A Night Before Christmas Tablescape

November 20, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

This Night Before Christmas tablescape has been two years in the making. I bought the dinner plates two years ago but other Christmas themes bumped this table setting down on the Christmas themed tablescapes list. I found this BiscayneBay textured forest green tablecloth on Amazon a few years ago. I love the rich deep forest green color.

This series of A Christmas Story porcelain dinner plates was designed by Susan Winget, a designer and artist, and made by Portmeirion Studios. There were both dinner plates and salad plates in the series. I have seventeen different dinner plates with different verses from the well known poem. I didn’t buy any salad plates because they would have covered the design on the dinner plates even though they have their own cute designs. The series was made between 2003 and 2010 and the plates have been discontinued but you can find them on the secondary market. I bought mine from various sources online after google searches. It was a struggle to photograph the plates because of the glare from the lights and the window.

I used my burgundy Mikasa Color Spectrum chargers on this tablescape but this photo shows it as more red than burgundy. The previous photos show the color more accurately. I bought them a few at a time as I found them on Ebay some years ago.

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

The camera is playing tricks again, the polyester napkins are burgundy like the chargers. I’m not sure where I bought these napkins online. The Santa napkin rings came from Ebay a few years ago. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

These reindeer lantern place card holders actually have a switch and they light up. I found them at Pier 1 several years ago. I was really sad when our Pier 1 store closed. I found some wonderful treasures there over the years. Their online store has a poor selection and everything is overpriced. To read about the what, where, and how of place card holders, please click here.

I have had these Waterford ruby red and emerald green old fashioned glasses for several years but this is actually the first time that I have used them on a tablescape. I like to use goblets on my tablescapes but Hubby has been encouraging me to use these since we have them and I decided this would be a good tablescape for them. They were an annual ten year series of Waterford glasses called Snowflake Wishes that started in 2011 and ended in 2020. Each year had a different snowflake design paired with a classic Waterford crystal pattern. This red old fashioned glass is the Lismore pattern and it was the First Edition in the series in 2011. It was called Waterford Snowflake Wishes, Wishes for Joy. The emerald green old fashioned glass is the Lismore pattern as well and it was the Second Edition in the series in 2012. It was called Waterford Snowflake Wishes, Wishes for Courage. I can’t remember where we bought them. I love the traditional Christmas green and red colors.

This Santa Delivering Joy in a sleigh with Dash Away reindeer was designed by Jim Shore for Heartwood Creek and it was made between 2004 and 2008. Hubby found the set at an estate sale last year and brought it home for me. You can still find the set on the secondary market. I have several Jim Shore designs and if you read my blog you have seen a few on other tablescapes.

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

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

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..

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

A Golden Turkey Thanksgiving Tablescape

November 13, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I did another gold Thanksgiving tablescape five years ago but this tablescape has been changed a bit with new elements added. Unfortunately the gold colors don’t photograph well. The dishes, tablecloth, and napkins are a warm gold color and the color gets washed out in some of these photos. I found the leaf tablecloth on Amazon several years ago.

This Bordallo Pinheiro Turkey salad plate comes in green as well and there is another design without the turkey in the middle but I like this color and design the best. I love the warm golden amber color of these plates and the detailed raised design. The plates were made in Portugal and I bought them on Ebay as I saw them over a few years.

I used this dinner plate on an acorn tablescape that I did a few years ago as well as on the Thanksgiving tablescape that I did five years ago.

I bought these gold colored glass chargers many years ago at Z Gallerie online. I remember that I bought them a few at a time over several months until I had twelve because they were expensive. They are heavy glass and the charger edge reminds me of leaves. They are for sale now at various places online for a lower price but some of those are plastic.

You can see the raised design on the tablecloth in this photo. This tablecloth is actually a much warmer gold color than the photo shows. This gold plated flatware was a gift from Hubby a few Christmases ago. I had bought a cheap set of gold flatware several years ago. It was poor quality and the gold started flaking off. You get what you pay for! We found this set on major sale at Macys. It is made by Wallace and is called Mikasa Duchess Gold. It is a brighter gold than this photo shows and it is heavy. I love the design on the handle. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

This photo shows the actual color of the tablecloth and napkins more accurately than some of the other photos. I bought the matching napkins when I bought the tablecloth on Amazon. The tablecloth and the napkins have a leaf design on them. These cloisonne turkey napkin rings came from Williams Sonoma probably last year. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I am not sure where I bought these turkey place card holders but they were a great match for the Bordallo Pinheiro plates. I probably found them on Ebay a few years ago. To read about the what, where, and how of place card holders, please click here.

The amber glass goblet on the left came from Pier 1 on sale right before our store closed several years ago. I love how tall they are. The antique cut amber goblet on the right came from Pottery Barn earlier this year. This goblet comes in red, green, blush, clear, and blue as well. 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 bought this turkey centerpiece at Z Gallerie online earlier this year. It was an odd silver-gold color but Hubby spray painted it with more gold for me to match this tablescape. It is more gold than this photo shows.

The Bordallo Pinheiro gold turkey candlesticks on this tablescape match the plates although some of the photos don’t show their accurate color. I bought them on Ebay several years ago.

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

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

Turkeys on a Thanksgiving Tablescape

November 05, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

Time for a Thanksgiving Tablescape especially since I have a new set of Thanksgiving plates. I didn’t have the right shade and style of beige tablecloth for these plates so I looked on Amazon and found this maxmill faux linen beige tablecloth last week. It has a slubby textured design on the fabric and it is a bit more formal than my other beige tablecloths.

I was wandering through the Williams Sonoma web site last month and I saw these porcelain Newbury Thanksgiving plates and I really loved their unique design with all the flowers and leaves in different colors and the turkey in the middle of the salad plate. I don’t usually buy matching dinner and salad plates together but in this case I decided to because I really like the pattern.

