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During the dreary days waiting for the spring flowers outside to open, it is wonderful to be able to purchase tulips in the floral section of the grocery store. Our local stores place the floral section by the front door. Hard for me to pass that by. I wonder if that is a marketing strategy just for me!
I'd rather buy flowers than ice cream.
I'd rather have flowers than Starbuck's coffee.
I'd rather have flowers than food!
Their strategy is working.
Summer
Photos: Swede
Spring is well on its way. Daffodils are blooming, Hyacinths are fully budded, the Forsythia and Quince bushes are about to bust open and the Bradford Pear trees are right behind them. Except for pollen allergies, Spring is joyful.
All the best to you.
Summer
Photo: Swede
Joni Webb, on her blog Cote de Texas, mentioned that New Orleans antiques dealer and stager Mignon Favrot Topping was doing an in-house antique sale in Memphis, TN this week. The information is at the very bottom of Joni's post on February 22 where the main story is on Jackye Lanham. Last year, Joni did a post on Mignon's in-house sale staged in Houston on June 25, 2009. To read it go here. The home used for the June 2009 sale was very large.
The Memphis one is a very small 1940's English cottage style 3b/3b home in a very established older section of Memphis called Belle Meade. It appears that Mignon's business plan is to host these sales in vacant homes that are for sale. Unique idea, I admit.
To see the house when it was listed for sale, go here.
Here are some photos of the French Collectibles Memphis sale.
4143 Gwynne Road in Memphis
Stone, brick and metal entry.
French Collectible's sign hanging from the huge old tree.
The front door opens directly into the living room. Here we have a Swedish bench in front of the window holding silk pillows, an acrylic coffee table, silver metal and glass-top end tables, contemporary art over the fireplace, a black French occasional table, faded Oushak rug, leather folding screen, French chairs, and in the wall niches painted black, some small artworks.
Near the front door, an inlaid chair and a large walnut French chest. Notice the rugs.
On the left you can see a painted corner cabinet that is nice. In the foreground is a Swedish daybed in melon silk.
On a short wall, there is a mirror on top of a Swedish chest and a wooden box for a statue. Of course, you could put a lot of wonderful objects in this cabinet.
Here is a close up of the small double door tabernacle.
In the hallway on the left there is a small wooden chest, a black painted wooden art piece and a candlestick.
Below is a bedroom with twin beds.
Modern tables at the ends of the metal beds. Cute chest in the middle.
I think this was actually the master bedroom as the other two bedrooms were smaller.
A closer look at the chest.
And a leather screen.
And antique framed wallpaper panels.
The third small bedroom had a coffee table, bench and chest.
Here is a French vanity with inlay, probably walnut.
A pair of pretty white chairs.
The third small bedroom had a French trumeau.
The dining room was my favorite.
The relief panels of putti above the Italian console were wonderful.
The opposite wall in the dining room. Trumeau above the pine cabinet.
More views of the dining room. The carpet was made in patchwork squares.
Here you can see the candlesticks are not gilded on the backside. This is the way they were made at the time because gold was precious in cost and when placed on the alter, nobody saw the backside anyway.
This kitchen table had two benches.
The kitchen banquette area displayed these bamboo-style chairs and a bamboo trimmed wall cabinet shown on the right.
The upstairs family room was a sales display area for smaller rugs.
I have intentionally not given prices on this post.
Mignon's sale runs through Saturday, February 26th.
Hope you enjoyed seeing the photos.
All the best,
Summer
Photos: Swede
This week's tablescape is an example of a table created to honor a man. Perhaps you need to create a table setting for a birthday or Father's Day or some other family celebration. I find creating a tablescape for the male species is not as easy as for a woman. Not all men hunt, fish or golf or like race cars. Generally, if I am hosting a lunch or dinner for someone, I like to relate the event to the person in some way, perhaps their hobby, interest, occupation or event in their life such as a retirement, promotion, graduate degree, etc. This tablescape is for a birthday brunch for a man who restores old homes. It does have fish and birds in it, but the theme is carried out by the architectural salvage fragments in the centerpiece. I like to use objects that have unique interest instead of flowers if I can, although a floral centerpiece can be designed to be masculine. I am also using a canvas tablecloth for a more rough texture. And, I have chosen brown and aqua for the colors.
The service plates have bird pairs on them. Each hand painted French Avenir Limoges plate is different.
This is a wider view of the table with the service plates. Below are a few photos of the other designs on the plates.
And another one.
It would be hard for me to choose a favorite in my game plates, but these are right at the top. Beautiful quality and mint condition with well executed painting.
