Wrought Iron

Carousel Colors

/ Alycia Nichols / 66 Comments

Easter is so close now. It just kind of snuck up on me!

This light & airy table, set up on our deck, would be perfect for an outdoor Easter breakfast or brunch. The happy melange of colors would work well for just about any casual Spring or Summer tablescape! It’s especially perfect to celebrate Liz’s (A Dish Here, A Glass There) March 24th birthday!!!
(Click on any photo to enlarge!)

A full-length white table linen is covered with two straw mat runners that extend across rather than a single one trailing the length of the dining table. The straw adds a textural element to the table while the pink cotton edging lends a tease of color.

I found these “Lyda” dolomite dishes with the wonderfully whimsical pattern at Pier 1 a couple of years ago. (I like to refer to them as my Alice in Wonderland dishes!) It truly was a battle of wills as I waited until they hit the clearance section at 75% off. I was so glad to be able to get enough for 8 place settings. When dishes have a range of colors like these, that’s my cue to mix and match accessories with abandon! (Note that the egg cups, vases, straw mats, and even the flowers pick up on the different colors.) The white ceramic chargers are from Old Time Pottery.

Pfaltzgraff “Legacy” stainless flatware is simple in shape and style so as to not compete with the wildly meandering pattern on the dishes.

These colorful egg cups came in a range of colors at Crate & Barrel. I bought them in citrus green, as pictured here, as well as bubble gum pink, luscious lavender and lemon yellow.

I am almost certain I bought this milky green stemware at Pier 1 about 15 years ago. (I had them in blue, too, and could just kick myself for selling them!) It’s fun and just a teensy bit decadent to sip your morning orange juice from a martini glass! (Although not as much fun as sipping your morning martini from an orange juice glass! 🙂 )

Three dollar clearance sale urns from K-Mart, spray-painted a brilliant sunshine yellow, are topped with mounded arborvitae and finished off with a dark wrought iron obelisk for height. (For an even more whimsical look, or for a May Day celebration, consider tying lengths of flowing ribbon to the top of the obelisks to gently flutter in the breeze.)

A colorful assortment of roses and hydrangea are assembled in various sizes of ceramic vases borrowed from our guest bedroom decor.

The beverage table is dressed in a poufy pink full-length cotton linen. The straw mat runner is trimmed in a seasonal green. Next to the table is my beloved wooden carousel horse, most often used around here for Kentucky Derby table settings. (Click HERE and scroll down to “Run For the Roses” to see the horse used for Derby Day. You can also click HERE to see him used on a Kentucky Derby buffet table!) The carousel colors on the dishes naturally made me think of him!

Pier 1’s “Lyda” teapot is great for serving any warm beverage. In hindsight, I should have bought more than one!

A repeat of the dining table florals is found playing peek-a-boo from a fanciful hatbox. Greenery vines lend more presence to the table.

I hope you’re just about ready for Easter! I still have eggs to dye and a coconut cake recipe to refine. From our house to yours, may you be blessed with a peaceful Easter weekend!

Other Easter tables on this site:
“Easter Brunch“
“Barton’s Easter Brunch“
“Pinky Peter Cottontail“

Please join me again this week for Tablescape Thursday! I guarantee my blogger buddies will have lots of great tablescapes to share with you!

Linked to BeBetsy.com!

Sunflower Simple

/ Alycia Nichols / 44 Comments

Before my tablescape, the winner of the silver pedestal bowl giveaway is……….

 
Linda at A Toile Tale!!!

Congratulations, Linda! We all look forward to seeing how you use this beautiful piece in an upcoming tablescape! (Ramon pulled your name and – typical husband – had no idea how to pronounce the word “toile.” I just gleefully watched him struggle with it for a few seconds before I finally came to his rescue! 🙂

Thanks to everyone who entered, and don’t despair….there will be another chance to win another silver lovely in the near future. Watch for details! It’s going to be a biggie!!! Meanwhile…

I have finally given in to autumn with this simple, casual, budget-friendly fall tablescape. As the evenings get cooler, meals like chili, beef stew, soup, and corn chowder become the entrée du jour!

We live about 15 minutes from the border of Kansas, The Sunflower State. How could I own an umbrella like this and not do something that pays tribute to our next-door-neighbor? 🙂

These Maxcera “Terra Cotta Sunflower” dishes purchased from TJ Maxx a couple of years ago are very popular for an autumn tablescape, but I’ve only recently had a chance to use them. I like the ruffly edges, the fun design, and the bold color. An open-weave square Pier 1 placemat anchors the place setting. Off-centering the bowl lets the plate design show in full.

A bold mustard-colored napkin from Bed Bath & Beyond lies beneath the non-traditional placement of stainless flatware. You may have noticed that the dessert fork is placed off-center at the top of the plate.

I think I bought these dark green stems at Pier 1 several years ago. Hard to remember…my mind is failing me. Anyway, they nicely pick up the green in the dishes and keep the table from getting too monochromatic yellow. Whenever a beverage bottle is nice enough, like these S. Pellegrino classics, I like to make it a part of the tablescape.

