Autumn

Sunday Morning Coffee

/ Alycia Nichols / 10 Comments

We all have our rituals. Ours growing up was to have a great Sunday morning breakfast for as many guests who wished to attend. I miss that. I would (almost) sell my soul to get that back. Meanwhile, I’ll just settle for this one day.

For those of you who like to study still photos like I do, here ya go!

This was one of the last setups in this space before selling my beloved Louis XVI reproduction vitrine.

Despite being perfect for breakfast and brunch settings, I’ve seldom used these fun coffee-themed placemats.🤔 The last time I remember pulling them out was for my stepdaughter’s birthday brunch more than 10 years ago!

I like the idea of setting casual tables with no regard for rules. ALL the flatware rests comfortably to the right of the plate here.

Mikasa “Jamestown Platinum” stems for champagne or an apricot Bellini and platinum-rimmed Noritake “Spectrum” cup and saucer.

The color of these Z Gallerie “Delfina” dishes always reminds me of cocoa or coffee. Perfect for this setting with the snippet of satin ribbon adorned with a silver coffee pot ornament clutching a vintage napkin.

Fun little guest favors: mocha-scented candles.

Assorted muffins are part of an edible centerpiece.

This white ceramic rooster nestled in a bittersweet-laden basket makes an easy breakfast/brunch centerpiece.

I’ve been asked again and again where I got these coffee syrup pumps. Amazon, of course!

Do you have a Sunday morning ritual? I’d love to hear about it!

If breakfast is definitely your jam (see what I did there😉), here are a few more breakfast/brunch posts on this site to check out!

Other posts using the Z Gallerie “Delfina” dishware:

Sunflower Breakfast

/ Alycia Nichols / 10 Comments

Good Monday Morning!!! Hard to believe we are into October already, but I’m rollin’ with it! Sunflowers, sunshine, apple cider, pumpkins, football, and warm & hearty breakfasts are top of mind this time of year.

A 1-minute video!⬇

If you’re like me, you like to study the details. Still pics ahead for you guys!

A simple breakfast doesn’t mean you can’t go bold! A massive floral piece at one end of the dining table is a big wake-up!

Cock-a-doodle-doo!! A pair of ceramic hens add a little breakfast time flair.

Casual acrylic chargers from Hobby Lobby play host to lovely cocoa brown & white Z Gallerie dishes. The sunflower “napkins” are dish towels from Dollar Tree.

A big ol’ basket of assorted breakfast pastries to please every palate makes a great edible centerpiece! The Home Goods sunflower table runner pulls the basket, floral arrangement, and place settings together as one.

Breakfast is served!

Are you looking for more ideas for breakfast or brunch? Take a look at these posts!

Thanks so much for stopping in! Remember…you can also find me on Instagram! Here’s to you!!!🥂

Plum Perfect for Early Fall

/ Alycia Nichols / 10 Comments

I DO NOT like to jump the gun on seasons. I take each one as they come, savoring the best of it and slogging through the worst toward the light. But I do believe seasons are “sectional” with early, mid, and late portions. So before I start hauling out the pumpkins and corn stalks, here’s a little something-something for late summer/early fall.

And for those of you who, like me, like to closely study details on still photos…

Shades of plum and blue-violet are tempered with white, luscious peach, and citrus green. I’m not quite sure why I went with the blue & white chinoiserie. It just felt right.

Each place setting starts with a gold leaf glass charger topped with a purple Bormioli Rocco glass charger. I used gold-rimmed white china to temper the depth of the purple tones. Gold flatware compliments the stack.

Starched napkins in deep, moody eggplant are wrapped up with a shiny golden ring.

Of course, bowls of plums had to be included!

I SO loved this floral arrangement and hated to disassemble it!😖 The faux flowers came from many sources including Nell Hills and Charmed House Interiors in Kansas City, Petals & Potpourri in Blue Springs, McKeever’s grocery floral department and Cameron’s Home Furnishings in Lee’s Summit near where we live, and Hobby Lobby (those berries hanging off the side). Massive arrangements like this are moved to a side surface after guests have ooh’ed and ahh’ed over it before the meal is served.

This white-painted pheasant has been with me for a good while and looks great under the floral fronds.

This will be among the final pics of my beloved Louis XVI reproduction vitrine as I have sold it. It has been a faithful servant for more than 20 years. Here it plays host to a dessert setup with a Nell Hills basket backdrop.

A side chest is treated to an arrangement of coleus, hydrangea, and plums in a mini silver ice bucket.

