Books on a Fall Tablescape

August 08, 2024 by Beth Wilson

Since many are starting back to school soon I decided to do a Books themed tablescape. I did a schoolhouse themed tablescape another year, you can see that one here. I love some of Spoonflower’s tablecloth designs but I have only bought one in the past because they cost more than I want to spend but they were having a sale a few years ago and I saw this Staxx Books tablecloth online. As a retired librarian I felt that I must have it! (I bought another one on sale too, you will see that one on a blog post later.) I love the bold graphics and bright colors. Their fabrics are thick and they wash and iron well.

I bought this book shaped white plate in four different sizes several years ago online from Webstaurantstore.com. They still have them for sale but unfortunately you have to buy a case of the plates because the web site is a restaurant supply store. Find a friend or two to share the cost with! I bought them anyway because I felt a librarian who does tablescaping should have these plates! (I was still working at the time.) They are labeled CAC China. If you google book shaped plate you might find some at another site. This white appetizer plate is on top of the plate stack.

The salad plate is the same design but a bit larger. I like the bright white color of these plates.

The dinner plate is a bit larger than that. I used this plate a few years ago on a reading and witches themed Halloween tablescape. You can see that tablescape here.

I needed a basic square black charger and I found these on Amazon a few years ago. They are melamine and they are made by American Atelier. I think you can find them in other stores too. If you are a tablescaper, it’s a good idea to have basic plates in neutral colors that you can use over and over again. To read about what you should consider when you are buying charger plates please click here.

I wanted another set of black flatware that was all black and different from my Ginkgo International LePrix set to use on a Halloween tablescape and I found this set a few years ago on sale at Macy’s online. It was made by Lenox and the pattern is called Portola. I love the simple design and shiny black color. I suspect this set will get a lot of use. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

These A to Z napkin rings are homemade. I bought the unfinished wooden letters at Michael’s and Hubby painted them black for me and then glued the letters together. Then I temporarily attached the letters to some black napkin rings I have with masking tape. The letters A and Z are on the tablecloth so I wanted to match them. You can read about other homemade napkin ring ideas here. The lime green cotton napkins came from Pier 1 several years ago before our store closed. I added them to match the green color on the tablecloth.

I love these tiny typewriter place card holders. I have had them for a few years and I have been waiting for a chance to use them on a tablescape. I found them at The Knot Shop online.

The lime green goblet on the left is my go-to goblet when I need that color for a tablescape. They came from Pier 1 several years ago. I have black goblets that are shorter than the black goblet on the right and black goblets that are much taller than this goblet but I wanted goblets this height. I was delighted to find these black plastic ones on Amazon a few years ago. It said that they were disposable but I plan to keep them for a while until I can find some glass black ones that are the same height. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets (including the colors I use the most) for your tablescaping collection here.

I knew I wanted to use black letters for the centerpiece to match the black letters on the tablecloth and I was looking at single letters but I found this a and z wood book end set on Amazon a few years ago. They were blue and white but Hubby painted them black for me. I have books in every room in the house and I went around and looked for books with covers that were the same colors as some of the book covers on the tablecloth. It caused an unusual collection of subjects!

I love this tablecloth and the color combination of black and white and lime green.

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

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We are planning a gathering for tablescapers in January in the Los Angeles area..

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!

This blog post was featured at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, https://www.mizhelenscountrycottage.com/ , The Cottage Market, https://thecottagemarket.com/ and My Wee Abode, https://myweeabode.com/ Please visit these blogs for lots of great ideas!

A Lighthouse Summer Tablescape

July 31, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I love lighthouses and this is the fourth lighthouses tablescape that I have created. This tablescape is a bit of a combination of two others that I did in the past few years with a few changes. I found the polyester lighthouses and sail boats tablecloth on Amazon a few years ago.

This lighthouse porcelain salad plate set was made by American Atelier at Home and the pattern was called Signals. They were made between 2000 and 2006 but they can be found online still on the secondary market. There are four different lighthouse designs in the set but I only used two designs on this table setting. I bought the plates on Ebay a few years ago. I love the colors and the map design around the rim of the plates. The lighthouse on this salad plate is at Cape Neddick, near York, Maine.

