In anticipation of the arrival of the new dining room table, I'm playing with place settings. I purchased the Spode Black Labrador Retriever salad plates, two or three years ago, in honor of Molly.I've mixed the Spode plate with a Mikasa French Countryside dinner plate, a green plate from Target and a gold charger. The small pumpkin tureen sits on a ceramic leaf.
I found the blue salad plate and cup, shown here, at a Pier One end of season sale, a couple of weeks ago. Again, I've used the versatile French Countryside, with the blue plate, a clear vintage plate and J's mother's 1940's sherbet glass. The small pitcher is from Kitchen Collection, at the Osage Beach Outlets. It sits on a tiny Mary Carol (Garrity) plate, in cream with a black edge. The blue, cream, brown and green checked napkin ties the green placemat in with the blue of the plate.
I'm shopping around for more of these small bird gift plates. Other than the Pheasant, I have a plate with a pair of Quail. I've been looking on E-bay and found a few. I just need to jump in and bid! The square plate is Mary Carol. The leopard print plate is from a Walmart clearance rack about 5 years ago. The napkin and placemat are from a Lenox Outlet clearance sale, last December. That's a real egg under the small cloche, from All About Home.
I found four of these square plates at the same Pier One sale, where I found the other blue plates. I bought these to use on the back porch or patio. The cup is from the same set as the above plate.
This photo and the following two are from my archives. The above is the Spring 2008 back porch table.
Two years ago, when our home was opened for a Garden Club tour, during December, I set all the tables in the house and the back porch table. I brought the birdhouses from the condo, to line the center of the breakfast room farmhouse table. The snowman is Jim Shore. The plates are Lenox Wintergreetings, I've collected for a number of years.
This table is in J's "room", the lodge. Postcards from family and friends as well as from our trips are seen under the glass. The photo is from 2006, during the tour.
I have dishes stored in the pantry, china cabinet, Mother's cabinet, the shelves in the dining room and two other cabinets. I downsized my collection a few years ago, but started adding pieces again, almost immediately. We prefer casual dining and only add pieces that are easily mixed with our casual dinnerware. It's fun to mix it up when setting a table. I try to think of unusual bits and pieces to add to the placesettings and tablescapes.
The new dining room table should arrive within the next week or two.
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J's appointment went very well. PSA is now at 0! He'll continue regular cancer checkups during the next 5 years.
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