My Super Cheap Thrift/Dollar/Flea Market Table Setting

It’s that time again…another Tablescape Thursday with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch.

I’ve heard many people say “Oh I don’t have the money to buy all that stuff to go on the table”.  Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret in case you didn’t know it…you can find all sorts of things for table settings and find them cheaply too.   Almost every single item I used on the table below either came from a thrift store, dollar store or flea market…or best of all, it was FREE!  If it didn’t come from one of those store, I bought it at Wal-Mart when it was on sale. 

 

I’m a sucker for curly ribbon…I love it.  There’s just something cute and playful about those little springy curls.  When I found this blue and white ribbon at Dollar General one day, I decided they would be perfect on some napkin rings…so began my super cheap thrift/dollar/flea market table setting, better known as my blue and white table.

Since then, I have been on the lookout for anything blue and white that I could use in a setting.  The whole table finally came together yesterday when I found this blue and white runner at the thrift store.  $.69 and it was in perfect condition!

The blue glasses were from Wal-Mart a couple of years ago and they were marked down to $.50 for each one.  You can’t ask for much cheaper on glassware!

The oil and vinegar cruet set, found at a thrift store, is “Diamond Fire” by Mikasa.  The set still had the stickers on it and I paid a whopping $.99 for it.  The silver was just the slightest bit tarnished when I bought it, but about 2 minutes with some Simichrome and it was sparkling again.  Since my family doesn’t care much for “oil and vinegar”, I’m planning to use the set for salad dressings.

This relish tray with attached slots for salt and pepper shakers was found at the flea market.   I paid less than $1.00 for it and it was intact with all the pieces.  I think I found a bargain!   Since we’re having pulled pork for dinner tonight, the glass insert will be used to hold barbecue sauce instead of relish.

This is my most favorite thrift store find that I used on the table and was also the most expensive item.  It’s a silver plate domed butter dish and has a glass insert under the dome to hold the butter.  Underneath the glass insert is space to put crushed ice so your butter stays chilled.  Hey, for $3.00 I couldn’t leave it behind! 

For the FREE items that I mentioned above, I borrowed a blue and white vase from my aunt to use in my centerpiece.  A trip out to the fence yielded wild honeysuckle for the vase.  I also used another tiny white flower that I found growing at the edge of the woods, but I’m not sure what it is.  Regardless, it was all free!

When my daughter was a little girl, she thought if you had candles burning on the table, you were having a “fancy dinner”.  Didn’t matter if it was hot dogs and chips, if those candles were lit, it was a fancy dinner.  She is almost a teenager now, but still loves to eat by candlelight.  For dinner tonight, we’re having Mean Chef’s Pulled Pork, baked beans, a garden salad, some type of potatoes, rolls and Peach Cobbler.  Nothing sophisticated, just good down home cooking…but it will be a “fancy dinner”. 

The placemats, votive cups and candles were found at Dollar Tree.  The dinner and salad plates were bought at Wal-Mart during one of their after-Christmas sales for 75% off.

It is possible to accessorize your settings with pretty items without spending a fortune!  You’ve just got to keep your eyes and imagination open to the possibilities.  

 

The recipe for Mean Chef’s Pulled Pork can be found at Recipezaar . If you like barbecued pork, I highly recommend trying the recipe.  It is delish!  By the way, while you’re there, please stop by the Table Settings and Decorating Ideas Forum and say “Hi”.  We’d love to have you join us!

DG

Breakfast at Wisteria Hollow

It was such a gorgeous sunrise this morning so I thought I would have breakfast outside under the wisteria.  I very quickly realized this is no ordinary wisteria.  Hidden among the blossoms and in a hollow in the trunk was a whole enchanted world that I never knew existed.

As I was about to sit at the table, imagine my surprise when guests flew in to join me…

and came bearing a gift for me…my very own pair of fairy shoes!  Of course, it might be a slightly tight squeeze getting my feet into them. 

Breena brought a teapot of flower nectar for me to drink.  Yum…tastes like ambrosia.  After filling my goblet, she joined Faylinn on the fairy swing.

Liliana was very shy and quickly fluttered up into the wisteria blossoms to hide. 

From high above the fairy swing, Rhoslyn peeked out from among the blooms to say good morning to me.

Shaylee is the keeper of all fairy legends and she entertained me with magical stories of elves and dragons.

