on the lookout for interesting objects that I can use as centerpieces but I have run out of room to store them unfortunately. The pink roses came from Amazon and the magnolia garland from Ebay as well. Someone had used the garland for a wedding and it was just what I was looking for.

I found lots of magnolia salad plates over the years but none that I really liked until I saw these. I watched them at Pier 1 when our store was open for a while until they finally went on sale, these are ironstone. I wish Pier 1’s online store had the kind of merchandise that the physical store had before they all closed.

This photo doesn’t show the correct color of this pink dinner plate. The photo with the small magnolia plate does show the correct color. I saw these plates on another blog and immediately checked HomeGoods (the source) for them with no luck. I had been looking for a basic pink dinner plate for a long time. I have most of the basic colors in dinner plates but I was missing pink. I finally found them at another HomeGoods a month later a few years ago. They were made in Portugal by Matceramica.

This charger was made by Mikasa and it is Color Spectrum in the color sage. I love these chargers, I have them in several colors. They are heavy and a basic design that can be used on any table setting. I bought them a few at a time on Ebay.

This photo shows the colors of the tablecloth and the dinner plate accurately . The small melamine magnolia plate was made by Cameron Designs in Atlanta, Georgia. We bought them in a gift shop on a trip to Savannah, Georgia a few years ago.

This sterling flatware was my mother’s, it was the pattern she registered for when she was married in 1938. I decided to use it on this table because I wanted something a bit more dressy. The flatware was made by Towle and the pattern was called Chased Diana. It was made between 1928 and 1996 but it is still available on the secondary market.

I bought these small pink rose place card holders a few years ago on Ebay. I love searching for vintage place card holders on Ebay, I have found some great ones over the years. These were called Georgian and according to the label, they are fine bone china. The mark on the bottom stands for Marks & Rosenfeld, a US giftware distributor in the 1950's and 1960's that commissioned their own range of ceramics and gift ware.

The pink magnolia napkins are by Kate Spade, I found them a few years ago on Ebay. The magnolia napkin rings are Countess fine bone china and they were made in England. I found them on Ebay too. When I am looking for special themed place card holders and napkin rings I check Amazon first and then Ebay. Then I do a google search for whatever I am looking for because I often find things that way that I wouldn’t find any other way.

The colors in this photo are more accurate than in some of the other photos.

These short sage green glass goblets were made by Noritake and the pattern is called Sweet Swirl in light green. They were made between 1985 and 2005, I bought them on Ebay a few at a time as I saw them. I looked for tall pink goblets for a couple of years and suddenly World Market had them a few years ago. They sold out quickly so others must have been looking for them too.

Leonard Home, 427 Magnolia, San Bernardino 19280001.jpg

One of the reasons my mother was so sentimental about magnolias is this house on Magnolia Avenue in San Bernardino. My grandfather had it built in 1915 and my mother was born in the house the next year. It is still there and it was recently completely remodeled and then sold.

The other reason my mother loved magnolias is this house on Magnolia Avenue in Orange. We lived in this house when my twin brother and I were born in the early 50’s, joining my three older brothers.

This is Mom holding us on the front porch. After my mother moved into a retirement community she had a small magnolia tree planted outside her windows so she could see it every day. (Someone reading the blog tells me that Mom’s dress has a magnolia pattern!)

My mother would have loved seeing this table.

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!