A Floral Setting for Lunch

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day.  I enjoyed a nice brunch with my family, and Monday was my 29th wedding anniversary!
This week I set a table outside by the pool.  Come on in and join me for lunch!

It's a beautiful day to be outside!

A table for four awaits...

I started with a beautiful table topper and napkins to match that I found at an estate sale. 

 I combined flowers from outside and anniversary flowers and used a crystal vase.

Instead of candles, I used two small silver overlay containers for smaller arrangements to ground the table.

When I found these silver chargers at GW, I was thrilled!

Sebastiani Cabernet is a favorite.  A rich and substantial red wine, it has strong fruit flavors with hints of cola, berries, plums, and earth.

Blue glass salad plates are edged with silver overlay.  I won them at an auction.

Another view of just the salad plate.

Plates are Rosenthal, Bavaria.

Sterling is Modern Victorian by Lunt.

Now that college boy is home, the basketball goal is back, not so great for photos, but I'm thrilled he's home and still brings his friends over for fun in the pool!

I'm not sure of the pattern of these stems.  The gold rimmed ones were purchased at an estate sale and the gold-etched wines are from Tuesday Morning (years ago).  Those white specks are part of the etching, not water spots lol, the pattern of the etching didn't really show up well in the photo.

Thank you for taking the time to look!  I always appreciate your kind comments, I don't always have time to respond, I'm working on being better at that!  Have a great week-end, and come back soon!!

A Garden Setting

Child number 2 is now home from his freshman year at college.  The year seems to have flown by!  We spent the day yesterday in the car, packing him up, and bringing him back home.  He will transfer next year to Virginia Tech, so off we went to Blacksburg to look for apartments.  Unfortunately, they had closed for the day, so we had a quick dinner, and started on our journey home.  My dilemma is always what to do with all the "stuff" they accumulate in a year.  Right now, it is still in the SUV, and will stay there until I can get everything into the laundry room and cleaned up. Next week Child number 1 will be back in town, for a while, anyway.  She has been on tour with a Children's Theatre group as an actress in their productions.  They have been to many states and I believe it has been a great experience for her.  She will also be in a play in Williamsburg in June called "Curtains", so if you are coming to Williamsburg, check out the production by the Williamsburg Players.  She will play Bambi.
Now, on to tablescapes.  I had planned to do this tablescape earlier, but I never got around to it.  So here it is, a garden tablescape.

My husband asked me why I wanted to use this old table, but I believe it still has charm, with it's uneven boards, and rustic feel.  I used three short runners and added cute little garden-themed pots.

I just bought some herbs to plant, so I popped them into these containers and used them as centerpieces.  The actual plants don't match the words, but we can always pretend... 

My herbs of choice are cilantro, basil, and parsley.

Salad plates were made in Italy and I purchased them a while back at Home Goods.  The dinner plates are Fitz and Floyd.  Each place had a bulb placecard holder with a tiny bouquet, which added a bit of color.  I decided not to use chargers because the table is narrow, and there wasn't much room.

Since rain threatened, we did not eat at the table, so I didn't write on the placecards.

Each plate has a different design.

I used a simple silverplate pattern along with a plain stemmed iced beverage glass.

I found these napkin rings at an estate sale.  I had every intention of spray painting them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint, but never got around to it.

Water glasses or as I like to use them, red wine stems, are Fostoria Pagoda.

I hadn't planned to use candles, but I remembered these little garden chair votive holders, so I used them on the table.

A few more pictures . . .

Thanks for stopping by!!  Drop in anytime, you are always welcome at my table!!  As always, I appreciate your kind comments,

--Betsy

A Casual Wedding Celebration

Can you believe that May is upon us?  I, for one, can't wait... as mild as March was, it seems April has been on the chilly side.  I have stayed busy, and I have been having so much fun, the time has just flown by.  For starters, dear friends of ours who now live in England came for a visit.  It was wonderful to see them, and to see their youngest daughter, who was four, I believe, when they moved away.  They were here over spring break visiting colleges!  Secondly, my brother and his girlfriend of hmm, five years? decided to get married.  They both had been previously divorced, and didn't want any memories of their former lives at the service.  So they went to a small, country church with just the two of them and the minister, and tied the knot.  Well, you know I couldn't let that go by without some sort of celebration.  So, sort of at the spur of the moment, we had a party.  The weather cooperated, and we had family and a few of their friends over for a celebration.  At their request, we kept it very casual. 

