A Crabby Tablescape for Summer

July 03, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

We live about a mile and a half as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean. During the summer months I seem to lean toward creating ocean and beach themed tablescapes. I really don’t do them any other time of the year so I save up my ideas from year to year for the summer months. I created my first red crab tablescape five years ago then I did another different one four years ago, and another different one three years ago. If you read my blog, you can see how they all changed in design over time. Last year I did a white crab tablescape. You can see that one here. It has a very different vibe from this one. This Crabby Summer Tablescape with red crabs is closest in design to the one that I did five years ago. I have wanted to repeat that tablescape with some changes for a while. I found the red and blue crabs tablecloth on Amazon five years ago. I love the wiggly looking legs.

Many years ago I bought three small vintage crab bowls at a garage sale. I used them on an ocean themed tablescape with other ocean elements. When we were in Virginia five years ago, we were at an antique mall and I found six more vintage bowls with a similar design and one larger matching bowl, all on sale, and I bought them too. These hand-painted vintage crab bowls are marked Made in PV Czechoslovakia. I really like the color and the crab leg design.

A great bowl to use to serve Crab Bisque!

Years ago I was looking all over for salad plates with an all over pattern of red crabs but every plate had one crab or the crabs were silly looking. I was googling crab plates and these popped up from Pfaltzgraff. They were on major sale and they are microwave and dishwasher safe. So the red crabs suddenly became blue crabs and the overall design of that tablescape was tweaked a bit. This happens sometimes with my tables, I can’t find what I need so I substitute something else and change the design.

I bought these large blue dinner plates online several years ago at Ballard Designs, they are called Southern Living. They are about 11 1/2” in diameter, a good size to be either a dinner plate or a charger. I love plates that will work for either! You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying dinner plates here.

This is a charger that Hubby bought at the Dollar Store for me last year 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 Milano Red flatware set is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it. I now have it in other colors as well. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I can’t remember where I bought the cotton royal blue napkins, I have had them for several years. Over the years I have shopped for napkins at HomeGoods, Pier 1, and World Market so they probably came from one of those stores. Several years ago I looked all over for orange-red crab napkin rings with no luck. I found lots of metal and blue ones but nothing the right color. I had bought these small plastic crabs on Amazon to use as table scatter but they were shiny red when they arrived. Hubby was going to spray paint them orange-red for me and my daughter was over and I was telling her about my bad luck finding napkin rings and she suggested that I turn them into napkin rings, genius! So Hubby bought plain wood rings and spray painted the rings and the crabs and we glued the crab to the ring and viola, cheap napkin rings! To read about other ideas for homemade napkin rings please click here.

I love these metal red crab place card holders, I found them at Pottery Barn five years ago. They were a blue red and Hubby painted them orange red for me to use on a tablescape. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

The acrylic cobalt blue goblet on the left came from Pier 1 several years ago. Hubby found the red glass goblets on the right at an estate sale a few years ago. I think they are hand blown Ruby Red Bubble Glass Goblets made by Artland. 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 saw this large cast aluminum crab online at Grandin Road two years ago and I knew it would make a great centerpiece someday. I think it is supposed to be yard art. It had a weathered copper finish but Hubby painted it red for me. The crab centerpiece is sitting on a small wood stand I bought online at Pier 1 a few years ago. The stand was natural wood but Hubby painted it white for me.

I found this crab salt and pepper set on Ebay a few years ago. I like to add a bit of whimsy to my tablescapes sometimes. Ebay is a great place to find interesting salt and pepper sets.

Time to find a delicious crab bisque recipe!

To see 260+ other tablescapes that I have created including 25 other different ocean themed tablescapes 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 next year in January.

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

A Tablescape for the 4th of July

June 26, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

This is a repeat of a 4th of July tablescape that I did three years ago but I made some changes to this one. I have had this tablecloth for many years. I bought it with the matching napkins at Pottery Barn many years ago. I love primary colors and my 4th of July tablescapes are always true primary colors, red, white, and blue but when I saw this tablecloth I decided to create a table with colors that were more of a country style.

Hubby found these stoneware salad and matching dinner plates at our local Habitat for Humanity store last year. The flag on wood design was copyrighted by Warren Kimble, and the plates are marked Sakura Casual Dining by Oneida. The pattern was called Colonial. These plates were made with a black edge and also without it. They were produced starting in 1997 and they are now discontinued. You can find them online on the secondary market.

