In an ideal world, I would host every holiday gathering …
To me, it seemed like my childhood home was the place to be on Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and the Fourth of July … and every other holiday imaginable.
My mother always made it look effortless. Seamless. A Pinch of This. A Punch of That. Seriously. She was never a slave to a recipe card.
But today we’re in the real world of the quickly diminishing year of 2011. The world in which I’m hosting an imaginary holiday dinner for you. My very real blog friends …
Welcome!
The irony: I’m not hosting an extended family holiday dinner this year. So the holiday tablescape I present to you today is what could’ve been …
So say I was serving you up as dinner, this would be your view with the lights on …
… and then again with lights off and a bit of twinkle light ambiance …
The buffet sports my favorite: daisies …
Grocery store daisy stems in jelly jars. Cost: $4 …
The view as I bring in the feast from the kitchen. The wreath tied up to the chandelier was a last minute inspiration. I picked it up last month to use as a form to make an autumnal wreath for my neighbor. Looks like she’ll have to wait a bit longer …
The centerpiece is a “buy-one-get-one-free” from the local grocery store. The $4.99 poinsettias are housed in a $.99 crate I picked up at the thrift store a few weeks ago …
I let the twinkle lights set the mood, but added two candles on the table. They’re tea lights sitting on a bed of Epson salt 'snow' housed in jelly jars …
The kids were thrilled with the dining room transformation and were eager to drink their milk from our fancy wedding-gift Wedgewood crystal …
The ribbon used to tie up the wreaths was $12.99 for 50 feet at the fabric and craft store …
… and I made the wreaths using $1 forms from the dollar store and drop cloth rosettes that I dyed, hand sewn and glue gunned ...
Here’s a long shot of what you’d see if you just walked into our home and were standing in our living room ...
Now I don’t condone putting lit candles on the floor – especially if your guests include small children – but hey, for my virtual holiday party, anything goes …
Sitting atop our custom radiator covers are my paper mache carolers nestled in that annoying fake snow that I can’t get enough of at this time of year …
... and will be vacuuming up well into the next year.
The mirrored window pane – my long-ago attempt to reflect light in a cavernous room – is wrapped each year with ribbon and a bow …
The place settings are relatively simple, featuring Salvation Army-find plates and flatware resting on round HomeGoods place-mats …
… and dollar store ornament place cards …
I made the numbered napkins from drop cloths and iron-on transfers …
… and will give you a full ‘pic-tutorial’ next week.
My one and only 'mini' splurge -- if you can even call it that -- was a HomeGoods buy …
… these hand-made plates from Deartis in Portugal run $6.99 each …
So I picked up two and paired them with my simple white porcelain. Perfect.
… and, yes, those are my $3 book page boxes sitting under that little Christmas tree …
You can find out how I made them here …
At the end of the day, I spent just under $40 on my holiday tablescape.
Yet, the funny thing is my favorite part …
… are those $4 grocery stores daisies in the jelly jars …
Love the arched doorway into the living room (?) and the stained glass window. And,of course, love the tablescape as well!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb! The arches are what sold me on the house (along with a screened in porch) so many years ago ... the stain glass is faux, though.
ReplyDeleteI created my table decor with out a party in mind either :) LOVE the wreathes on the back of the chairs and the daisies.
ReplyDeleteeverything is so pretty & festive. what caught my eye though is the simplicity of the lovely daisies in the jars! love it! xoox, tracie
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