A simple fall tablescape

Hello and  welcome to my inaugural post – my very first tablescape in blogland which I’ve entitled a simple fall tablescape.  I must confess at the outset though, that fall is not my favorite season (which I realize puts me in the minority).  Why?  Well, here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, summer is short – June, July, and August -and if you’re lucky, a little bit at the end of May and a bit at the beginning of September.  And fall is even shorter – September and maybe October.  Its not unusual for there to be snow on Halloween; sometimes it stays and sometimes it goes.  So what fall means to me is that winter is coming.  Soon.  Winter is my least favorite season and it seems to last forever.  What can I say?  Enough said.

Update:  I originally posted this tablescape on the site on September 10th, hoping to go live shortly after.  But then the website crashed which delayed the launch by several weeks.  Interestingly, I had no idea how foretelling my first paragraph would be.  Here is a peek of the back yard on Saturday morning, September 28th.

Here is a picture Sunday morning, September 29th, one week into “fall”.  And its still snowing!!!  The leaves are still on the trees, and most of them haven’t even changed color yet.  Yikes!

Sigh.  But on to tablescapes.  The impetus for this table started with this pretty plaid table runner that I found at HomeSense last year.  I do love the fall colors, and I particularly liked this runner because the background was cream/ivory and not white, which works well with my ivory dishes.  And it had matching napkins too.  Bonus, because matching napkins can sometimes save a lot of running around trying to find a coordinating color and pattern.

Shortly after finding the table runner, I was in our local Superstore and stumbled across these salad plates.  Of course they came home with me.  They came in two different patterns.  This one:

and this one:

And the pattern is abstract enough that you can arrange the salad plates however they suit you.  You can place them so the pattern is at the top, the bottom, or at the sides, and set the napkins accordingly, like I did last year.

There is no pattern name on the back of the salad plate except for Superstore’s logo, so I suspect that they were made exclusively for Superstore.

I don’t remember if I found the napkin rings or the sunflower centerpiece next, but however it came about, they seemed to work well together.  The match was pretty good, with the sunflower in the centerpiece nicely echoing the napkin rings.  The centerpiece was from HomeSense last year, and the napkins rings were from Pier 1, also last year.

My centerpieces are almost always simple.  I wanted to keep the profile low so I added two small LED candles on either side of the sunflower basket and placed them on flat glass candle holders.

There is a pretty soft glow when the candles are lit, although I don’t think my picture captured it all that well.  Besides the two LED candles, I added an acorn set of salt and pepper shakers at one end, and a pumpkin/gourd set at the other end (Dollar store and HomeSense, respectively).  A couple of acorns, and some pine cones and table scatter (Pier 1 and dollar store) completed the centerpiece.

The plate stack consists of Superstore salad plates, layered on top of Mikasa Italian Countryside dinner plates from HomeSense about five or six years ago.  The dinner plates are still available at various places including Bed Bath and Beyond, and Amazon, although mostly in sets.  They are an ivory colored dinner plate that goes well with many settings, and they are my go-to plates.  They are so versatile for showcasing pretty salad plates.

The dinner plates are layered on top of ivory colored, semi-distressed, wooden, leaf-like rimmed charger plates from Pier 1, also several years ago.  They are also my go-to charger plates, but unfortunately, they are no longer available.

The stemware is amber wine glasses from Pier 1 many, many years ago, and they have stood in many a table setting throughout the years.  They go with gold, copper, and bronze.  I had some of my original set break, and replaced them with the amber crackle wine glasses (maybe 3 or 4 years ago).  They work well together, and I love the way the crackle sparkles and diffracts the light, although you might have to use your imagination in this photo.  I don’t think that the amber crackle glasses are still available at Pier 1, but they do have some different amber colored wine glasses.

The bronze twig flatware is from Pier 1, found on clearance a couple of years ago, and is an absolute favorite.  It comes as a 20 piece setting for four which you can see below.  They don’t seem to carry it in bronze anymore, although they do carry it in silver which is very pretty as well (so tempted).  I use it a lot as it seems to pair well with many tablescapes.  I placed the knife and fork on one side to make room for the napkin on the other side, and then placed the spoon at the top of the setting.  I do hope that Emily Post isn’t turning over in her grave….

I liked this tablescape because of its simplicity.  I think that it would be easy to take it in several directions.  You could make it more rustic by adding perhaps live bark or dark rattan charger plates, or make it more glamorous with copper charger plates, each with some minor changes in accessories.

One more look at the table…

Thanks for visiting and any comments are much appreciated.  I’m sharing with Between Naps on the Porch (assuming I can figure out how to link up, lol).