A warm winter tablescape for a very cold January week

Hello from frigid Calgary, Alberta!  I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, this is the time of year when I am longing for something bright and warm.  January has settled in; everything is snow covered and it just seems gray and blah.  To say that the weather is cold would be an understatement.  As I write this, we are just coming out from a week under the polar vortex, with temperatures hovering at around -30 C.  Here is a screenshot of our temperatures for the week of January 12th.

The column on the far left is the daytime highs and the column on the far right is the nighttime lows.  Our average daytime high for this time of year is usually around -3 C, so this is quite the departure from normal.  And I have to say that nothing works right when its this cold.  Pipes freeze up, air vents become covered with ice, and the door knobs won’t close as normal.  And forget about going anywhere if your car hasn’t been plugged in…

Our neighbors to the east didn’t fare much better in terms of weather this week.  Newfoundland and Labrador were slammed by a nasty blizzard – up to 70 cm of snow in some areas.  Their cars were literally buried in snow.  Yikes.  And there has been some nasty weather in the US. as well.

So yes, its been a brutal week for many North Americans, but back in Alberta, a Chinook blew in on Sunday (January 19th).  Yay!!!   What’s a Chinook, you ask?  Well, I’m not a meteorologist, but basically, its a warm wind that comes from the Pacific and settles on the lee side of the Rockies (the eastern side in this case).  Its accompanied by a ridge of clouds known as a Chinook Arch that looks something like this:

This picture was taken at twilight last December from my front door which faces west.  Looking down the street at the sky, there is a sharp demarcation between the arch of cloud that covered Calgary and the sky beyond, going west in the direction of the mountains.  And why do we care about Chinooks?  Because they bring warmer weather.  Quickly.  For example, it was -20 C the morning of January 19th and it was -1 C at 4 in the afternoon.  I later heard that the official high was +4 for that day.  A 24 degree change for the better in one day!  And its supposed to be this mild all week.  Good bye and good riddance Polar Vortex!!!!

The Chinook Arch also brings some pretty sunsets, with these pictures taken out my front door from the current Chinook…

While being stuck in the house every evening that cold week, it seemed that a tablescape was called for.  Something warmer – preferably with some gleam and shine too.  But not an “icy” theme, as there was enough of that happening right out my front door.  I would also have to work with what I had because it was waaay too cold to go out shopping for anything.

Out came a possible main cast of characters.  A woolen table throw, some mirrored chargers and wine glasses, and some ivory dinner plates, to begin with.  Followed by a supporting cast of salad plates, napkins, a feathered boa and some balls, and some mercury glass candle holders.  All with due credit, of course.  Hmm.  I hope I can make this work….

Here is what I ended up with.

Add the stars of the show (IMHO)?  The bird napkin rings…

He’s such a cheeky fellow, don’t you think?  And aren’t his tail feathers pretty?

The table throw has an ivory background with a gray and tan plaid.  It was a warm but muted background for some of the other elements on the table.

Each place setting has a mirrored silver charger and wine glass, an ivory dinner plate, and a sparkly grey salad plate, plus a paisley napkin and a bird napkin ring.  I certainly hope that none of my guests have ornithophobia (bird phobia; sorry, occupational hazard lol).

The centerpiece consisted of mercury glass candle holders with some bark candles to bring out the brown colors in the napkins and napkin rings plus a tall white candle in the center.  I intertwined a white feather boa that had a touch of gray and tan accent feathers around the candle holders.

I added some feather balls.

I initially had the centerpiece sitting on the table throw, but it looked, um, unanchored, for lack of a better word.  Luckily, the stash produced a silver and ivory beaded table runner that seemed to ground the centerpiece.  It peeks out from under the centerpiece without detracting from it.

With the candles lit in the evening:

And what’s this?  Why, rays of sunlight.  I haven’t seen sunlight in the dining room since maybe last October.  When I check the Calgary sunset times, we have gained about 45 minutes of daylight in the evening since winter solstice.  The days are getting longer…  Yippee!!!

As I post this, I am happy to report that we have had some incredibly warm temperatures the last couple of weeks – +8 to +10 on some days, and our Chinook is to continue into this week.  How fabulous is that?  Happy January everybody!

Tablescape details:

There is nothing on this table that can be considered new…

Plaid throw, paisley napkins, and brown bark candles are from Pottery Barn four to five years ago.

Mercury candle holders: Pottery Barn and either Pier 1 or HomeSense several years ago.

Mirrored chargers: Wayfair five or six years ago.

Mirrored wine glasses: Pier 1 four or five years ago.

Boa and feathered balls:  Fabricland, a local fabric store (and I can’t recall where the brown balls came from).

Ivory plates and gray sparkly plates: HomeSense several years ago.

Bird napkin rings: Pier 1 several years ago

Thanks for visiting, and please feel free to leave a comment.