These must be Pheasants.
The chargers are from Jaune de Chrome, my favorite French porcelain maker for new china. If you follow my blog, you've heard me rave about them.
The pattern name is English Rose on Song in Ivory. Even though they are floral, I am using them for a man because the colorway is chocolate and they don't shout floral like pink roses would. You probably wouldn't know they were roses.
For the centerpiece, I went around the house and gathered architectural salvage pieces I purchased in antique shops. They are in their originial grimey condition with pealing paint. My favorite is what I call the onion top. I've also included two newer finials because of their coloration.
The napkins I selected because they had both brown and aqua in the pattern.
The napkins are from Yves Delorme Paris in the Recevior Verone pattern. My nice husband gave them to me for Valentine's Day together with the etched tumblers you will see below. Napkin rings are Reba McEntire Home collection for Dillard's in the Stratford Woven pattern.
For some reason I use three pieces of glassware on my tables. Left to right, the tall goblet pattern is unknown. I got a bulk of 14 of them and the seller didn't know the maker or pattern. Next is an aqua vintage tumbler by St. Clair in the Holly Panel pattern made around 1967 by Joe St. Clair who used to work for Northwood known for making carnival glass. On the right is my new gift of oversize double old fashioned engraved on clear glass by Zodax in the Normandy pattern. These are hefty and feel great in your hand. Thank you, Mr. M.
The sterling for this occasion is Tiffany's Japanese pattern from 1871. I chose it because of the birds on the handle to go with the bird plates. This pattern was reintroduced by Tiffany in 1956 with some changes to the handle as the Audubon pattern which I believe is still in production today. I've also seen knock offs of it in stainless steel.
The tablecloth is industrial canvas.
This canvas is one of my best kept secrets. You can get it 12 feet wide at companies who sell canvas for awnings and boat covers. A piece 15 feet long cost me around $32. So now you know my secret. These work wonderfully outdoors on picnic tables. You can wash them in the extra size washers. They will become your go-to item. I think they work well with Swedish and Belgian looks indoors as well as for a beach theme since the canvas looks like grainey sand.
Here are a couple shots of the left and right table ends before we move on to the salad plates.
For the salad plates, I am using aqua rimmed plates where the fish this time are around the rim.
These are English Royal Worcester with a date mark on the reverse of 1912. The hand painted fish around the rim vary in color and species.
This is the wider view of the salad plates.
I only have two aqua dinner plates, so I am using the Royal Worcester one even though it is not especially manly.
I don't know the pattern name, but I believe they were made around 1950, so they are vintage not antique.
I am bringing out another fish plate to serve dessert.
I think these coordinate well due to their aqua watercolor tones.
These fish plates are Limoges and made by E. Alluaud & Co. I like the unusual shape.
The other two aqua low cake plates on the table are Royal Crown Derby from the early 1800's and are Derby before the company became Royal Crown Derby. I am using them because of their color.
It is a good idea to keep an inventory notebook of the tablesettings you have done along with comments on who attended, some photos and other details. I find it very handy to refresh my memory of what plate combinations worked well together.
I am participating in Tablescape Thursday this week on the blog Between Naps on the Porch.
To see all the entries, after 9:00PM Eastern on Wednesday, go here:
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
All the best to you,
Summer
Photos: Swede
William C. Wood of Clinton, MS is a skilled artist who creates beautiful florals from copper. I met Mr. Wood at the Antique & Garden Show of Nashville. His work deserves a special post. These metal flowers are so life like. I apologize for the poor quality of these photos. The Convention Center had very poor lighting in the booths and the entire building. Each booth had to have their own display lamps to try to get more light on their products. I don't know why the show managers chose to have a dark interior. Mr. Wood's florals are fabulous in person.
The details of each flower is amazing. Here are some photos of his booth at the show.
Very pretty large combination.
I noticed the containers he used and how they were chosen to go with the plant he created.
I believe this is Lilly of the Valley.
The bottom ones look like Nasturtium to me. I should have asked him what some of these are.
This looks like Narcissus.
And this one looks like Ring of Fire Daffodil.
There was a large variety of plants to choose from so you could pick your favorite flower.
There was a price point for any collector. I saw prices ranging from $65 to $750.
It was amazing that these are metal.
This looks like maybe a Siberian Iris.
Collectors who knew his work were back again to get another favorite.
How about a berry vine?
Here is the one I selected.
A very cute little Orchid in a teal pot.