Two towering centerpieces are made up of mustard yellow ceramic pots topped with garden obelisks from Hobby Lobby. Simple, slow-growing “Teddy Bear” arborvitae from the nursery are plopped in for color and texture. (Click HERE to see another tablescape using wrought iron obelisks.)

Although sunflowers would have been the obvious choice here, I often like to pull for the underdog which in this case is something smaller but complementary: simple yellow alstroemeria in tiny green glass vases.

Tiny yellow glass votive holders add a little atmospheric light.

A sunflower bowl from T.J. Maxx holds crackers for the evening meal.

Casual…simple…sunflowers!

Please join me and lots of very talented tablescapers from around the globe for Susan’s weekly blog party, Tablescape Thursday. Have a happy week, and congrats once again to Linda at A Toile Tale!

Autumn White Wedding

/ Alycia Nichols / 94 Comments

I recently received a request for ideas on an autumn wedding. Not that I have anything against fall colors, but sometimes it’s fun to march to the beat of your own drum. Try instead an autumn rehearsal dinner, bridal shower or wedding reception using the more unlikely colors of white, cream and chartreuse with touches of earthy brown for good measure. (For more wedding table ideas click here!)

If the weather is still warm enough in fall to do an outdoor wedding event, go for it! When you set up outdoors, the sky is the limit where your decorating options are concerned!!!

A full-length ivory table linen is topped with a satiny brown runner to add color and dimension to the tabletop. The place settings are fairly traditional with glossy silver chargers and ivory dishware from TJ Maxx. (One huge no-no is to use items that will upstage the reception decor on “The Big Day.”)

The napkin (Bed Bath & Beyond) is very simply folded across the dinner plate and tucked beneath. A white mini pumpkin is centered on each napkin. While a faux pumpkin is used for this sample setting, I suggest using the real thing. Mini pumpkins can be purchased at the grocer this time of year for around 50 cents apiece, and they make a great little take-home gift. (Or you can take the leftover pumpkins to bling them up and use them in a fall arrangement like here.) If you know a calligrapher or someone with exceptional handwriting skills, ask them to pen the names of each guest onto the pumpkins! Cooler yet….have them inscribe the monogram of each guest. That’s really different and kinda fancy to boot! 🙂

Keep the flatware along the same line of formality as the rest of the setting. The design on this flatware is similar to the pattern on the rim of the dinner plate. I went with Cristal d’Arques “Longchamps” crystal that offers a lot of bang for your buck.

Long tables offer an opportunity to do so many cool things with the centerpiece!
A mix of high and low arrangements fill out this 12-ft. table. For even longer tables (so cool to see 18-, 24-, or even 36-ft. tables!!!), add more high ones to balance it out. For this table, I used a little wrought iron number I bought earlier this year. It’s reversible…or at least I made it that way by accident! Lesson learned? Play with your toys…don’t just use them the way they were displayed at the store!!!

This is the way it’s used here, but it’s actually upside down and missing some parts!

This is how it’s supposed to look. I finally figured out what all those “extra” mystery pieces were for!

I outfitted the top of the centerpiece with a grapevine wreath bought at Hobby Lobby. I secured it with  floral wire. Next came lots and lots of flowers including chartreuse and creamy white hydrangea, white roses, and a few orchid blooms. (Sprigs of green hypericum berries, unripened coffee beans or unripened raspberries would really look slick and add more texture, too!) Hydrangea quickly wilts, so the trick is to put the water vial on the end of the floral stem immediately AFTER it is inserted into the wreath so it doesn’t wiggle loose. (Took me half the doggone wreath to figure that one out! :-() Use floral tape to secure the vials to the twigs so they don’t poke out or fall off during dinner…which would be highly embarrassing! Tuck in bits of fabulously bright chartreuse reindeer moss to help hide the mechanics of your arrangement, and finish it off with a plump white pumpkin. (Hint: When you go wreath and pumpkin shopping, take the centerpiece you’ll be working with along to make sure the wreath is the right size and that the pumpkin won’t overwhelm or topple it.)

The ugly little spindly legs on the bottom part of the centerpiece are camouflaged with mounds of florals accented with reindeer moss and a white mini pumpkin.

A mini pumpkin rests comfortably on a cushy bed of reindeer moss. I like the moss to look a little bit messy as nature would have it.

The side globes hold a single orchid bloom atop more reindeer moss.

The smaller components of the extended centerpiece correspond with the main piece. Iron candlesticks with fat pillar candles are flanked by small rose-filled globes stuffed with reindeer moss to keep a consistent look.

This same concept could easily apply to a winter wedding by swapping out the pumpkins with oversized ornaments. The look also works well indoors so long as the height of the centerpiece doesn’t interfere with overhead lighting, fans, etc.

I’m hooking up with my pals at Susan’s Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday again this week. If you’ve never visited, you really must! Lots of talent out there!!!

A special shout out and great big thank you to Angie over at Echoes of Laughter who helped me figure out how to get rid of the bothersome “no reply” feature when I leave comments on other blogs. Teamwork paid off!!!