I love the birds on these plates!

This is a Mikasa Color Spectrum Charger in the color Alpine White. I have this charger in several different colors and I bought them all on Ebay as I saw them over a few years. The Internet says that this pattern was only made between 1992 and 1993. I am not sure that is true but in any case they are no longer being manufactured. I have been trying to get six of this color and pattern for years with no success until earlier this year when suddenly I found six at different places online after occasional google searches. You need to have patience when you are looking for things for tablescaping, that’s for sure!

You can really see the tablecloth fabric in this photo. This flatware is a smoky brown color. The camera makes them look darker in color than they really are. The handles are some kind of plastic material. They are marked SR Showroom Italy. The set was made by Zaffiro and I think I bought it on sale online at Horchow several years ago. The color is called Smoky and it looks like this pattern has been discontinued. I really liked the simple design so I bought it in other colors as well. It is 18/10 stainless and a nice heavy set. The pieces are really longer in length than normal flatware. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

The brown cotton napkins probably came from HomeGoods or Pier 1 several years ago. This turkey napkin ring is one of my favorite napkin rings. It was one of the first napkin rings that I bought when I started serious tablescaping. The bottom says, “j. willfred, a division of the Charles Sadek Import Company, Inc.”. I can’t remember where I bought them. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I found these Department 56 ceramic turkey place card holders on Mercari a few years ago. I have a few other sets of turkey place card holders but these were colorful and it’s difficult to find colorful turkeys so I grabbed them. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

I can’t remember where I bought the slate blue goblet on the left but it was probably HomeGoods. The amber glass goblet on the right came from Z Gallerie online a few years ago. I like that they have the same shape but one is taller than the other one. 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 already have a turkey tureen but when I saw this Spode Woodland Turkey Tureen at Macy’s a few months ago, he was some different colors, so I decided to buy him too.

I have a difficult time walking past cute salt and pepper sets at HomeGoods and this set of turkeys came home with me last month. They sat on a cute small decorative tray but I didn’t use it on this table setting because it was too colorful.

This vintage salt and pepper set is labeled Relco, Japan. I found the set at an antique mall several years ago.

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

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/ and Life and Linda, https://www.lifeandlinda.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!

An Acorn Tablescape

October 30, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I have had these acorn bowls for several years but I have never used them on a tablescape and I decided that it was time to try to figure out how to use them. I started looking for acorn related items for the table to go with them and I was surprised at how many different acorn items were out there this time of year.

I bought these acorn bowls at Pier 1 several years ago. I had seen them used on table settings before but I really didn’t like any of the table designs. The acorn bowls just didn’t seem to match the plate stacks well enough and they seemed to be added to the tables as an afterthought on those plate settings just so they could be used. If I am putting together a themed tablescape, I really want there to be a unified design with all elements on the table relating well to each other.

I bought these Bordallo Pinheiro turkey salad plates and the dinner plates too on Ebay a few years ago and I used them on a Thanksgiving tablescape then, you can see it here. When I got them out I was delighted to see that they matched the acorn bowls especially since they have acorns on them as well as turkeys. I have several different Bordallo Pinheiro plate sets with different designs and I really like the raised designs on all of them.

The dinner plates match the salad plates.

I bought the brown glass spiral chargers online on Amazon several years ago. They were called Chargeit and were made by Jay Brown. I have had them for several years and I often use them on my Fall tablescapes.

This gold plated flatware was a gift from Hubby one Christmas. I had bought a cheap set of gold flatware several years ago. It was poor quality and the gold started flaking off. You get what you pay for! We found this set on major sale at Macys. It is made by Wallace and is called Mikasa Duchess Gold. It is heavy and I love the elegant design on the handles.

I found the acorn napkins on Etsy a few years ago. I was amazed at how well the gold color matched the acorn bowls and the plates. I bought the napkin rings on Poshmark online a few years ago. I don’t know who made them.

I found the acorn place card holders on Ebay a few years ago. The design is really similar to the acorn bowls.

I can’t remember where the plastic amber goblet on the left came from, I have had them for a while. The brown glass goblet on the right was made by Lenox between 1966 and 1985. It was called Antique Brown. I bought them on Ebay several years ago.

I was looking online for any kind of large acorn to use as a centerpiece with no luck. Then I found this acorn wicker basket storage container at Pottery Barn Kids a few years ago. The bottom was white but I knew Hubby could paint it for me to match the plates. I may set it on the fireplace hearth during Fall in the future. I had some acorns that I had bought before on Etsy and I scattered them around for additional interest. The beige tablecloth came from Amazon a few years ago. I bought the log round charger that the acorn is sitting on several years ago. I think they came from Pier 1. The Gather sign in the background came from Grandin Road online several years ago. It was rustic gold but Hubby spray painted it brown for me. I am not a fan of rustic gold.

When I have a solid color tablecloth I am always looking for something besides the centerpiece to break up the expanse of solid color across the table. I found these squirrels on Amazon a few years ago and I knew they would be perfect for this tablescape.

These squirrels remind me of our neighborhood squirrel. We live in a suburban area with little open land but we have had a squirrel pass through our yard off and on for several years and I love to see him/her even though someone somewhere is feeding him/her peanuts and he/she persists in digging into my potted plants and burying them there! Sometimes when I look out my kitchen window one is just sitting on the wall looking at me.

This tablescape is perfect for Thanksgiving, a Fall or Winter soup, stew or chili dinner.

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

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

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

This blog post was featured at Coastal Bohemian, https://coastalbohemian.blogspot.com/ , Modern on Monticello, https://modernonmonticello.com/ and Country Road 407 https://www.countyroad407.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!