A Sailor-bration Summer Tablescape

July 27, 2025 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

I bought this vintage embroidered sailor themed table topper on Ebay many years ago and it has just been sitting in a drawer. Then I found the vintage sailor napkin rings a few years later but it has taken me a long time to pull this tablescape together. I created it in honor of my father-in-law who was in the Navy. The sailors on the table may not all be in U.S. uniforms but I think it all works anyway. When I want to use a small table topper tablecloth I just place it on a larger one, in this case a simple white cotton tablecloth.

These salad plates came in a set of four, with anchor, ship’s wheel, sailboat, and lighthouse designs but I decided to just use the anchor and the ship’s wheel plates on this tablescape. The bottom of the plates says Euro Ceramica and the pattern is called Ahoy. I found them at Home Depot online.

I like simple designs like these plates.

I am using my Fiesta white dinner plates on this tablescape. When I need a simple dinner plate in a basic color I look at my Fiesta plates first because they are a good size for a plate stack and their simple design works well with any salad plate.

This charger was made by Mikasa and the pattern was called Color Spectrum. They came in several different colors and this color was called 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 needed. I have this charger in other colors as well.

Because the centerpiece sailors had burgundy accents rather than bright red I decided to use this flatware set. The flatware is made by D & D Inox in Italy and the pattern is called Roma. I bought them at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale several years ago. There are similar patterns available online now. I really like the marbleized design on the handles. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

If you read my blog you know that I have a weakness for napkin rings. When I saw these vintage sailor napkin rings on Ebay several years ago I just had to have them. They are so cute! They are porcelain and they were made by Enesco. The red polyester napkins came from Amazon, probably last year.

I love the life preserver on the wave and the S. S. Napkin name! To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I wanted to use small sailor figures as place card holders on this tablescape and I found a few different small vintage ceramic sailors on Ebay. Some of them are salt and pepper sets. They are mid-century and they were made in Japan. I set them on my clear glass Oleg Cassini place card holders. I bought the place card holders at HomeGoods several years ago when I first started tablescaping. They are heavy and solid and I really like the simple design. I often use them as a stand for place card holder items. If you read my blog you have seen them several times being used as a stand for something that I am using as a place card holder. To read about the what, where and how of place card holders, please click here.

The glass goblet on the left was made by Fostoria and the pattern was called Virginia in dark blue. They were made between 1980 and 1986. I can’t remember where I bought them. I bought the blue goblet on the right on Ebay, you can still find them for sale there sometimes. They were made by Libbey in the 1970’s and the pattern was called Tulip in Dusky Blue. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets (including the colors that I use most often) for your tablescaping collection here.

While looking at local estate sales online earlier this year I saw these two resin sailors and I told Hubby to buy them if they were a good deal. They were much taller than this but I knew Hubby could probably cut them down for me so I could use them as a centerpiece on a tablescape. If you look closely at about knee level you can see where he cut them down and reglued the legs together. He did a great job on them! When he got them home I found old HomeGoods stickers on the bottoms so they originally came from there at some point. I really like the detailed design on the faces.

This tablescape reminds us of our Navy veteran when we look at it and all our military veterans as well.

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!

A Zesty Summer Tablescape

July 20, 2025 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

Sometimes when I see a tablecloth I immediately start thinking about using it on a tablescape. That is what happened when I saw this tablecloth. I love the large bright oranges, lemons, and limes on it. It is perfect for a meal on a summer day. The tablecloth is made by Ambesonne and I found it on Amazon three years ago. I seem to do at least one fruit themed tablescape every year. You can see seven other fruit themed tablescapes that I have done here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapes (Scroll down to the Summer section.)

These citrus fruit themed salad plates probably came from Michael’s. They are melamine and I bought the lemon yellow ones also although I didn’t use them on this tablescape because of all the yellow that is on the table already.

I am using my Fiesta dinner plates in the color Sunflower on this tablescape. I can’t remember where I bought them. I think I now have Fiesta dinner plates in almost all the colors that are available.

I love this bright green glass charger but when I use my glass chargers I always have to add a placemat in the same color because the charger picks up whatever is underneath it and this patterned tablecloth would not have worked with it. This charger was made by Bormioli Rocco and I think the pattern was called Inca. It is good quality and a heavy glass. I bought it in a few other colors as well over the years. I found them on Amazon several years ago.

I have a tall stack of this placemat design in many different colors. I bought them online from several different places when I started tablescaping. I have used this bright green one several times.

With so much yellow on the table I decided to add more orange for balance. I have this Ginkgo International Le Prix flatware set in black, dark green, red, and yellow. I added this color called persimmon a few years ago. It is a great color for Halloween tables. I can’t remember where I bought the set online but if you google it, something will probably pop up.

I found these oranges napkin rings on Etsy a few years ago. The orange color was off but Hubby saved the day by painting them a better orange color. I think these cotton orange napkins probably came from Pier 1 or HomeGoods several years ago. I love the bright orange color, it is the perfect color to use on Halloween tablescapes. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

I found these plastic faux orange, lemon and lime slices on Etsy a few years ago. I knew that I could use them as place card holders. To read about the What, Where and When of place card holders, please click here.