If you would like to contact Mr. Wood, go to:
Or phone: 601-346-5737
All the best to you,
Summer
Photos: Swede
This week's tablescape is done in the purple range. I am using the tablecloth I made of lavender taffeta and repeating the same stemware, sterling pattern, crystal knife rests and votive cups that I have used in a past tablescape. I am attempting to show how switching out the table elements with mix and match can extend your entertaining choices. This is very desirable when you have guests that are staying more than one day or when you are doing back-to-back dinner parties. As I have mentioned in prior posts, my style leans more toward Euro design, particularly Swedish where there is "less" rather than "more" on the table surface. You will see here that I am only using a floral arrangement in the center and four amethyst votive cups surrounding it. I am really opposed to using objects that cover the entire table top -- it is just too much stuff. I also find that guests are very uncomfortable with a lot of stuff on the table top. I would rather go to the minimalist side. I also find it difficult to create constantly something different for the center of the table. I have some floral training so doing a structured floral arrangement is not difficult for me. For the most part, though, I like large groups of all of the same kind of flower in a vase arrangement. Structured floral arrangements made in Oasis don't seem to last for more than a few days. What I personally enjoy seeing is an object other than flowers in the center of the table, such as an unusual antique with a lot of character like a statue or architectural fragment. However, I cannot accomplish that week after week. My goal is to find interesting things, but too often I fall back on using flowers.
Here I have used blue Hyacinths that I cut from my potted bulbs, lilac colored Stock, amethyst colored Tulips, lavender and purple Status, and Rice Flowers. Let me warn you about using Rice Flowers. This the lilac colored flower above that looks like Yarrow but has been dyed by the wholesale florist in different colors. You can get it in red, pink, yellow, green, dark purple, etc. Be very careful when handling these flowers as the dye they use gets on everything and the stains in fabric are very hard to get out. I just laid them out on my countertop while clipping the bottoms and the dye stained my countertop. Fortunately, SoftScrub took most of it out. I am not purchasing this flower again as I cannot risk permanent stains on things.
This scape starts with the Anna Weatherley chargers in their violet colorway. In some light they look more blue but they are really violet. This particular style has been discontinued and they now have a flatter less bowl-shape style with a different edge and in different colorways.
For the initial presentation place setting, I am using antique French Limoges fish plates again, this one hand painted by Muville in deeper murkier tones. All 12 plates are done in different colored fish.
I also use these for a light appetizer that won't scratch the hand painted scenes.
For the salad course, I am using some old turn of the century German lunch plates which are actually more magenta than purple but I like them and try to fit them in as often as I can. I think the gold trim is very unusual and the edges are ruffled. They are marked on the bottom "RS" but I don't think it is RS Prussia as the form is just like Richard Klemm's Dresden pattern, so they must have been made close to there. There is a Boston retailer mark also. I find that salad plates that come with china now at 8.0" or 8.5" are just too small for a nice sized salad. The old lunch plates that are no longer made in today's patterns seem to be a better size at over 9 inches.
The napkins are from Williams-Sonoma and are made of 100% hemp. I find them interesting to use and not too hard to care for.
Here is another view.
In a past post I talked about the first china pattern that I purchased in 1977 as a youngster, Wedgwood's Cuckoo, that I have emotionally moved on from. Here is an opportunity to give it another chance in this purple grouping. I still like the little bird but am not crazy about the flowers anymore. Wedgwood reproduced this pattern for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation where a broken one was found in an ash heap during excavation. Most likely the original was made in China and brought over to America on the clipper ships that traded in the Orient.
These chargers update the dinner plates.
And here is another view.
For the dessert plate, instead of using the Wedgwood Cuckoo, I am going to switch over to Royal Crown Derby's Olde Avesbury which has some purples in it. This, again, is a pattern that has been around many years and needs to mix with modern pieces to give it new life.
These have more magenta in the bird's tail than they do lavender in the flowers. I mix these plates and cups/saucers with themes of green, magenta and gold as well as purple.
I still try to work all the purples in.
Hope you have enjoyed the purple tour.
I am in the process of writing up an outline to answer a viewer's questions about how I go about the process of creating tablescapes and how and why I purchase china. I will post that shortly.
I am participating in Tablescape Thursday this week on the blog Between Naps on the Porch.
