On this day, under a backyard camellia tree where umbrellas are filled with blooms and apples. I set a special lunch table for my family. When we make even the smallest gatherings special, the message it sends to the guests is, "YOU are special to me."
I believe it’s always the details that stay with us longest.
In a room, in a meal, in a gathering…it’s the details that honor and inspire us the most. Let that be the leftovers your guests take home.
Here are a few of the details:
1. Surprise and Delight: Think outside the dining room. It's true, people love a moveable feast, so for a special meal try setting your table anywhere that isn’t your usual dining spot. If you don’t have access to a beautiful outdoor space or weather isn’t permitting, set your table in the living room, kitchen or garage! Anyplace unexpected is a big surprise and delight. Here, I tucked a table in the backyard under a camellia tree heavy with blossoms.
2. Let Your Menu Inspire the Decor: With this Spring table, my main course used Cosmic Crisp apples, so I wanted to use them to help decorate my table. They mixed perfectly with the red and pink camellias growing in the yard. And were beautiful at each place setting with a handmade paper apple blossom on top. Learn how to make the Paper Apple Blossom HERE.
3. Mix and Match: Never worry about not having enough matching china for each place setting. Mixing and matching china, flatware, glassware and napkins gives a homespun chic feel. Mixing old and new pieces will help keep the table fresh. On this table I mixed some of my grandmother’s china with odds and ends I picked up over the years and new gingham-trimmed French Picnic Napkins. One of the plates on this lunch table has served two US Presidents! Proof that every piece has a story and there’s always a conversation starter on the table when you mix and match.
4. Multiples: Multiples of the same design element make the biggest impact. Trying to do too many little things for a table can be tedious and your guests can sometimes be confused on where to look. My solution is a dramatic multiple moment of something unexpected and inspiring –an idea that inspires your guests to do in their own homes. With this Spring table, I took a few children’s umbrellas (April Showers right!) and spray painted them in tones of yellows –the color informed by the striae on a Cosmic Crisp apples and camellias. It was an expensive craft and made a HUGE impact. I added flowers and apples to the upturned umbrellas that dotted the pathway to and set the mood for the setting. Other flower and apple-filled umbrellas were placed on the ground around the lunch table. And, one umbrella was used as the “floral arrangement” for the table. No worries if you don’t have a backyard filled with blooming flowers like I did here. Moss or wheatgrass would also have been beautiful inside the up-turned umbrellas with the apples sitting on top of it. Handmade paper flowers or grocery store flowers would also be amazing. Use what you have available.
I hope my take on a Spring Celebration gives you inspiration to create something a little different -a table layered with stories and surrounded by love.
Happy Spring! -Libbie