The dinner plate has a white center instead of a design that covers the entire plate.

This charger was made by Mikasa and it is called Color Spectrum in Navy Blue. I love this charger, it is heavy and a great true navy blue color. I have several of these chargers in other colors as well that I bought a few at a time on Ebay over several years.

This flatware is marked D & D Inox, made in Italy. I bought the flatware set online at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale many years ago. I really liked this pattern and it was a really good sale so I have the same pattern in dark caramel, wine red, and dark aqua. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

When I buy a tablecloth I seldom buy the matching napkins because I don’t want to spend the extra money when I have so many solid color napkin sets already but I did buy them with this tablecloth because I wanted that look. I didn’t use a napkin ring here because I wanted a more formal looking place setting.

I can’t remember where I bought these metal star place card holders. I have had them for many years. The set came with three navy blue, three red, three turquoise, and three white stars in the set. I used the red and the navy blue stars on this tablescape.

I think these simple red glass goblets came from Crate and Barrel a few years ago. I had been looking for some simple red goblets and I grabbed these when I saw them online. Now I wish I had ordered more of them. The acrylic cobalt blue goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago. 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.

When I created a similar tablescape to this one before, I was trying to find something to use as a centerpiece and I remembered that I had this patriotic ceramic shallow bowl. It is marked on the back sweet olive designs. I stood it on a fake book decorated with stars and stripes. Because the centerpiece is so tall it will be removed before the food is served so that people can see each other to talk. Both the bowl and the book are the same colors as the table linens and plates that are on the table. They were part of some Americana decorations in our family room before we redecorated many years ago. I have had them both for many years and I can’t remember where I found them but it was probably at a local gift shop that I loved that closed several years ago.

I added two small wood flags that I found at Michaels a few weeks ago on each side of the centerpiece.

I’ll let you in on a little secret about this tablecloth. When I pulled it out and put it on the table the first time that I used it to try it out I realized that it was way too wide and the blue stars border wouldn’t show on either side. Hubby helped me fold it in the center just so and line it up so the blue borders matched on each side of the table. The fold is on one of the center stripes and it doesn’t show at all. (I ironed it down so that helped.) Sometimes really large tablecloths are cheaper because people usually have smaller tables so it is good to remember that you might be able to fold them down or cut them down in some way.

To see 260+ other tablescapes that I have created including 15 other different 4th of July tablescapes 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 Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, https://www.mizhelenscountrycottage.com/ Please visit this blog for lots of great recipes!

A Cool Summer Tablescape

June 19, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

This Popsicle Tablescape idea started when I saw the two melting popsicles that are on the table at Michaels last month. Over the years I had seen popsicle plates from time to time and I knew I could probably find some so I bought the melting popsicles. I googled popsicle tablecloth and this Ambesonne Ice Cream Tablecloth popped up on Amazon. I love the bright colors for a Summer tablecloth.

When I googled popsicle plate, these C&C california melamine salad plates popped up on Ebay. They came in a set of four; yellow, green, blue, and red, and I used three of the designs on this Popsicle tablescape. The one I didn’t use has watermelon colors.

I wanted the plate stack to pick up some of the colors of the popsicles on the tablecloth so I decided to use green and yellow plates. This green dinner plate was called Fun Factory and it was made by Waechtersbach. I have had them for several years and I can’t remember where I bought them. I think the color was called Apple Green. You can read about what you need to think about when you are buying dinner plates here.

This is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow and I love how bright it is. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time over several years because I loved the quality and the colors. I have them in several colors now. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers, please click here.

This orange flatware is labeled Mepra Inox and the pattern is called Fantasia. We bought it on sale at Houzz online last month but several stores sell it. I also have this flatware in blue and yellow. It comes in several other colors also and it is difficult to find flatware sets in different colors so I have my eye on a few other colors as well when it goes on sale again. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I looked for popsicle napkin rings with no success but I finally found these wood ones on Etsy last month. They were natural wood but Hubby painted them yellow, orange, and green for me. I attached them temporarily to plastic napkin rings that I already had. I can’t remember where I got them, I have had them for several years. I think the blue napkins came from Pier 1 several years ago.

I found these standing popsicles on Etsy last month and I knew that I could use them as place card holders on this tablescape.

