A Tool Time Tablescape for Father's Day

This is a special Father’s Day tablescape. The tablescape includes items that were used by three generations of men in our families. The idea has been a few years in the making. I thought of the idea a few years ago but I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to create it. With Father’s Day coming, I decided to try to develop the theme for a Father’s Day tablescape this year. Before I get comments about dirty tools on a dining room table please understand that the tool box will be removed before food is put on the table. This tablescape is in honor of my husband, our fathers, and grandfathers. There are items on the table that belonged to them. I was going to clean up the tools but Hubby wanted them displayed as is, showing their use by our families for three generations. (Hubby made the tool box for this tablescape.) I bought the beige tablecloth at HomeGoods a few years ago. It has a slight brownish tweed design in the fabric that I love.

One reason why I didn’t do this tablescape before is the fact that I couldn’t find any tool themed salad plates. I finally decided to do what I have done before and I added a flat image to a solid color salad plate to help carry out the theme of the tablescape. In this case I used AI with the help of my son and my husband to create an image of three tools to set on the salad plate. My son is in marketing and he says that AI will change our world completely in the next five years, and I am beginning to see what he means, and how it will impact my blog, and our lives.

When I started thinking about this tool themed tablescape I knew that I wanted to use the colors brown and beige to go with the colors of the tools that I would be displaying. I bought these Fiesta 6 1/8” appetizer plates in the color Chocolate online from Replacements, Ebay, and Etsy. No one site had all the six plates that I needed. The color Chocolate was produced between 2008 and 2011 and Fiesta products in this color can be difficult to find.

This is also a Fiesta plate but in the dinner plate size and the color is called Linen. The color was introduced this year and I was glad to see it because I didn’t have a basic beige dinner plate. I bought them at Macy’s online.

One of the cheapest ways to get chargers in the color that you need is to do what I have done here. Buy chargers at a dollar store and spray paint them whatever color that you need. (Hubby is in charge of painting chargers and he does a great job. He has painted several for me including these brown ones.)

You can really see the tweed design in the tablecloth in this photo. 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 Smoky and it looks like it has been discontinued. I really liked the simple design of the lucite handles 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. 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 really sharp fork tines and they can cut your lip! You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I am using my favorite red cotton napkins on this tablecape. I can’t remember where they came from. I have had them for a long time. I finished most of the table and it looked a bit bland to me so I added more red to the table with these napkins because of the red on the place card holders. I was looking online for something that I could use as a tool themed napkin ring and I found these miniature socket sets with wrenches on Etsy. Everything can pop out of the tray, kind of amazing. I taped the tray temporarily to a red plastic napkin ring that I had. I love miniatures! We have a doll house shop here in town and it is such fun to look at all the things in miniature that they have there!

The miniature red tool box came from Etsy last month, and the miniature wood tool box with individual tools came from Amazon last month also. I set the wood tool box on a small square metal place card holder that I had.

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 several years ago. It is difficult to find a true brown colored glass goblet, these are the only ones that I have ever found. I think that the amber glass goblet on the right came from Pottery Barn 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 was looking for a vintage small tool box to use as a centerpiece on this tablescape and I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted so Hubby built this one for me and I love it! It has tools in it that belonged to Hubby, his father, my father, and my paternal grandfather, and as you can see, they were well used.

I wanted to add something on each side of the toolbox centerpiece and I decided to use these brass candlesticks that Hubby’s maternal grandfather made in 1918. He signed his initials on the bottom with the date. We cherish them!

I really enjoyed gathering things for this Tool Time Father’s Day Tablescape that had belonged to men in our family for three generations.

To see over 270 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Table Settings and Tablescape Ideas Facebook group (4,000+ members) for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Table Settings and Tablescape 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. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 . We had a gathering in January 2025 and we plan to have others as well.

Don’t miss the Tablescape How-To tab at the top of my blog for DIY tips and tricks or click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

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