To see all the entries, go here:
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
All the best to you,
Summer
Photos: Swede
Happy Valentine's Day, Mr. M
Summer
Photo: Swede
Summer
This is my Valentine's Day tablescape submission. I do not like red in general in interiors so I won't be doing a tablescape this week in red. I don't think I have any decor in my house that is red. I do like red outside in my flower garden, though. Camelias, Roses, Zinnias, Geraniums, etc. A Valentine tablescape can be any color actually to set a romantic environment. Also, in this month's issue of House Beautiful on the color topic of pink, they mention on page 73 the color orchid and show an orchid painted room. In a room with the right light, that could be very pretty indeed.
I am more than in love with the color orchid right now, I'm over the moon with it. I go through phases of color love and right now it is orchid. Maybe it is because I am anticipating spring, but I love this color in the spring. Right after this, I go into my Robin's egg blue phase, then the coral phase, etc. My dream interior is an all white Swedish home so I can switch out the drapes, artwork, pillows and china on a whim and no other color will be competing with it. Someday!!
The basis for this tablescape is the orchid linen tablecloth.
I like to sew my own so I can get a width of 108" which is impossible to buy. I love this linen because of the embellishment of the embroidered paisley motifs. Sewing two panels 58" wide will give me 108 after hems and the joinder seam down the middle. If I want a table for six, I buy eight yards, table for ten, I buy nine yards so I can put one 22" leaf in the table. There are three leaves, so 11yards is needed to cover all three leaves. Sometimes vendors only wrap 8 yards on a bolt, so I need cuttings from two bolts to make it work for the bigger tablecloths. My wrestling that big of piece on the ironing board and my portable sewing machine would make a good comedy video. I try to catch the fabric on sale. This linen is from the fashion section of Hancock's and was $112 to make.
The floral centerpiece this time was easy as pie. Just get two florist bunches of lilac Stock and one of lavender Statice. I used my cachepot made by Guerin before 1934 that has hand painted Pansies on it. It is 12" high so it is good to hold the tall Stock stems.
I found the Guerin cachepot at an estate sale in mint condition. I was late getting there so all the wonderful things were already sold. I spied this piece on the fireplace mantle with a very ugly dried arrangement in it. Nobody had noticed the container. I found it in Mary Gaston's Limoges resource book for $1,000-1,200 estimate. I don't think anyone would pay that for it, though, at least not me. Lucky score. Also in the table's center are two pieces of natural sea coral and two 4" pots of white Cyclamen.
This would be a great time to use orchid colored stemware. Unfortuately, I don't own any so I used clear stems, the Stratton pattern by Simon-Pearce and the Colleen pattern by Waterford. I'm also using gold monogrammed Limoges bread and butter plates.
If you have been following my blog, you will recognize this service plate. I'm in love with this German plate also. The raised gold enamel "cloud" design around the edges makes my heart flutter. It looks like a Richard Klemm piece to me but I have not been able to verify the maker. It was imported for a store in Boston before 1916. The floral sprays are really a magenta color but I have pushed it to the orchid side for this tablescape. Before, I pushed the color to the lavender side in another tablescape. The color it reads is the color you put it against. This is a foundation of color principle. The color will "read" what you compare it to. Another example is the color shell. It will read pink until you put it next to pink and then it reads peach.
To start the plate layering, I used a gold charger by Raynaud in the Horizon Granite gold pattern.
I don't usually do this, but this time I am using the same pattern for both the dinner plate and the rim soup to serve either soup or salad. This is Richard Ginori's Torino pattern.
The sterling this week is Durgin Iris. Since Iris flowers can be this orchid shade, I thought that pattern would be perfect. William Durgin had fabulous talent but died early as did his son of an illness. I can only imagine what fabulous patterns they could have made if their lives had not been cut short. The originality, quality and weight of their flatware is just marvelous. I am also using crystal knife rests that my sister gave me and 29" lapkins with a family monogram purchased in France.
Dessert is served on these Coronet Limoges fish plates hand painted by Barin. There is just enough orchid in the flower on the side and on part of the fish to make this work. Since I don't serve a separate fish course for the meal, I use fish, bird and game plates in other ways to give great interest to the tablescape.
You may have also noticed the gold initial monogrammed Limoges gravy boat and covered serving dishes. I think they are fitting for this scheme. I find many of these pieces as well as platters in mint condition where they have been in a home's china cabinet for decades, being saved for "good company" events that never happened. I am thrilled to be their new caretaker.
I tried to stay away from making this look like an Easter table. If I wanted to go that direction, orchid is a color that can instantly take you there with the addition of some white Lilies for a centerpiece and clear glass bunny containers at the placesettings.
I hope you have enjoyed joining me for my orchid color lovefest.
I am participating in Tablescape Thursday this week on the blog Between Naps on the Porch.