The other lighthouses in this plate set are West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine ( I used this one also on this tablescape), Split Rock Lighthouse near Silver Bay, Minnesota, and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The dinner plate on this lighthouses tablescape is part of our every day dishes set. It is a Scarlet dinner plate made by Fiesta. I bought them at Macys a few years ago when we remodeled our kitchen and the kitchen became a red and white kitchen. I have this dinner plate in several different colors and I use them often on my tablescapes.

The camera has really elongated this blue glass charger in this photo. It is one of my favorite chargers and I often use it on my beach and ocean themed tablescapes. I bought them when I first started tablescaping several years ago. They are a heavy blue 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. I am not sure where I found them online. I have this charger in a few other colors as well.

This Milano Red flatware set is called Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for years but it is still for sale. I am 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.

This red cotton napkin came from Pier 1 several years ago. I found the lighthouse napkin rings on Ebay a few years ago, they were a set with a couple of different designs. From time to time I search Ebay for napkin rings and I always seem to find some interesting ones. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I found these ceramic Kate Aspen lighthouse place card holders on Ebay a few years ago. There were a few different designs in the set and you can see one of the other designs across the table in this photo. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

I think the red glass goblet on the left 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. I only bought six and I wish now that I had bought more. The blue glass goblet on the right came from Hobby Lobby a few years ago. It is the perfect blue color for many of my ocean themed tablescapes. 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 first created a lighthouse themed tablescape a few years ago I knew that I wanted to use a lighthouse for a centerpiece and I found this lighthouse cookie jar on Ebay. It is sitting on a dark blue drink dispenser stand from Pottery Barn that I bought several years ago, to give it more height. If you read my blog you have seen several cookie jars that I have used as centerpieces. They are the best dimensions for use as centerpieces.

I remembered that I used these lighthouse tea light candle holders on one of the earlier lighthouse tablescapes that I did so I added one on each side of the lighthouse centerpiece. I’m not sure where I bought them. I have had them for several years.

I love lighthouses!

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!

This blog post was featured at Life and Linda, https://www.lifeandlinda.com/ Please visit this blog, you will enjoy it!

A Pineapple Delight Summer Tablescape

July 24, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I can’t remember how the idea for this tablescape started. I have had the pineapple centerpiece for a couple of years now and I have had the idea of a pineapple tablescape in the back of my mind since I got it. I found the Ambesonne yellow and white pineapple tablecloth on Amazon a few weeks ago.

You can see the tablecloth design better in this photo.

I did a Google search looking for pineapple salad plates a few weeks ago and these plastic pineapple bowls popped up on Etsy. I love the bright yellow color.

There are certain color combinations that seem to appear often on my tablescapes and yellow and green is one of those combinations. I love the way they look together. This dinner plate is a Fiesta dinner plate in the color Shamrock. The Fiesta color Shamrock has been discontinued but you can still find them on the secondary market. I have this plate pattern in several different colors and I use them often on my plate stacks. I bought this one several years ago, maybe online at the Fiesta site.

I love the bright yellow color on this charger. It is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is called Sun Yellow. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time as I saw them because I loved the quality and the color. They were discontinued at some point. I have this charger in several colors and I use them often.

Seems like every time I use this frosted green flatware I get questions and comments about it. It is called Madeline Green and I bought the set at World Market several years ago. If you google frosted flatware and add the color you are looking for, you will find similar sets. I use this green flatware often in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. If you are a tablescaper, this is a color that you should have in your flatware collection. You will use it often. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I think these green cotton napkins probably came from Pier 1 or HomeGoods many years ago. I love the bright green color. I found the pineapple napkin rings on Ebay a few weeks ago. They were orange but Hubby painted them yellow for me and repainted the green leaves.

These yellow metal pineapple tablecloth clips came from Oriental Trading online. Hubby painted them a different yellow color and then cut off part of the metal clip so I could use them as place card holders. They are sitting on a clear glass square place card holder.

