The Welcomed Guest

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Dreaming of a Warm Summer Day Tablescape

Sweltering. Scorching. Sultry. Not words we commonly use to describe our weather here on the west coast of Northern California. More like foggy, damp, gusty, overcast, wet....but we can dream. Pat's daughter was visiting from "over the hill" (three hours inland) leaving over 100 degree weather to spend time with her parents and joined her Mother in setting the table for this week's blog. She wanted something colorful and vibrant to brighten up the dark and dreary day she picked to visit.

Inspiration for the color theme was the bold, striped place mats - definitely not subtle

Flatware is "Primary" by Noritake

There is quite a family history around these napkin rings - Pat found them on the very, very sale rack at Pier 1 (truth be told they couldn't get rid of them.) Pat talked me into buying them "to use someday" since they were so cheap (and might I add ugly???) So they sat on the shelf at my house for years and years until someone was brave or desperate enough to use them.

Fiesta(ware) colors include "Daffodil", "White", "Cobalt", and "Lemongrass"

The glasses are "Emma" Hobnail from Pier 1

What could add more color than crayons? The candle holders are assorted colors hot glued to empty cat food cans

Where it came from:

Colorful Striped Place Mats - from Pier 1 ten or eleven years ago

Dinnerware - Assorted colors of Fiesta(ware) by Homer Laughlin from Macy's, Kohl's and Replacements,Ltd.

Flatware - "Primary" by Noritake from Replacements,Ltd. and eBay

Hobnail Glassware - "Emma" by Pier 1 years ago

Hot Pink Napkins - Handmade by Pat

Napkin Rings - from Pier 1 eight or nine years ago

This week, we will be joining "Tablescape Thursday" at Between Naps on the Porch: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Not quite tablescaping stuff:

It did get to 60 degrees at noon today but didn't make it to the forecasted "heatwave" of 63 degrees. Did we see sun?? NO..... Partial sun?? NO. Just thought you might be interested.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Sampler Tablescape 2025

You've heard me talk about my extreme dish-addicted cousin lots of time. He was friends with a woman who gave many dinner parties - but the parties were very unusual. She would never set a formal (and I might add always gorgeous) table with only one dinnerware pattern. She owned dozens of sets of exquisite dishes that she loved and said she just couldn't make up her mind which one to use. So, she always set the table with different patterns but tied them together using the same charger, flatware, stemware and napkin. Unique and gorgeous.

We have also set "sampler" tablescape before and I have loved them. This week we decided to set another.

The unifying theme for this week's table is gold - gold leaf chargers, gold flatware, gold napkin, and gold beaded napkin rings all with lots of gold accents on the dinnerware