Tania and Nissa listened in fascination as Shaylee recounted a wondrous tale of adventure.

I so admired Carling’s wreath of roses that Dulcina gave her to wear.  Before flitting away, Dulcina also presented me with a wreath for my hair. 

Come, if you will, and join me tomorrow morning under the wisteria. 

I’ll set the table for two…or twenty.

Oh and in Wisteria Hollow…shoes are optional. 

I hope all your days are wonderfully enchanting!  I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.  Be sure to stop in and see all the beautiful tables!

 

DG

Easter Table Setting

I’m a little late, but am joining Susan for another Tablescape Thursday (in my case, Tablescape Saturday) at Between Naps on the Porch.  Please stop by and see all the beautiful tables!

I've been playing around with my Easter table setting this week and think it's just about done.  I might do a bit more tweaking, but this is basically it.  We won't be home for lunch on Sunday, so I'm planning a candlelight Easter dinner for tonight. 

I started with a pink damask tablecloth.  Over it, I layered a pretty pastel runner that I found at a thrift store.  Lots of little bunnies are scattered around the table.

I found these vintage cabbage leaf salad plates at an antique store.  They're signed on the bottom and are from the 1960's.  I also found the porcelain eggs in the same antique store and decided to use them as napkin rings.

There was a matching lidded cabbage bowl with the plates.  It's being used to hold the centerpiece.  Since I used wisteria in the arrangement, I had to lift the bowl up on a crystal candleholder.  I'll probably move the arrangement to a side table when we sit down to eat.

I normally use silk flowers, but I couldn’t pass up these roses when I saw them.  I have learned a valuable lesson...when working with fresh flowers, if you're not putting them in a vase, always buy floral foam for them! :shock:   See how they just want to flop over on the sides of the bowl???  So...guess what I'm off to the store this afternoon to buy??? 

I was tickled pink to use these glasses that my sweet DH gave me for Valentine's Day.  I spotted them in my favorite antique shop and he surprised me with them.  He's such a sweetie.

After taking the photos, I added pastel curling ribbon at the top of the eggs for just a bit of added color.

One last photo...the table by candlelight.

A Touch of Valentine’s Day

I’ve been wanting to create a red and white table setting, but basically being a “pink” person, I had nothing much to use that’s red.  I kept trying to come up with ideas and finally had a “light bulb” moment. 

Yes, it came to me!  My aunt, who is more like a second mother to me, is a “red” person…in fact, red is her favorite color.  So I gave her a call and she came to the rescue.  She had these pretty red doilies that I used under the red vase.

My aunt has most of my grandmother’s dishes and linens and I  just knew surely she had something in red that I could use.  She told me to come on over and see what I could find.  I think I probably broke the sound barrier going to her house.  I found red damask napkins along with red and white checked ones.

My aunt and I had so much fun yesterday afternoon!  We looked through cabinets and I saw dishes I hadn’t seen in years.  We poked through drawers looking at linens. 

The most magical thing though was going through my grandmother’s old pie safe.  It was packed full of glassware, dishes, salt/pepper shakers, flatware.  I felt like I had found Ali Baba’s treasure!  In the very back was this wonderful set of clear glass salt and pepper shakers decorated with red polka dots.  I placed the matching cruet on the other side of the centerpiece.  The cruet was used to hold salad dressing for our dinner. 

 

Roses were my grandmother’s favorite flower and she loved these iced tea glasses.  I think the design is so pretty.  They’re decorated with climbing red roses winding their way up the glasses.  The candle holders are topped with red and crystal glass vases.

Just before I left, my aunt spotted this cardinal watching over her babies in their nest.  She insisted I bring it to use in the setting. 

My grandmother loved pretty dishes and glassware.  I’m sure I inherited my dishaholic habit from her.  I saw lots of dishes that I had forgotten about.  Some of them really brought back wonderful memories. 

I didn’t find any china that had red in it, so I used my white plates trimmed with gold.  To bring a touch of Valentine’s Day to the table, I layered red lacey hearts in between the charger, dinner plate and salad plate. 

Red gladiolus and white wisteria were arranged in the vase.     

I’m sure my grandmother would be so thrilled to know that items she once loved are being used, appreciated and enjoyed once again.

My Grandmother (1906 – 1992)

Please join Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for another Tablescape Thursday.

