Casually Festive Holiday Table

Hello and welcome! I've set a holiday table for you that is casual, but that doesn't mean there won't be festive touches! 

  

Snowy Holiday Scenes for an Entry Tray

One of the simplest ways to decorate for the Christmas season is is to gather holiday items and place them together on a tray. This is also my favorite way to showcase smaller objects that might be overlooked if scattered across the room.

   

 

Christmas Dining — The New Traditional

Tables set with beautiful china, sparkling crystal and gleaming metals are right at home for Christmas dinner! Today I want to share a Christmas table done in a New Traditional style — classic and timeless, mixed with modern clean lines. 

I love all types of design, from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Mid-Century Modern to global contemporary, with a liberal dose of Sheraton traditional thrown in! New Traditional gives me freedom to mix finishes and periods, with a personal feel that adds excitement.

  

Leaves and Pumpkins on a Fall Table

Hello, Friends! We're half way through November and fall is well underway. Here in North Georgia some trees are still holding onto green leaves, while others are blazing gold or red, or are covered by a fabulous mix of colors. 

 

I've shared with you our seasonal Thanksgiving table where we will gather with family. I'd like to now share a fall table where we'll have breakfasts, lunches and dinners until then, and afterwards as well until I begin to bring out Christmas decorations and dinnerware.

A Seasonal Table for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and has always been so! Gathering together to give thanks for the good things in life. Sharing food, traditions and memories with family and friends. I can't think of a more wonderful way to spend the day — or the weekend!

Setting a lovely table adds another layer to the scents and sounds of Thanksgiving and lets my guests know I'm thrilled to have them. Today I'm joining a group of stylists for a blog hop

Autumn Tones for a Tray

Stymied for how to decorate for autumn? One of the simplest ways is to gather your favorite fall items and place them together on a tray. Arranged this way they have a larger collective impact and will make a lovely statement in your home!

   

Thank you for visiting today as I join several creative bloggers for a tour of our autumn trays

A Cozy Plaid Setting for Fall

Cooler temps really call out for plaid! Inspired by the crisp mornings we've had all week, I decided on a cozy table grounded on a plaid table cover. It combines the colors I've been attracted to all season, this time in shades of burnt orange and slate blue.

 

The mix of colors in the table cover will go with a number of fall dishes and decor. Today I've chosen dark orange earthenware plates and vintage blue salad plates with a trellis pattern.

A Haunted Table for Halloween

I freely admit that I love to decorate for Halloween! It's a chance to express my spooky — or whimsical, or silly, or scary — side and do just a little, or go all-out. 

 

Welcome to my haunted table that has a bit of all of the above!

  

At the Bistro Table

Finally we had "cool enough" weather — weather cool enough to spend some time enjoying a light meal at the bistro table. All summer through the heat, humidity and almost daily downpours I've looked longingly through the windows  at our deck and patios. Now the season to delight in being outdoors has arrived!

As the shadows lengthened I set a casual charcuterie board for two on the table.

Easing Into Fall

September signals that fall is approaching, although we'll still have summer weather here during October. So I decided to start easing into fall with warm vibrant colors for a stunning tablescape!

The Backyard Landscape — First Phase

Hello, friends! Welcome back to my backyard! You may remember that we completely renovated/redesigned our yard, patios and deck last year. That saga was shared in Backyard Renovation Reveal Part 1, the Reveal Part 2 and Deck Update - Railing Installed.

 

Where we left the landscape portion of the project last fall was that we had installed sod between the driveway and the upper patio and five upright conifers. I had planned to install shrubs and perennials throughout the backyard in the spring. However, my plans went out the window when Greg had to have emergency surgery the first week of March. He came through splendidly and has continued to recover (yeah!!). But landscaping went to the bottom of the to-do list, along with blogging to some extent.

    

Hot Pink for an August Table

I thought I'd match the heat of August with a hot pink table! I would have liked to set this outside, but the tropical storm dumped 2.75 inches of rain on us and everything on the patios is still quite wet. So we're inside where the heat is offset (thankfully!) by the A/C.

 

My initial idea was to use the garden's zinnias for the centerpiece, but they're in no condition to use after the heavy rains and the winds. To the rescue came faux flowers in hot pink and deep gold with cooler whites and purples!

Lunch by the Koi Pond

Summer colors are bright, warm and bold. They joyfully shrug off the heat!

  

Today brought normal summer temps, a welcome relief from the weekend's heat index values above 100! To take advantage of the break, I thought we'd have lunch al fresco. With a view overlooking the koi pond, I set the bistro table with a fun and whimsical shoal of fish, using melamine dishes in a super cute design.

The French Table

For le 14 juillet, I set a table to celebrate la fête nationale, France's national holiday, in honor of Greg's French ancestry. I used the colors of the French Tricolor flag — bleu, blanc et rouge.