With temperatures headed back into the upper 90s and near 100 over the next few days, it’s tough to get into the fall mood. This “fall lite” works for me!

Like shades of purple? Here are a few other posts on this site you may enjoy!💜

Home for the Thanksgiving Holiday 2021

/ Alycia Nichols / 35 Comments

Thanksgiving will once again this year be a sparsely attended event at our home. While I’m a firm believer in “the more, the merrier”, I know that’s not possible and can appreciate and embrace a smaller group. So “bountiful simplicity” will be the name of the game for 2021.

This tablescape concept began with the purchase of the white pumpkin-embossed runner from Home Goods I bought a few weeks ago. The pickings are slim this year, so I felt fortunate to find something I liked. The centerpiece is created with a long, narrow wooden “trough” from Nell Hill’s filled with a variety of pumpkins, gourds, fruits, faux acorns, greenery, and leaves topped off with a pair of antlers. A six-pack of 24″ metal case candles in clear glass holders runs along both sides. With such a low centerpiece, I felt it necessary to add height but still be mindful of being able to see across the table.

I was SO excited to find these great leather look chargers at Hobby Lobby this season!!! I used them once already this season for “Hey, Pumpkin!“, and they will come in handy for lots of future fall and winter tablescapes. The mustard yellow dinner plates, oak leaf/acorn plates, and plaid salad plates are all from Pier 1, purchased over the last 10+ years. The delicate cream soup bowl with saucer (having homemade mushroom soup for a starter!) is from Nell Hill’s in Kansas City, MO. Hampton Silversmith “Patriot” flatware, napkins from LinenTablecloth.com, and amber bubble glass stemware from TJ Maxx round out the place settings. Lithe seed pearl wreaths add texture, color, form, and a little fun.

I was determined this year to reuse, recycle and reduce waste when it came to decorating. While I bought LOTS of pumpkins and gourds at the start of the fall season, I’ve made sure to use them in various ways inside and out. A quick dip in a weak Clorox bath when I first brought them home has kept them going strong. See how I first used these pumpkins as the backdrop for my 2021 Halloween entry, “The Spider & the Fly“. Deep six the spiders and flies, do a little artful rearranging, add some wheat sheaves, and it’s all ready for Thanksgiving! (PSA: If you know someone nearby who has a farm, ask them if they’d like to have your pumpkins after the season to feed their livestock. If not, consider chopping them up and scattering them in an uninhabited wooded area for wildlife such as foxes, deer, squirrels, and other animals who often find it difficult to source food in the winter. Full circle use!)

The small china cabinet is all decked out with its usual aluminum wine and champagne coolers that are further embellished with berry branches, pumpkins, and a big moss ball.

If you would care to check out other Thanksgiving-inspired tablescapes on this blog:

I’m pleased as apple cider punch to be joining a talented group of ladies from across the globe in Blog Land for a Thanksgiving Tablescape Blog Hop! I hope you will click on their links to check out their Thanksgiving tables! (NOTE: Set to go live Tuesday, November 9 at 7 a.m. EST, although some posts may be up now.)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hey, Pumpkin!

/ Alycia Nichols / 7 Comments

It’s November 1, and autumn is coming to a rapid close as wretched cold weather settles in. That makes me a bit sad as fall is my favorite time of year. I’ve especially enjoyed the bounty of pumpkins in our area and all the inspiration they have prompted! I’ve been able to create a variety of tablescapes and vignettes indoors and out using the same basic elements and adding special touches.

When I saw this gorgeous, colorful table runner at Home Goods, I knew right away how I wanted to use it. This rich pattern of pumpkins, sunflowers, and berries traverses the runner from end to end!

I’ve gotten my money’s worth from this Cambridge “Esben” flatware this fall season. Its faux wood handles are a perfect complement to the season’s decor. The same goes for the mustard yellow Pier 1 plates (see them used a whole different way on the post “Candy Colored Autumn“) and leather-look chargers from Hobby Lobby. Here I topped off the setting with a generously proportioned turmeric-colored soup bowl (see the bowl with matching plates on the post “Most Egg-cellent Breakfast“.) The ivory napkin repeats the background color in the runner. Because the centerpiece is so busy, I used austere glassware.

One of my husband’s nurses gifted me with these sheds from her farm in rural Kansas a few years ago. (First used in the post “Hunter Tablescape – Gentlemen’s Winter Retreat” in 2012.) They add a lot of form and girth, as well as a bit of height, to the centerpiece arrangement.

