I took a break from my tablescaping hobby for much of the year, once the gardening season really got going, but “re-booted” in time for Fall and Halloween. I bought a new-to-me dining table for my eat-in kitchen in March – this was a consignment store find, and it came with two leaves for expansion if needed. Still trying to talk myself into matching chairs… I love my little mismatched farmhouse chairs, but if I find the perfect French Country matched set at a great price, I could be persuaded.
Look at those sexy curved legs!
First tablescape at the new table was set for two, featuring Martha Stewart Everday dinner plates, Christopher Stuart “Melody Hill,” and flatware by Wallace called “Napoleon Bee.”
Here are some sneak peeks at the tables I set this year – I’ll do full posts on these eventually. It’s time for Thanksgiving and Christmas ideas already!
I started using my grandmother’s “Flair” silverplate in table settings this year – this pattern is from 1959 and is by 1847 Rogers Brothers. The first table I set with it used my powder-blue “fairytale chargers” and Homer Laughlin Eggshell Georgian “Marilyn” dinnerware.
I have a pretty good-sized collection of Heisey Glass in Sahara Yellow, but I’ve never used it. I set this Spring table with some April Cornell napkins, a bedsheet tablecloth, and green as the coordinating color.
St. Patrick’s Day table featured Haviland Limoges with a shamrock border, and Edwin Knowles dinner plates, set atop burnished-gold chargers. Each place setting included its own little pot of gold!
Classic Johnson Brothers “Rose Chintz” played well with Fire King swirl salad plates for a late-Spring table.
Inspired by the great Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in “Downton Abbey,” I set an elegant gold-themed table using “Rosemead” by Mikasa and wide-shouldered gilded dinner plates that are unfortunately umarked.
Speaking of gilded… in March I acquired a wonderful book by food historian Suzanne Corbett called “The Gilded Table.” It features a historic house/museum in St. Louis called Campbell House, including recipes that were prepared for family and guests in this Gilded Age high-society home. I set this table as an homage to Mrs. Campbell, the lady of that house during its social heyday.
For Halloween I had a little fun with Dollar Tree dinner plates and restaurant salad plates that gave off a spider web vibe.
I used Hutschenreuther “Maple Leaf” – and two different iterations of Kings Crown Thumbprint glassware – on this subtley-hued Fall table.
Going for a sort of French Country vibe with this one… I bought the tablecloth on a Saturday, and quickly realized I had no dinnerware to go with it. So I went back out on Sunday, and found four dinner plates for a dollar each in the perfect color.
When the theme is Autumn Abundance, count on Johnson Brothers “Windsor Fruit” to convey the message along with a whole patch of handmade velvet pumpkins 🙂
Now that all my tables for the year are rounded up in one post, it does feel like I did more than I originally thought. And even if dining alone, I try to always use a pretty plate and placemat – they may not be full tablescapes, but they do give an added lift even to simple meals. And of course, I enjoy adding to my stash of dinnerware and table elements using secondhand and inexpensive finds from thrift, consignment, and discount stores!