I hope your life will always be filled with a Touch of Valentine’s Day!

DG

 

 

Friendship, Love and Pink Roses

Pink roses…the sight of them will forever be associated in my mind with my husband.  Since I came very close to losing him last Thursday due to a heart attack, I wanted to do this table setting to celebrate a love and friendship that has spanned 35 years…and it all began with pink roses.

We grew up together, living about 3 miles apart, in a little rural area. When we were children, we couldn’t stand the sight of each other. I thought he was horrible because he always seemed to be making fun of me and was so mean to me. He thought I was a loud whiny brat.

All of that changed when I was about 14 years old and he was 16. On Valentine’s Day that year, a lady that lived down the road from my home brought me a vase of the most beautiful pink roses. She wouldn’t tell me who had sent them to me and she would only smile when I asked her. The only thing written on the card was a “?”. After a day or so of driving myself crazy wondering who in the world would send me flowers, my mother finally told me they were from him. Talk about being shocked!

Of course, being only 14 years old, I was too young to date. However, my mother did allow him to drive me straight home after church every Sunday…wow, a whole quarter of a mile from the church to where I lived. I was finally allowed to actually go out on a date with him when I turned 16.

We stupidly let differences separate us for about 7 years while we were in our 20’s, but we eventually made our way back to each other. We’ve been together ever since, raising 4 children and so far, welcoming 3 grandchildren into the world.

I hope I have many more years with him by my side. I hope when we’re very old and gray, we’ll be sitting out on the porch rocking in our chairs, reminiscing and watching our grandchildren play. Until then, we’ll just sit at the dining table…enjoying our time together and the beauty of pink roses.

The chargers were hand painted for me by a very talented artist.  Since I wanted to be able to use the chargers in Christmas table settings, she surrounded the pink roses by snowy pine branches and berries.  I topped the chargers with clear glass dinner plates and salad plates.  I added vintage pink stemmed glasses for serving shrimp cocktails.  Small pitchers were placed at each setting to hold individual servings of salad dressing.

 

 

Woodland Winter Wonderland

It’s time for another Tablescape Thursday with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch.  Be sure to check out all the beautiful tables this week!

Brrr…come on in and warm up by the fire.  I can’t believe how cold it is!  I live in the Deep South and it just isn’t supposed to be this cold.  I was taking my children to school a couple of day ago and the thermometer registered a whopping 11 degrees.  I know many of you have weather colder than this, but we’re simply not used to it.  Honestly, does anyone “get used to” weather this cold?? 

Fortunately tonight is supposed to be the last night we have a “hard freeze”.  Boy, I am so tired of hearing that expression!  Even though I’m tired of the cold, I was so disappointed that it didn’t snow.  Since I wasn’t able to look out my window and see a beautiful snowfall, I decided to do a winter wonderland tablescape.  At least I can look at some “faux snow”. 

 

I wanted the items that I used on the table to look icy and snowy, so I used all silver and white.

As I was setting the table, I imagined I was walking through a forest early in the morning after a late night snowfall.  I looked out over the pristine snow and there I saw them.  I quietly stopped and watched a doe with her baby fawn as they awoke from sleeping under a frozen alpine tree.

The mother deer stretches her neck to sniff the air.  Did she catch my scent as I quietly watched them?  No…I think she senses the big buck coming from the other side of the forest.

I decided I better stop daydreaming and finish the table setting, so I could begin cooking.  Hungry mouths to feed you know.

On the table, I layered acrylic snowflakes under silver beaded placemats and topped them with white dishes that have a platinum rim.  Clear acrylic handled flatware and snowflake glasses completed each setting.  Crystal knife rests add sparkle as well as the tiny snowflake place card holders trimmed with rhinestones.

  I placed two silver taper candles in crystal candleholders on each end of the table.  In the center I used two white and silver snowflake candles sitting on mirrors. 

To complete my centerpiece, I used a crystal vase that belonged to my grandmother.  I filled it with silver curly twigs and icy branches.

When I was a little girl, there used to be long icicles hanging from the roof of my grandmother’s home in the winter.  I loved to look at them sparkling in the sun and always hated to see them melt.  It’s sort of sad to me that we don’t see very many icicles here anymore, so I hung prisms from the branches in the vase to remind me of simpler times.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey through my winter wonderland.  Sending warm wishes your way!

DG