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3.08.2013

Last Minute Spring Tablescape

have you ever thought you really had a handle on things, 
were totally prepared and ready for something...
and then all of a sudden you realize there is something very VERY wrong?

 i once FORGOT all about the table decor for a family Easter dinner.

Easter Sunday arrived and the food was in full-swing prep mode. all was well in the kitchen.
and then, i walked into the dining room - and stopped dead in my tracks. 
THE TABLE WAS EMPTY!
i had no decor. no nuthin'. and the family was coming in an hour!

i have no defense. i was just busy, and forgot all about it.

 so after i started breathing again.....
i kicked into 'search and recover' mode.

whatever decor i was going to use had to be toddler-grandson proof. 
he was 16 months old and in that stage of climbing, 
pulling on tablecloths, and grabbing at everything
[it's ok, i didn't mind that he did - 
it's kind of a boy's job to investigate everything at that age!]
i just wanted to eliminate the chance of damage to him - or anything else.


 in the days leading up to that, i had been cleaning out my office
and came across a page that i had saved from a Martha Stewart Living Magazine  
ages before. like.... YEARS before.
i still don't know why it was sitting on the top of a wire filing basket that week, but it was.

and on Easter Sunday, an hour before guests arrived, Deb had a flash of inspiration:
 photograph from Martha Stewart Living Magazine 200?
that photo ^ from Martha's mag saved my hide.


this 'last minute idea' meant that i grabbed some packing tape and scissors, and 
i wrapped the tabletop with white wrapping paper!
 [nothing was hanging over the edges for lil' man to pull on]
if you  want to do this but don't have white wrapping paper,
TURN YOUR WRAPPING PAPER OVER!
almost all of them are white on the back side. 
[no one will know that rudolph or birthday balloons 
are on the side of the paper that faces the table]

i used green felt pens to draw charger and flatware outlines at each place setting, 
along with a drawn-on placecard.
[this is not detailed fine art here, like Martha's -
it's a fast solution half an hour before everyone arrived!]


i popped 3 dozen yellow daffodils (from my birthday the week before)
into 3 cylinder vases wrapped with antique velvet ribbon
and ran them down the center of the table, along with some tea lights in clear glass cups.
[WELL out of a little somebody's reach!]
 
 the china has a light sage green border that matched the linen napkins
and it was a perfect way to add color to the crisp white table setting. 

 the whole look is very simple, contemporary, and un-fussy
and i did it all in thirty minutes!

and incidentally, the photo of that 'last minute' table that you see at the top of this post
is one of my all-time favorite shots of my spring decor!
sometimes the easiest solutions really do make the most impact

for me the important part wasn't the decor, though...
the BEST part was this lil' guy peeking through the daffies at me:

shared online:

Saturday Night Special #178 | Funky Junk Interiors


2 comments:

  1. What a quick recovery you made there! Love the idea and I remember that page from Martha Stewart! Love that you had the inspiration when you needed it- xo Diana

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