I am using some of my favorite goblets on this tablescape. The green glass goblet on the left came from Pier 1 several 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 the right on Etsy a couple of years ago I immediately bought them. I love the color and the size of them. 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.

This popsicles centerpiece was a challenge to make but Hubby did a fantastic job on it. I knew what I wanted and he made it happen. I bought these natural wood popsicles on Etsy last month from the same seller that sold the popsicles that I used as napkin rings. Hubby painted them and built the white stand they stand on and then we placed it on a square white stand that I already had. I scattered popsicle cabochons that I also bought on Etsy across the white stands to break up the white expanse of color a bit.

This melting popsicle and the other one in different colors are what started the idea for this tablescape. I was in Michaels last month and I saw a summer display in the distance and I walked over and suddenly saw these popsicles and grabbed them! I love them with this popsicle tablecloth!

It is such a bright and happy tablescape for Summertime!

To see 260+ 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 and Table Settings 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 Life and Linda, https://www.lifeandlinda.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!

A California Poppies Tablescape

June 12, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have always loved California Poppies and I have wanted to create a California Poppies tablescape for several years now but it took me a few years to gather it all together. I found this California Poppies tablecloth at Spoonflower online a few months ago. You can find tablecloths with poppies on them but California Poppies have a distinctive look, color, and shape, and I was so happy to find this tablecloth at Spoonflower online. I love Spoonflower tablecloths but this is the last one I will buy there. They have recently raised their prices and their tablecloths are now just too expensive.

I have looked for six salad plates to match this design for a few years now. I need six settings for my tablescapes and I just couldn’t find the last two plates with this design. If you look at the entire table closely you will see that a few of the plates don’t match the others. I finally found a fifth plate that was larger than the other four, (it is shown here) and another plate larger than this one with handles and I decided to go ahead and do the tablescape with them. Sometimes if you look closely at my tables there is an odd plate or two in the back of the photo that doesn’t exactly match the other salad plates when I can’t find six that match. If you look closely at the first photo here you can see the three different salad plate designs. One plate is smaller than the plate in front and the other one in the back left has handles. All the plates have a hand-painted poppy design on them and they are signed by the artist. This one is signed K. Obet and on the back of the plate it is labeled P.T., Bavaria, California Poppy, Handpainted. It is vintage 1920. The other salad plates are marked the same or Nippon, Handpainted. These plates are not to be used for food, they are just for show and they would be removed before the food is served.

This is a Fiesta dinner plate and the color is Butterscotch. I bought them a few years ago on sale at Smith’s in Salt Lake City. I bought six and now I wish I had bought more. I have this dinner plate in several different colors now and they are in constant use on my tablescapes. You can read about what you need to think about when you are buying dinner plates here.

I bought these iced glass sage colored chargers at Pier 1 several years ago after I saw them on another blog. I love using them in the spring and the fall. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers click here.

I am 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. It is one of my most used flatware sets. If you are developing a tablescaping collection be sure to find some flatware in a green color like this set. You will use it often! You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I think I bought these green cotton napkins at either World Market or Pier 1 several years ago. I can’t remember where I found these orange wood napkin rings but it may have been Ebay. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I decided to use my Oleg Cassini clear glass place card holders on this tablescape so that the tablecloth colors would show through. I bought them at HomeGoods several years ago when I first started tablescaping. They are heavy and solid and I really like the simple design. It’s handy to have a clear place card holder to use when you don’t have one to match your colors and theme. Whatever color or colors the tablecloth is will show through. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

The green acrylic goblet on the left came from Pier 1 several years ago. 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 found the California Poppies glass on the right at an antique mall in Cayucos on a trip up the coast a few months ago. I saw two in one store and I was so disappointed that there weren’t six so I moved on but at the next store, suddenly there were six for sale together! Serendipity! I really don’t think that they are vintage but I love them.

I found these California Poppies at Silk Flower Depot online. It was the only place I could find poppies that actually looked like California Poppies. 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 and it is very special to me.

I have a funny story about California Poppies. They are wildflowers and they can grow everywhere. In the spring the California hills can be full of them. And you can find them on the side of the road, in sidewalk cracks, a patch of dirt, anywhere, they just seem to grow wherever. I love them and I have tried to plant them from seed several times with absolutely no luck, no luck at all. It has gotten to be a family joke. They are everywhere but I can’t grow them. So, instead I created a tablescape full of them!

To see 260+ 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!