Since I've been laid off, I have all kinds of time to do things to make my home pretty. I have always admired those women who had beautiful tables, always set with lovely dishes. My kitchen table has usually been a catch-all for our stuff. This is not a good thing. Well that has changed! It's so much easier to get my boys to avoid putting their things on the table when it is set! I came up with something I am very pleased with, and I did it on a very strict budget.
This is a pattern from Kayson's called Golden Rhapsody. I bought a set of four dishes for $.55 a piece at Goodwill. I love this pattern because it was the "good China" when I was growing up. My mother had a 12 place setting of this which was given to her by her adoptive father. He owned a Mobil gas station most of his life, and these were pieces that you could earn buying gas, if I remember correctly. It cost him practically nothing to give the whole set to my mother. Besides dishes, she also had all of the accessories. Well, now that my parents have passed, my brother asked if he could keep the set, and I had no problem with him keeping it. I found out that you can buy these at Goodwill too, and they have the pattern coming in there every so often. You know who else loves this pattern? Dot at Picket's Place!
Here is a closeup of the plates. The silverware is my everyday stuff that I have had for years.
Not long ago, I found those pretty tan placemats at Big Lots for $3 a piece. They are by Echo Point, and were originally $10 each! That's a lot, even for Big Lots. Recently they marked all of their Echo Point line down by 70%. So I splurged and got four. I also found the brown tablecloth there for $7. I had been wanting a tablecloth which would look nice in my kitchen with the ugly wallpaper and dark brown cupboards, and this really works! The pink drinking glasses were purchased from Goodwill for $.35 each.
I wish I had a set of these napkins. I found them at Pier One Imports. Years ago, I bought two of them to serve as a covering for a coffee table, and they were in a box the last couple years.
When I was unpacking, I found this pretty green teacup. I can't believe that I didn't remember owning it, and I don't remember where I got it.
You might remember this bowl from the top of my painted black end table. I bought it and the fake green apples from Pier One years ago. I had it sitting on the table as the centerpiece before I painted the end table. I put a spray of faux flowers that I had purchased from Home Interior Parties years ago at the base. Since I moved the bowl to the end table, my painted cheesboards are now serving as a centerpiece.
I never thought that I would like a brown tablecloth so much! It's going to allow me to be very versatile. I am now pining for some of the robin's egg blue plates by Echo Point which are still marked down at Big Lots. I have let my sons know that they would be a perfect Mother's Day gift! We will see if they listened. If I do get them, I can do another tablescape!
Have a great Tablescape Thursday everyone!
