Going Green for Spring

April 9, 2013August 16, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 56 Comments

INSPIRATION: Fun acid green woven favor boxes from Beau-coup.com

It’s finally starting to feel a bit more like Spring here in the Kansas City, MO area. Hooray! This time of year means a round of Spring cleaning (ugh! :-(), which means it’s time to reduce, recycle and reuse. So here’s a tablescape to remind us to go green (have a garage sale, donate to thrift stores, use old items for new creations, vow to stop shopping…..whoa! Wait a minute! Who threw that last one in there??!?!?!!). In other words, time to go green!!!
(Click on any photo, then click again to enhance/enlarge it.)

This fun green & white table for 8 begins with a fresh white full-length linen from LinenTablecloth.com. I was so happy to once again have a chance to use this fabulous Mikasa “Daylight” dinnerware. With its freshly sprouted leaves on a wispy branch, it says Spring to me like no other dish I have whether it’s for a birthday, a ladies’ luncheon or Sunday brunch! (Click HERE to see these dishes used in another colorful Spring setting AND in a subdued Asian-inspired theme. They’re just that versatile!)

Simple clear glass stemware from Old Time Pottery doesn’t compete with the flurry of decor on the table. The “chargers” are rustic grapevine wreaths. (These were also used as chargers for an American Royal tablescape HERE.) Dark faux bamboo flatware from Home Goods works in concert with the chargers and branch design on the plates.

The good folks at Beau-coup.com sent me these eye-popping acid green woven favor boxes. They look terrific “as is”, or you can dress them up with any manner of flourish. Here, to keep the organic look and theme of recycling to go green, I hot glued pieces of broken from the chargers. Imagine these with a pretty silk posy, a tilted bird’s nest, a pouf of ribbon, or a simple twine bow. Just go wherever your imagination and theme take you! TIP: This shade of green is often hard to “match.” Don’t even try to go there. Take your cue from nature’s variegated colors and strive to complement rather than match.

I found the squared-off green vases at a nearby wholesale store that always has something fun to tempt me. The shape of these vases lends itself to a variety of looks. On this table the arrangement is merely 3 majestically tall faux agapanthus. (I used these same green vases on the buffet with lots of orchids overflowing HERE.) An oversized acid green butterfly with pretty mesh wings perches on the side. To bring the moppy heads of the agapanthus down closer to eye level, I snipped and plopped a few into sleek white ceramic urns.

Candlesticks aren’t just for candles! I used these white turned wood candlesticks from Z Gallerie to hold large, heavy mercury balls that sow a little shine into the otherwise unpolished setting.

I bought a bunch of these little rose bundles wholesale a while back in several colors. I’ve seen similar ones in stores like Michaels. They look really good massed together as seen here in this white weathered aluminum planter. A single bundle is just enough to fill a smaller white ceramic urn.

On the buffet is a massive grapevine wreath that carries on the look of the chargers on the dining table. In the spirit of recycling and looking for something with a funky little beat, I used the stems cut from the agapanthus on the table to create a rambling design on one side of the wreath. The asymmetrical design is balanced a little with the presence of 3 more of the large butterflies. A mercury ball finial brings shine to the vignette, while dessert plates and forks peek out from beneath a floral arrangement.

On the tea cart are faux bamboo spoons and gorgeous Mikasa “Daylight” cups & saucers. A Ralph Lauren pierced cake pedestal (Tuesday Morning) holds more of the Beau-coup favor boxes, this time unadorned and filled with cookies for guests to take home. Your choice: favors on the table at each individual place setting, or displayed en masse for guests to pick up on their way out the door.

Many thanks to Beau-coup.com for providing these pretty favor boxes for me to play with! It was tons of fun! Beau-coup has a wonderful variety of “favors, party supplies, gifts, and more for all of life’s celebrations.” (I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I didn’t even try…I just plagiarized it! :-)) Stop by and check them out!

Other posts on this site with green and white tablescapes:
“The Party She Deserves”
“Moss & Manzanitas”
“Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. DeMille”
“Spring Has Sprung”
“Rolling Fields of Green”
“Apple Green Luncheon”
“Upscale Irish”

There are lots of fun blog parties out there with ideas from the creative minds of bloggers all across the United States and around the world. Partying hearty here in the Midwest (U.S.A.) are blog buddies like Marigene “In the Middle of Nowhere“, Lynne at “Lynne’s Gifts From the Heart“, Cindy at “Beaux R’eves“, Cherry Kay at “Entertaining Women” (she had a gorgeous green & white table last week!), Judy at “JBiggs Little Pieces“, sweet Pat at “Back Porch Musings“, “The Home Girl“, and newcomer Christine at “Rustic & Refined“. Join us this week at:
Cuisine Kathleen’s “Let’s Dish!”
Susan’s “Tablescape Thursday“

Blog parties are a wonderful opportunity for you to learn from tablescapers who do this regularly and have lots of tried and true ideas!