I bought the green spiral glass goblets at Pier 1 many years ago and they are some of my favorites. I use them often during the year. 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 I immediately bought them. I love the color and the size of them. I don’t know who made them or what the pattern is called. They are not Artland because those goblets seem to have a different stem design. 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 go to HomeGoods every couple of weeks or so just to wander around and invariably I find something that I must have. This stoneware orange slices bowl was just that. I have done fruit themed tablescapes before and I knew I would be doing them again and I would need another centerpiece, and here it was. I set it on a small white plastic cake stand that I have had for many years. I asked Hubby to pick up tangerines, lemons and limes to stack in it for this tablescape. While I write this I am really enjoying all the bright colors on this table setting.

I have a weakness for salt and pepper sets and I am finally taking inventory and photographing them. I have way too many sets but when I need a certain subject, like citrus fruit, I always seem to have what I need. I can’t remember where I bought the sets on this table but I often see sets at HomeGoods so they may have come from there.

This is definitely a zesty tablescape!

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!

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

A Mer-mazing Summer Tablescape

July 14, 2025 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

Back to tablescaping, we had a family wedding and I took a few weeks off. I decided it was time to use my mermaid statue again. It normally sits in the middle of one of my birdbaths in the back garden. I have used it on two other summer mermaid tablescapes but it was painted green for one of them. I found the coastal looking tablecloth at HomeGoods a few years ago. Summertime means time at the ocean and I often create tables with ocean themes in the summer. I have created twenty different ocean themed tablescapes. You can see them all here, https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapes , scroll down to the Ocean section.

I found these melamine mermaid salad plates at Wilford & Lee Home Accents online. The back says Beachcombers Coastal Life.

My phone camera is playing tricks with the colors on this tablescape. This is a Fiesta dinner plate in the color Sky Blue but it doesn’t really show the true color of the plate. It is actually a pretty baby blue color. Can’t remember where I found them online.

This is a Mikasa Color Spectrum charger in the color Turquoise. It is a much prettier color than this photo shows. I bought them on Ebay several years ago.

I have had this frosted aqua flatware set for a few years. The flatware was made by D & D Inox in Italy. I bought it at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale several years ago. I have frosted blue, gray, and pink flatware sets in this same pattern also. 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. The metal mermaid napkin rings came from Tipsy Mermaid online two years ago.

I had to really improvise with this mermaid place card holder, I just couldn’t find anything that worked. I ended up with these mermaid tail suckers from Amazon. (We cut off the sticks.) I set them on my white clam shell place card holders. They were made by Andrea by Sadek. I have had them for several years and I can’t remember where I bought them but I see them on Ebay from time to time.

I can’t remember where I found these turquoise goblets, I have had them for a while. 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.

Hubby found this concrete mermaid at a plant nursery several years ago. It is solid concrete and it is very heavy! It was a gray concrete color but hubby painted it white for me. I bought the mermaid tail scatter on Amazon.

She was painted a matte white before and that looked better.

I bought these small mermaids on Ebay a few years ago, I think they are supposed to be for fairy gardens. I put a set on each side of the centerpiece.

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!

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 Pink Flamingo Summer Tablescape

June 24, 2025 by Beth Wilson in Tablescapes

If you read my blog you know that my tablescapes are usually theme based and sometimes full of color. This tablescape is no exception, flamingos, an odd creature for sure, and very colorful. I found the tablecloth on Amazon several years ago and that started the design process. There are two large flamingos on the tablecloth but they are hidden by dishes so you can only see parts of them. The tablecloth design set the color scheme of pinks and greens for this tablescape. (This is a repeat post from four years ago.)

I looked at a few dozen salad plates online with flamingos on them and couldn’t find anything that I really liked until I saw these online at Poshmark but they only had four. I quickly checked Ebay and luckily found another four there so that I would have six for my tablescape. They are melamine and they were made by Cynthia Rowley. I love the mixtures of pinks, greens, and blues.

This dinner plate was made by Fiesta and the color is called Meadow. I have Fiesta plates in Shamrock and Lemongrass but I wanted a medium green color to add to my tablescaping collection. It has been the perfect addition.

Hubby went to the Dollar Store a few years ago and bought silver chargers for me and then spray painted them this bright pink. I am going to have to do that more often. It is such an easy and inexpensive way to create chargers that are the right colors for your table setting.

I bought this stainless and plastic bamboo flatware set several years ago when I first started tablescaping. I can’t remember where I found the set, they are just marked Stainless, China but I see similar patterns are available online at several places.

I bought the tropical leaf napkins on Amazon several years ago. The flamingo napkin rings came from Wilford & Lee Home Accents online a few years ago. I love those long legs!

These small plastic flamingos came from Oriental Trading online a few years ago. They were in the Easter section and they can be opened.

I found the plastic goblet on the left at HomeGoods a few years ago. The green color and bamboo stem are a perfect match for this tablescape. These funny plastic pink flamingo goblets came from Oriental Trading online a few years ago too. I couldn’t resist them!

I found this ceramic flamingo figure at Bed, Bath & Beyond online a few years ago. There is actually a battery operated LED light inside. The flamingo is sitting on a bright green drink dispenser stand from Pottery Barn that I bought several years ago.