A Fall Tablescape and My New Thanksgiving Ebook (Survive the holiday with ease)
It’s very satisfying to start with an idea and create something beautiful!
~ Yours Truly
I’m a collector…I collect dishes, silver, vases, beautiful objects. There are times when I think I need to let go of my stuff and clear out the clutter and there are times when I’m so thankful I have these collections to pull from when I’m feeling creative. I go back and forth between wanting to be a minimalist and trying to come to terms with the fact that I’m a maximalist who loves to be organized. I’m not sure the two go together, especially given the busy life that I’m currently living. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t dream about having “a place for everything”, but then my busy brain thinks of a project or table setting or blog post and I’m running around gathering things and putting them in piles for when I have time to create the table or the post or whatever else I’m imagining. Then I look around at the piles and get stressed because everything is a mess! I think that’s a creative brain at work and I probably just need to embrace it!
There is a point to this ramble…
Recently, I attended an event in Chapel Hill, NC called Design Matters. It was an event to raise money for the UNC Children’s Hospital which is such a great cause. This was a two day event and the focus was about why design matters in our lives! James Farmer, the famous interior designer and gardener, was the keynote speaker on the first day and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed hearing him speak. He is a Southern gentleman at heart and such an endearing person. If you don’t know James Farmer, I highly recommend all of his books…you’ll definitely be inspired.
Day two of the Design Matters event featured Caroline Gidiere who is an interior designer from Birmingham, Alabama. Caroline was also such a great and inspiring speaker! We ate lunch while we listened to her speak and enjoyed pictures of her beautiful home and projects that she had worked on. I left with many ideas to implement in our home.
The speakers at the Design Matters event were fabulous, but I’ll have to say that the highlight for me was viewing the many tablescapes that were created by designers and shop owners in the area. From Christmas tables to Thanksgiving tables and everything in between…my mind was spinning when I left. I took mostly videos on my phone because I wanted to be able to recreate some of the tables and put my spin on them. I’m sharing a couple of pictures below…kicking myself for not taking more!
One thing that I learned…
Almost every table had a beautiful arrangement of flowers in the center, but what really made the tables look so beautiful was what had been placed on the table around the flowers. It was like the flowers were the center of the arrangement but there was also an arrangement around the flowers. Look at my table below and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Around the flower vase, I added apples, votive candles, more hydrangeas, ivy, pumpkins, etc. This made the table so interesting, visually appealing and full!
One of my favorite purchases this year has been this little round bistro table with 4 chairs. I’ve used it for so many photo shoots and it fits perfectly in our gazebo. I decided to create a fall tablescape while I was still full of inspiration from the Design Matters event and i was so pleased with how it turned out.
For the center of the table, I used an arrangement that I purchased at the Design Matters event (these were on the lunch tables and were sold afterward). After placing the flowers in the center of the table, I added hydrangeas from my yard, ivy, small pumpkins, votive candles and then I began to set the table.
I love to mix styles of plates and glasswear…I don’t think it matters as long as there is a common color and each piece is beautiful. I used square placemats, pink and white dishes from Haand Ceramics (don’t forget to use code CRAZYBLONDELIFE for 15% off), antique linen napkins, amber glass champagne glasses, small vintage juice glasses and ivory pearl flatware. I added small vintage bowls filled with crackers around each plate along with small bowls (also from Haand filled with ). The mixture of the more contemporary plates with the vintage items along with the fullness of the center of the table, really was beautiful!
The combination of the white plates along with the pink and brown made for the perfect outdoor table setting and matched the flowers perfectly! As I said above, I love mixing contemporary with vintage and these little pink bowls looked amazing on the vintage, gold rimmed glass tray! If you’re unsure of what will look good together, just get it all out and play around until it makes you happy! It’s very satisfying to start with an idea and create something beautiful!
I’m so glad you’ve scrolled this far because I’m sharing a link for my Thanksgiving E-Book! My daughter Rebecca helped put this together and it’s something you’re going to love! Just click the link to get tips for organization, recipes, outfit ideas and more to make this Thanksgiving the BEST EVER!
Below are a few pictures of my favorite table setting. you can easily see what I’m talking about with the fabulous velvet pumpkins piled up around the base of the flower vase and the taper candles. This arrangement was huge and so beautiful! The picture…bottom right was another of my favorites!
I’ve made a small boutique below that contains a few of the items I’ve mentioned! I’m planning on doing a little more research on vintage items that I’ll add! Thanks so much for reading today! I hope you’re inspired to create a beautiful table of your own and I hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving Survival Guide!!