American Royal Tablescape

September 19, 2012April 26, 2018 / Alycia Nichols / 48 Comments

I had a tough decision to make for September 18: start teaching my fall tablescaping classes or participate in the Kansas City American Royal’s Tablescapes Preview Party organized by the BOTARs (Belles of the American Royal). The tablescape event is a relatively new addition to the many activities associated with the annual 8-week American Royal, a Kansas City staple since 1899 that revolves around livestock, agriculture, and Kansas City world-famous barbecue. (Don’t let that description fool you…there’s a WHOLE LOTTA ritzy stuff goin’ on over those 8 weeks, including an Arabian Horse Show, the UPHA National Championship, a Wine Competition/Tasting/Auction, and a very swanky fundraising ball.) The preview party precedes the luncheon held the following day.

Anyhooooooooo, teaching won…sort of. I opted to create a country western/cowboy-themed tablescape right here in honor of the 113-year American Royal tradition as a part of the teaching experience. (Click on any photo to enhance/enlarge it. Photos by Sheri L. Grant)

I wanted to include as many natural and rustic elements as possible, so I chose to leave part of the wood table exposed beneath the layered denim and red bandanna table linens. Because the events of the American Royal are both “shabby” and “chic”, the bandanna fabric is allowed to stylishly puddle to the floor.

Each place setting starts with a natural grapevine wreath as a charger. A plain white round Corelle plate is the anchor piece of the dishes, followed by a Pier 1 navy blue square salad plate set on the diagonal, and topped off with a home-on-the-range-type brick red casserole from Home Goods. The Hampton Silversmith “Patriot – Mirror” flatware is given a rustic look with a simple bit of twine tied around it. The menus, printed on “Wanted poster paper” from Hobby Lobby, were created on my home computer.

Plain ol’ Mason jars serve as drinking glasses for the sarsaparilla on the menu. The place cards are created from menu paper remnants. I punched holes in each side, slipped a length of twine through the paper and then through holes in the horseshoes (TSC), tying them off in the back.

I had a lot of fun creating the centerpiece! Miniature hay bales act as risers. Super cool resin boots from Hobby Lobby serve as vases for roses dotted with blackbeard wheat. That’s where shabby meets chic once again. The boots are embellished with authentic spurs from Tractor Supply Company (TSC). Other centerpiece elements include rustic cast iron stars, a miniature “lasso”, and a few six-shooters.

“Well, where were the napkins?” you ask. Right there on the chairs tied around the straw cowboy hat favors!

The buffet behind the dining table is all ready for lots of western-style grub like Kansas City’s famous barbecue slathered in sauce. (I’m partial to smoky sweet taste Fiorella’s Jack Stack sauce, but debating that with folks around here will get you nowhere! :-)) Elements of hay bales, horse shoes, and twine are carried over to the buffet area. Food markers are created using more scraps of the “Wanted poster paper” used for the menus and place cards. A larger set of resin boots from Hobby Lobby filled with blackbeard wheat are placed on each end. Last, but never least, is “Cecil” who is one of our four personal butlers. 🙂 Cecil wanted to get in on the fun, so he added a bolo tie and black cowboy hat to his usually prim & proper uniform.

Extra cowboy hats are displayed on the sconce shelves.

My famous wooden horse has another chance to join the party! I am so grateful to my young friend, Chelsea Hudson from Pittsburg, KS, who so graciously lent her childhood saddle, a horse bit, a lasso (and other items that my citified self can’t identify! :-)) to me. These accessories successfully turned my horse (that I have used for Derby, carousel, R.A. Long Historical Society, and “looking a gift horse in the mouth” tablescaping) into a real rough and rowdy character!

My husband came home with a surprise for me: Texas longhorn cattle horns all polished up and wrapped in leather! Wow! These were on display in his late father’s home for a long time, and Ramon remembered they had been stored away. To soften the very masculine look of these massive horns, I added a raised bale of straw flanked by (faux) roses in tree bark-covered vases.

Those of you who have visited in the past are probably familiar with Geoffrey, our majordomo. Geoffrey never, ever misses a chance to play dress up, so he donned his dopey cowpoke hat and bandanna.

Some people call Kansas City a “cow town” like that’s a bad thing. Whatever! Have you seen the price of beef, leather and dairy products? Sounds like a gold mine to me! And that’s what the American Royal is all about: all the good things that constitute farming, agriculture, livestock, cowboy (and cowgirl!) fun, world-famous barbecue, posh events (why else would I wear a screamin’ red gown like this one?!!?) and, of course, the beef industry right here in good ol’ Kansas City, Mo.!

Maybe next year I can postpone classes until after the tablescape event at the American Royal! 🙂

Other posts on this site with a horse theme:
“Carousel Colors”
“Kentucky Derby Buffet”
“Derby Day Dining”
“Run for the Roses” (scroll down the page to the end)

I am joining Cuisine Kathleen for “Let’s Dish!“, The Style Sisters for “Centerpiece Wednesday“, and Susan for “Tablescape Thursday” again this week. I’m sure there are tons of fabulous tables you would just love to see out there!!!