To see all the entries, go here:
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
All the best to you,
Summer
Photos: Swede
For those of you who love white, here is my wonderful find yesterday.
Two large rectangular French Haviland platters with gold trim. The best part -- they are in mint condition. A joy to find. The white embellished pillow in the back of the chair is by Waterford.
Best wishes to you.
Summer
Photo: Swede
Peach Azafran Roses on my desk. Makes work much easier.
All the best,
Summer
Photo credit: Swede
My tablescape this week is a pairing of honey golden tones and lavender shades. I made the tablecloth from 8 yards of acetate heavy taffeta which is lavender on one side and mauve on the opposite side created by the weaving method. I can also see this fabric used as side panels for drapery on a guest room window. I like the taffeta sheen for drapes that make them look like ballgowns. When planning a tablescape, I cruise the fashion side of the fabric store for washable fabrics until one just takes my eye. I cruise on the fashion side because drycleaning table linens made from decor fabrics is not my cup of tea. I also find I get many more hue choices by using fabrics intended for clothing. I then create a table around it and find china in my collection that work with it. I like the initial presentation of the tablecloth to puddle on the floor with a ballgown appearance. At $4 a yard, this taffeta produces a dramatic look for $32 plus tax. But for the dinner, I find that men particularly don't like dealing with the fabric near their knees. It is easy to fold the fabric and pin it up in swags. This also makes getting the dining chairs pulled in and out easier during the course of the meal and any extended converstation afterwards with people lingering around the table.
For the first presentation service plates, I am using an antique set of fish plates.
These French Limoges plates are hand painted and signed by Puvis. Each of the 12 plates has a different fish.
They also serve as appetizer plates at the beginning of the meal. I don't serve anything on them where a utensil would scratch the hand painting. For the most part, I feel I am the current caretaker of these antique pieces until they are moved on to another caretaker, as I purchased them from someone who cherished them before me for the past 100 years. I want them out to be enjoyed but protected from damage.
For the salad course, I am using rim soup plates which I often use to do double duty. These are Anna Weatherley made in Hungary in the Morning Glory collection.
After I made the tablecloth, I discovered that I had placemats in the exact shade of lavender. I wanted this scape to be simple and easy to put together. The centerpiece is five 10-stem bunches of Rumba spray roses from the grocery store in a clear Pottery Barn chunky glass vase called Bosphorus. This is an easy look for $25 worth of roses. I also had some lavender mercury glass votive holders from Target that I used. Nothing complicated here.
For the stemware, the only purple-toned glass I have are two stems, one is a wine glass I got at Marshall's a few years ago, and the other one is cone shaped Royal Scot from London called Society Amethyst sold in the US by Home, James! of East Hampton, NY. Even though they are too dark purple for this lighter lavender arrangement, I am using them anyway. I don't have amber colored crystal.
I am also using chargers in the color Honey by Anna Weatherley made in Hungary. Then I am mixing several different plates from my stash.
I don't know why it is in that collection since it doesn't have a Morning Glory on it. This golden flower looks good with the charger. Some butternut squash and Granny Smith apple pureed soup would be good or even a rich cream base clam chowder if you didn't want to serve salad. Of course, this rim soup can also be used for dessert. As I have mentioned before, I like to get three uses out of this one piece of china so I don't have to purchase so many pieces.
The golden napkins I have had for 25 years and they seem to work here. Sterling is Tiffany St. James which was only made for 14 years starting in 1898. I can't imagine why they stopped making it as I think it was one of their greatest patterns. The piece on the far left is a "spork" a combination of spoon and fork. These are very rare to find, so I was absolutely thrilled when I found them with some other pieces of this pattern. The bread and butter plates are Coalport Hazelton yellow. My sister gave me the crystal knife rests for Christmas last year. The tablecloth brings out the lavender in the Dragonfly and the flower stem and bud.
Next, the dinner plates.
These are Anna Weatherley in the Seascape Waterlily collection. The waterlily flower and bud is very faint lavenderish blue as well as part of the fly which I am trying to bring out with the tablecloth.
There is just a tiny touch of honey color on the plates.
Then, for dessert plates, I am using green majolica leaf and vine plates from Portugal.
In keeping with the purple theme, how about a slice of Boysenberry pie.
I am participating in Tablescape Thursday this week on the blog Between Naps on the Porch.
To see all the entries, go here:
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
All the best to you,
Summer
Photos: Swede
White with gold -- a wonderful combination.
All the best to you today,
Summer
Photos: Swede