I picked up the round basket at Home Goods. They had so many nice ones from which to choose this season!

I first used these rustic orange finials for the post “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” back in 2010. Eleven years later they’ve resurfaced for this table.

My husband’s recent 51st high school class reunion (or 50 + 1 as they called it since the pandemic shut down plans for their jubilee celebration in 2020) was a lovely event. One of his classmates is a very talented florist who provided the centerpieces for the banquet night. I brought one home and rearranged it to fit into this moss-covered vase for the dining room vitrine.

Are you following me on Instagram? If not, I invite you to do so! There are quick little daily posts there that are different content than here on the blog…house and home-related vignettes you might enjoy!

For more autumnal tablescapes on this blog:

Have a warm and wonderful November!

Berry Beautiful Autumn

/ Alycia Nichols / 11 Comments

Gimme ALL the colors of autumn!!! I LOVE this time of year when the leaves have turned, bushes are heavy with fall/winter berries, we’re baking more, and everything is sumptuous and plentiful! All these wonderful things played into the inspiration for this “dressy casual” dinner tablescape.

The moody amber stemware is a mix of World Market (flutes) and Z Gallerie (goblets).

The multicolor plaid table runner from Home Goods/TJ Maxx was the start of this tablescape. I like how versatile it is, and I’ve used it a couple of times before including the posts “Candy Color Autumn” and “Autumn Chinoiserie“. The monogrammed lumbar pillow is from Sew Gracious on Etsy.

The gold flatware is from Target, first used for my Mom’s 89th birthday celebration, “Ain’t Misbehavin’” in 2018.

The autumn leaf embossed charger that grounds the place setting is a pattern I picked up at Crate & Barrel some years ago. The mustard yellow dishes and oak leaf bowls were both Pier 1 finds at least a dozen years back. I’m always glad to see when my purchases stand the test of time. The multicolor leaf napkin rings were purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond.

I found this cool seagrass-covered demijohn at Tuesday Morning this past summer. The colorful berry branches used to create this outstretched centerpiece were found in the clearance section at Kirkland’s at 90% off. Yes…I bought every. single. one!

These little glass votive holders in 6 different colors were a terrific find at World Market back in 2012 and were first used for “Diwali, My Way“.

Find more ideas for tablescapes using bright multicolors on this blog:

Thanksgiving Dessert Buffet

/ Alycia Nichols / 7 Comments

Have you ever considered a Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner? A moveable feast is a fresh way to enjoy the holiday. Perhaps pre-dinner cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the first home while watching the Macy’s Parade and Bowl games, the main course at House #2 with a little more football, and finally dessert at House #3 followed by a neighborhood tour of Christmas lights to kick off the new holiday? You’ve arrived at House #3!

(1:18. No music, just in case you’re opening this at work! I’ve got your back!😉)
And oops! Yes, that IS an open laundry room door caught in the mirror!🙄

A table laden with a variety of desserts is a sure way to delight your guests! I describe this one as Thoreau meets Liberace…a hybrid of natural and glitzy elements.

This dessert bar could be easily transformed into a Christmas/winter theme by exchanging the pumpkins and wheat for holiday elements like small trees, poinsettias or paperwhites, and interesting ornaments.

The huge dessert board that displays the cookies and pecan pie is from a lovely shop in downtown Lee’s Summit, MO, called Very Violet Boutique. I have BIG plans for this substantially-proportioned board in the coming years!

I LOVE this tray from Home Goods that holds the Cambridge “Esben” flatware and Pier 1 napkins! Those wrought iron handles…yaaaaaassssss!!!

These little duck casseroles were purchased at World Market YEARS ago. They’re perfect for individual rice or bread pudding with whiskey sauce! Emphasis on the whiskey sauce, y’all!🥃

The table runner with colorful meandering vines was purchased along with 6 matching placemats at Pier 1 many years ago. It’s nice to be able to shop your home for “just the perfect thing” and actually find it!

The wheat sheaves and smaller charcuterie/cheese/breadboards are all from Home Goods. I particularly like the wood slice cake riser. It will serve me well for years to come.

I created this cupcake stand using a couple of wood slices and a 3-legged wrought iron piece I happened to have. The oven-safe Rae Dunn cupcake holders are from Home Goods. They REALLY dress up cupcakes and muffins!!!

The expanse of desserts is broken up with this pumpkin/gourd/acorn/apple-filled wooden “trough” from Nell Hill’s in Kansas City, MO. I’ve used this vessel for a couple of tablescapes this season, including “Home for the Thanksgiving Holiday“.