  

Doing Some Background Blog Cleanup and Updates

Hello friends! It's been a strange weather pattern here for the last few days. In a single day we'll move through periods of light rain, overcast skies, sunny skies, and hard rainfalls — then repeat. Through it all the humidity has hovered north of 80%.

 

Red, White and Blue — Bright and Bold

I decided to celebrate Independence Day in the spirit of '76 — bright and bold! The red, white and blue plaid linens were the catalyst to go full-on colorful. I had spent a rainy day online looking for something new to express the excitement of the first holiday we plan to spend with friends

  

Summer Flowers, Summer Table

All I have to do for inspiration is to gather flowers. Flowers to form the centerpieces of my tables, and to guide their color stories.

Today inspiration came by way of early summer flowers blooming in my garden. Purples and blues with a jolt of white are in the sunny borders in the front.

Puppy Challenges in the Garden

Meet Finnegan, mischief maker!

We brought him home in April at eight weeks old, the cutest bundle of fur, with curiosity in his eyes!

As puppies do, he investigates everything with his mouth. Things allowed (food, toys, treats, big brother Jake, mom and dad) and those things not allowed (everything else!).

When we first took him outside, he discovered that a big world was out the door — and that there were a million things to pick up, tear, chase and chomp. Chomping on everything in the grass, along the path, in the planting beds! Now four months old, he has put more things in his mouth that Joey or Jake ever did in their stints as puppies.

  

Since I had not yet begun to install plants in our re-designed back yard, I decided to go with plants that were puppy-safe.

 

A Simple Vignette on a Day for Remembering

We've always been rather low-key on Memorial Day, celebrating quietly, usually only with the three of us. This year there will only be Greg and I, but I wanted to acknowledge the holiday in some way.

Thoughts of Pansies for a Spring Table

"Pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts." ~ William Shakespeare

 

The First Blossoms in the Spring Garden

Hello and welcome to the spring garden! My favorite season in the garden is spring, with its wonderful exuberance of shapes, colors and textures that is especially welcome after the challenges of winter. For spring blossoms I rely on trees and shrubs, carpeted beneath by perennial bulbs.

The photos below are roughly in their order of bloom, spanning the end of February through the end of March.

Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)

Hopping into Spring

I can always tell that spring has truly arrived when I see bunnies hopping through my garden! They have already begun nibbling my flowers and the fresh green shoots growing through the mulch. 

A Medley of Easter Tablescapes

Welcome to a medley of my Easter tablescapes! 

 

I had intended to set an Easter table to share with you, but my plans for the last couple of weeks were drastically changed by a trip to the ER with Greg, followed by his emergency cardiac surgery. From the time I dropped him off at the ER until he was released from the hospital eight days later, I was unable to see him due to the COVID-19 visitation regulations. I am so glad he had been vaccinated before this happened!

 

Thankfully we could text and eventually talk on the phone. While I certainly understand the need for the hospital's policy, it made waiting so much worse. But Greg is home, healing and feeling better each day! So I'll be back with new tablescapes soon!

In the meantime, click on the title just above each pair of photos to see the full post.

 

An Easter Table with Hydrangeas in the Meadows

 

 

A Table in Green and White with Pops of Color

Early spring is all about the fresh new greens in the garden and on the table! I decided to celebrate with an abundance of greens, using fresh flowers from my garden and a variety of green-toned tablewares.

Song of Winter

When you listen carefully, you can hear the song of winter. More muted than other seasons, winter nevertheless is full of sound, except perhaps when a new blanket of snow is falling. Birds sing and ruffle the leaves and needles of evergreens. Squirrels and chipmunks rustle the fallen leaves, and chitter and bark to defend their territory and food caches. Branches creak and thump against each other in the wind.

  

February Decor throughout the House

February can be a letdown after a long season of warmth, color, good food and wonderful celebrations. It is a mixture of days – days of winter, days of hopeful spring sightings. It's also a strange mixture of holidays – the renewal of the Lunar New Year and the heady excitement of Valentine's Day.

 

I often find it difficult to develop a cohesive look for February decor throughout the house. So I decided this year not to try, but to decorate vignettes in all the facets of February!

 

Pretty in Pink

To celebrate Valentine's Day I set up a tableau on the kitchen island that's pretty in pink!

 

 And decidedly girlish!

Snowdrifts on a Plaid Table

We've had several beautiful winter days this week. Gorgeous blue skies, brisk winds and (relatively) cold temps. Absolutely heavenly! All that I'm missing is a sparkling blanket of snow! While there's only a slim chance of that, I can dream. 

And I can build a tablescape featuring drifts of snow down the center.

Deck Update - Railing Installed!

I suppose this should really be entitled Part 3 of the backyard renovation, since it has had its own saga. If you've seen my previous posts, you may remember that we started demolition of the old deck on May 11, then progressed through demo of the rest of the backyard and then construction. The deck was the most straightforward part of the renovation. Both demo of the old deck and construction of the new was accomplished fairly quickly.