Since they are planning to live in Virginia Beach, and possibly North Myrtle Beach at some point in time, we decided to go with a beachy theme. 

Tulips greeted guests as they entered the back yard.

We splashed a few shells around ...

and used lots of yellow and white flowers on the tables.

The runners reminded me of beachy awnings or umbrellas.

The party got us motivated to get things ready for the season, so the pool was opened early, and everything is now ready to go!

Our cozy outdoor "living room"--ready for guests!!

The cake table--ready for the cake and champagne (please use your imagination, it's hard to get pictures at the last minute! lol)

Now, this is my kind of cake!!

Wish I could take credit for this beauty.  It was made by the folks at Cakes by Graham in Richmond.  The top and bottom layer were butter pound cake and the middle was chocolate.  It was not only beautiful, but oh so delicious!!  

This tablecloth was purchased recently at an estate sale, it is the perfect size for the little bistro table on our little deck.

We also had an assortment of brownies.  Each little umbrella identified the flavor.

As I said, this was a casual affair, so it was bbq, baked beans, slaw, mac n cheese, an edible fruit arrangement, chips, and vegetable tray.  

This picture was snapped before we "arranged" the food items on the buffet table.  Again, we kept it very casual.  Things got quite hectic in the last 30 minutes or so before the party began. 

We carried the theme inside as well, on the kitchen table, and ...

on the dining room table.

We had a great time, and it was really nice to finally meet some of my sister-in-law's family.  I could not have pulled this off at the last minute if it hadn't been for two people--my husband and my cousin, Pat.  Thanks to both of you for pitching in and helping me!!  

Thanks for visiting with me today, come back soon!!

Snappin' and Draggin'

It feels as if I've been away for quite a while, but actually it's only been two weeks.  So much has been going on!  I will summarize by saying that I've been asked to help a designer with a room in the 2012 Richmond Symphony House, and I opened up a booth at our local antique mall.  I have been having a lot of fun with this booth.  It all started when I read about all the fantastic things bloggers were purchasing at estate sales, so I started going with the sole intent of looking for tablescaping items.  Pretty soon I discovered that if I brought anything else home, I was going to have to take something out.  I started talking with some friends who have booths, and the idea was born.  I kicked it around for a while, but I was feeling a bit scared.  So I asked a friend to go in halves with me, and she agreed to three months, so after that I'm on my own.  I have found some great little pieces of furniture and I've been painting and restoring some pieces, and they have actually turned out pretty well.  My sales were slow the first month, but I have been doing much better this month.  Now granted, I am by no means an expert at this, but I am learning and having fun in the process.

As far as the designer house goes, I will be helping out the designer if she is chosen to do a room.  More on this later.  We will present her plans for the rooms (dining room and study) to the committee in mid-April, and I guess we will find out shortly after that if she's chosen.  If so, I will document the process from beginning to end, but I can't post until the actual showing is over.  I'm hoping she gets the dining room...

In between painting and designing, I set a simple table, but with some of my favorite colors.  I had to include green for St. Patrick's Day, so pink and green it is!

Sometimes I'm snappin' and other times I'm draggin'...

I chose a pretty pink and green Ralph Lauren tablecloth and napkins.

Napkin rings were purchased at an estate sale.

Stems are Navarre by Fostoria.  I found four more of the waters at an antique show recently!! 

The green and pink Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage plates, salads, and bowls were purchased at Tuesday Morning.  I'm thinking I got the chargers there as well.

 Silverplate is Repousse.

Thanks for visiting with me today!  If you're in the Richmond area, come by and visit my booth at the Midlothian Antique Center!!  Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!!