More miniature covered casseroles from World Market for perhaps a taste of crème brûlée?

I have had these striking candelabra for a number of years and pull them out just about every fall for decorating somewhere around the house. As I often do, I used metal case candles which are a bit safer if accidentally knocked over. These are 15″H and perfect for lending a bit more height to the tablescape. (I have them in 6″ and 25″, too!)

More desserts, you ask?!! Why, indeed! It’s a dessert extravaganza!!! Don’t forget the coffee!

So there you have it! Perfect for Thanksgiving or anytime during the holiday season when family and friends gather together!

This is my final autumn-themed post for 2021. I hope to see you back here soon for the winter holidays!

If you’re looking for more ideas for your Thanksgiving or autumn tables, take a peek at these on this blog!

If you’re looking for more dessert buffet ideas:

The Spider & the Fly

/ Alycia Nichols / 31 Comments

“‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the spider🕷 to the fly🪰.” The sinister 1829 poem by Mary Howitt tells the cautionary tale of the sly spider coaxing the apprehensive fly into its web🕸. Creepy/Clever and well played, Mr. Spider. Hmmmm…the parallels of the 1829 spider web and the manipulative, seductive 2021 worldwide web are not lost on me.

I am joining other tablescapers from across the miles to bring you spooky fun with a “Halloween Tablescape Blog Hop” hosted by Rita at Panoply blog. Links to their BOO-tiful sites are listed at the end of this post, and I encourage you to stop in to visit each one of these talented ladies.

I chose this pintuck taffeta table linen for its resemblance to a spider web.

A🩸blood red🩸 Royal Norfolk dinner plate sits atop a mirrored charger that helps break up the moodiness of the setting. A black salad plate and spooky skull appetizer plate complete the stack.💀 Notice there are just daggers/knives to devour the beastly feast.🗡

Spine-chilling metal spiders lord over each place setting.

The flies have been coaxed into the spider’s web!🕷🕸🪰

I found these gravestones at Dollar Tree some years ago.

The end settings have the skulls of the host and hostess of this ghoulish event trapped for eternity beneath oversized cloches/bell jars. The hungry spider below the skull hunts its prey, the flies, that have overtaken the skull. (OK…I’m freaking myself out here now!😱)

Overreaching branches canopy the centerpiece below. I used faux branches, but this spooky look could just as easily be achieved with real ones.

If there’s a graveyard, you KNOW there has to be a raven somewhere nearby! This one, perched amongst the pumpkins and slithering serpents, shows no fear.

Ick! A serpent invading the hollow eye socket of a soul long gone is a weird juxtaposition to the beautiful onyx “Elegance” Mikasa stemware.

The morose table setting is capped off with the flicker of candlelight towering high above.

A haunted pumpkin patch sits on the vitrine just beyond the graveyard.

If you’re looking for more ghastly, ghostly, ghoulish tablescapes, check out these from my archives:

Ready, set, HOP!!! Check out THESE haunting entries!!!


Thanksgiving 2017 In Gold & White

/ Alycia Nichols / 28 Comments

Thanksgiving is just 3 weeks away?!??!??!!? Let’s dive right into this quick clip from an appearance on the “Better Kansas City” show to discuss casual vs. formal Thanksgiving tablescapes.

With all that in mind, here’s an example of a more formal Thanksgiving tablescape that I created for a recent community presentation. It has all the trappings of a traditional formal setting with crystal and china and linen napkins, yet it’s pared down to better reflect modern times.

 

 

This tablescape begins with a luxurious shimmering gold crinkle taffeta tablecloth, a terrific reflective backdrop to the crystal and china.

 

 

 

 

I kept the place settings a stark white for the most part, starting with a snow white charger. The absence of color in the setting is briefly interrupted by the thin gold band on the rim of the dinner plate and subtle design on the Royal Scotland soup bowl. A capricious beaded wreath encircles a pristine white pumpkin just for show. I tucked a simple white napkin just underneath the charger to hang over the table’s edge and disrupt the expanse of gold in the tablecloth. Unadorned gold flatware and Cristal d’Arques “Longchamps” stemware complete each place setting.

 

 

 

 

The formality of the table is primarily conveyed by the pair of hefty gold-trimmed crystal epergnes in the centerpiece. (These epergnes were also used in “Thanksgiving 2010” and “Shake Your Tail Feather“.) I briefly agonized over what to place in the epergne bowls and ultimately decided to repeat the look at each place setting with the addition of a bit of feathery greenery and reindeer moss. The moss recurs in a trio of etched gold ceramic cylinders. The “gold leafed” wishbones are from Hobby Lobby.