These green goblets are both acrylic. I bought the green goblet on the left a couple of years ago online at Home Depot. They are made by Certified International and they come in other colors too. The one on the right came from our Pier 1 store before it closed several years ago. If you are a tablescaper, this is a color that you should have in your goblet collection. You will use it often. 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 heavy plastic wicker pineapple came from HomeGoods several years ago. It needed a bit more substance to it so after much trial and error I added leaves from our bird of paradise plant to it, after painting them a brighter green, to beef it up a bit. The pineapple is sitting on a green drink dispenser stand that I bought at Pottery Barn several years ago.

I added a pineapple salt and pepper set to the table that I found on Amazon last week.

For another pop of green I added my Circle Depression Glass salt and pepper set to the table also.

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!

This blog post was shared at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, https://www.mizhelenscountrycottage.com/ Please visit this blog for lots of great recipes!

An African Safari Summer Tablescape

July 16, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I had been seeing tablescapes with this theme from time to time over the years and I was never interested in creating one myself. But as I was gathering things for a different African animal themed tablescape I saw these plates and I really liked the design so I searched around to see if I could find enough things that I liked to create an African Animals tablescape and here it is. I found the beige tablecloth at HomeGoods a few years ago. It has a slight brown tweed design.

These African animal dinner plates came from Ebay a few months ago. I bought them in a set of six with an elephant, giraffe, cheetah, zebra, lion, and Thomson’s gazelle. The back of the plate is marked Chase, African Portraits. It says, “The wild continent of Africa is the last great refuge of the remnants of a golden age of mammals The unequaled array of wild creatures that survive today continue to lure the photographer to capture a magnificent image.” This series is called Mammals and the designs were copyrighted by Lynn Chase Designs in 1995. A portion of the sale of these Chase Products when they were first sold went to the Chase Wildlife Foundation. They would not be used for food and they would be removed before food is served.

I bought these Mason stoneware beige larger dinner plates at Pottery Barn a few years ago. The color was called wheat. You can read about what you need to think about when you are buying dinner plates here.

These bronze hammered charger plates came from Williams Sonoma several years ago. I really like the hammered design and they are a nice weight. I knew they would be a great color for this tablescape. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers click here.

This marblelized light brown and cream flatware set is marked EM3 Inox 18/10, Made in Italy. I can’t remember where I bought the set online, I have had it for a few years. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

These Utopia Home brown polyester napkins came from Amazon a few years ago. I usually like to buy napkins that are 20” by 20” and these are 17” by 17” but I decided to get them anyway. I found these African animal pottery napkin rings on Ebay. They are Ros Byrne Designs by Delicate Dugga Pottery and it looks like they were originally sold in Harare, Zimbabwe.

I found four of these napkin rings on Ebay a few months ago and I didn’t buy them because I figured that I would never be able to find the other two but I kept searching on Ebay and five more popped up together so I quickly bought them all. I would like to buy a few other different animals but it looks like they are not for sale anymore from the original source. I have a weakness for napkin rings and I have a large collection but I love finding unique sets like this one. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I was going to use small plastic African animals like the ones I used on the centerpiece for place card holders on this tablescape but then I found these small African animal candles. I bought them at Beau Coup online a few months ago and they were called Born to be Wild Animal Candles.

To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

The brown glass goblet on the left was made by Lenox between 1966 and 1985. It was called Antique Brown. I bought them on Ebay many years ago. It is really difficult to find a brown glass goblet and I am so glad that I found them. The beige glass goblet on the right came from Z Gallerie online a few 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 struggled with the centerpiece for this tablescape. I really wanted some kind of figure or sculpture that had a few different African animals but everything that I found was either too expensive or really ugly. So I found these Bolzra Safari Zoo Animal toys on Amazon and I bought them. (They can go in the grandkids’ toy box after.) They are painted really well and the animal shapes are realistic. I set them on a long wooden box that Hubby made for me and painted for another tablescape that I did a few years ago.

I added two sets of salt and peppers to the table, this one came from Amazon a few weeks ago.

This Pacific Giftware giraffe salt and pepper set came from Amazon as well. They have magnets to hold them together if wanted.

The center table runner came from Amazon as well and it is called Alaza Double-Sided African Decor Table Runner. I really like how it adds an African vibe to the tablescape.

This was a fun and unique tablescape to create.

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 in January in the Los Angeles area..

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!

This blog post was featured at Country Road 407, https://www.countyroad407.com/ Please visit this blog, you will enjoy it!