 

 

 

 

 

The buffet behind the dining table is decked out in white pumpkins of varying size accented with creamy hydrangea, sprigs of white snowberry, deer sheds and bundled birch logs. The crystal votive holders amp up the setting and continue the formality of the table. Over on the bar cart, a bowl of acorns is surrounded by a snowberry wreath. A lone orange mini pumpkin adds a splash of color.

Other Thanksgiving tablescapes on this site include:
“Celebrate Me Home – Thanksgiving 2012“
“Thanksgiving 2010“
“Wondrous Wheat“
“Pheasants & Peacocks“
“Shake Your Tail Feather“
“Over the River and Through the Woods“

I’m joining Susan at “Between Naps on the Porch” again this week for her 475th Tablescape Thursday! I’m also joining the party at “Celebrate Your Story” for the first time. You won’t want to miss the fabulous tablescapes there!

 

Candy Colored Autumn and A Nell Hill’s Experience

/ Alycia Nichols / 26 Comments

Gotta lead with this because it was SO exciting for me:
THIS IS ME WITH
NELL HILL’S OWNER, MARY CAROL GARRITY!!!
Talk about over the moon!!! Many of you may know Nell Hill’s from Mary Carol’s books like Rooms We Love, Entertaining In Style, O’ Christmas Tree and Feather Your Nest, or from the extraordinary shopping experience that is worth the travel time to get there. I shop at Nell Hill’s, about 40 minutes from our home, every time I go for an appointment with my surgeon, but I’d never actually run into Mary Carol. I wasn’t brave, but my son told her how much I admire her and asked if she’d mind taking a photo with me. She cheerfully obliged, and…here it is!!! We’re both “vertically challenged”, have the same hairdo, and like wearing scarves…practically twins!!! 🙂

This season I’ve presented both traditional and contemporary takes on fall tablescapes, and today I’m doing a mashup of customary and novel colors that work together to create a different, yet somehow familiar, tablescape.

 

We’re back in our dining room today with this casual table for 6 with colors extracted from the same runner I used in “Autumn Chinoiserie – Classic Blue & White” a couple of weeks ago. (This runner is now a part of the permanent autumn decor in the dining room for this season as seen in “Autumn Flourishes 2017” in last week’s post.) I am getting a lot of mileage out of this versatile plaid runner! The colors remind me of Skittles candy!

 

 

 

 

 

So…drawing from the colors of the runner (see how it picks up on the colors of the artwork on the wall?), I started with a shiny metal charger (Pier 1) in an electric blue. Not a typical color associated with autumn, but when offset by the goldenrod Pier 1 dinner plate and creamy ivory soup bowl, you start to see how well it works. To add softness and a bit of texture, a deep berry-colored (complementing those in the centerpiece) brushed cotton napkin (Pier 1) is slipped beneath the bowl (Kirklands). Faux bamboo flatware (JC Penney) and substantially weighted amber glassware (Marshalls) finishes the place setting.

 

 

 

 

 

The straightforward and relatively inexpensive centerpiece is made up of traditional elements including various gourds and pumpkins ranging in shades from the deepest orange to the purest white, deep nutmeg-toned berries, plump white snowberries, acorns, and a twist of wild vine to visually consolidate it.

 

 

 

On the buffet behind the dining table is a simple vignette that mimics the elements on the table. A heavy aluminum bowl filled with white mini pumpkins shares center stage with a white pheasant. On each side are oval Pier 1 platters that match the dinner plates and a charger as a simple backdrop to a single white pumpkin.

A few other fall tablescapes on this site you might enjoy:
Warm Fall Colors
Dinner With Friends – Gumbo Dinner Party
September Wine
Pumpkins & Peacocks
Autumn Blues
Pears & Pine Cones
September Harvest Breakfast
Simply Bittersweet
Ap-pear-ently Autumn
Casual Fall Harvest Dinner
Italian Honeysuckle
Quick & Casual Fall Dinner
Autumn In Cactus Country
Sunflower Simple
Most Egg-cellent Fall Breakfast
Copper Zen
Serape High Style
Pheasants & Pumpkins

I’m joining Susan’s Tablescape Thursday bunch again this week. Check out other fall ideas from a lot of talented tablescapers from all over!!!