A winter tablescape in white and gold and a New Year’s resolution

Good morning,

We are almost through January (and will be by the time I post this), which is about halfway through winter for those living in Alberta.  It seemed like a winter tablescape was called for, particularly since we just came out of another polar vortex, although not as bad as the one last January where temperatures hovered around minus 30.  Brrrr.  Temps the past week were around -15.  Still cold though, and we’re moving into another cold snap.

But on to the winter tablescape.  This table started with some dinner and salad plates that I stumbled across in Superstore late last fall as they were starting to bring in their Christmas items.  The dishware would just as easily work for Christmas, but I was eyeing them for a winter tablescape.  They were so inexpensive, 4 or 5 dollars a plate, that I couldn’t help myself, but hence, my New Year’s resolution of no more dishes this year.

The dinner plates had a metallic gold wreath-like border around the edge, which I liked because it frames the salad plates.

It wasn’t until I was editing the pictures that I really noticed the dinner plates.  When I first set them, all I saw was the branches and the reindeer.  But when I took a closer look there were other critters too.  Do you see the squirrel and the bunny below?  The bunny is on the ground between the reindeer/shrub and the tree.  The squirrel is on the tree branch next to the bunny.

Looking more closely, I found some birds which you can see here with my crudely drawn arrows…  All in all, I found 4 reindeer, three birds, three squirrels and three bunnies, although the metallics don’t photograph all that well.  Maybe at my next dinner party I’ll see how many of the critters my guests can find.  Oh, wait.  There are no dinner parties; we’re on lockdown.  What was I thinking?

There were three different critter salad plates that were all white except for the eyes and noses which were gold.  Why three I don’t know, but the detail in the plates is remarkable, especially considering the price.

There was an owl.

A polar bear.

And a fox.  Love his tail.

I had initially thought that I would just put these dishes aside for a future table, but then I happened across a faux fur table runner in HomeSense.  I had been looking for a fur runner for some time, and had found some on U.S. Etsy sites but never pursued them.  I was thrilled to find this runner locally – it was the only one they had.

So now I have a fur runner and some critter plates.  All good, so far.  But where to go next?  For me, the challenge is often the centerpiece.  Looking at my Pinterest boards in the hopes of some inspiration, I noticed a general theme among the centerpieces that I had pinned.  They are almost all garland centerpieces.  Hmmm.  Maybe its time to try my hand at one.

I came across a gilded magnolia leaf garland in HomeSense.  But by itself on the fur runner, it was just too, um, gold. I wish I had taken a picture of it so you could see.  Okay, so maybe some white flowers to cover it up?  Off to Michaels to see their offerings, and OMG, all their Christmas stuff was 80% off.  Bonus!  I came home with some white poinsettia bouquets and some other white flowers that I don’t know what they are.  The bouquets were really pretty and I wanted to be able to use them again so I carefully pried the flowers from the stems so I could reattach them.  Then I just placed the flowers on top of the garland; I wanted some gold to peek though.

The poinsettia flowers, in particular, were so pretty with their sparkly edges and the colors on the leaves ranging from white to the palest gold.

If you scroll down, you will see the white flower that I don’t know the name of.  Maybe carnations?

The centerpiece went through several iterations before I was reasonably happy with it.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure that this tablescape would even make it to the blog in the beginning.  I initially had candle holders with tapers along each side.  That arrangement stayed up for about a week as I tried to figure out what I didn’t like about it.  Turns out it was all the candles.  So, I kept two and offset them in the middle of the table as a nod to center.  Then I added some mercury votive holders instead.  Much better.

I next fiddled with the lighting.  In the votives, I tried an LED votive candle, but didn’t like it because all I could see was the “flame”.  Then I tried some LED tea lights – same thing happened with the flame.  Then I went to real tea lights, and again, all I could see was the flame.  Something like this.  It just didn’t look right.

After rummaging through the candle drawer, I came across some LED tea lights from Pier 1.  I have no recollection of when or why I bought them, suggesting that I’ve had them for years.  But they turned out to be perfect.  There is no flame, per se, and just a tiny wick.  Its the whole tea light that flickers from the inside, so the mercury holder gives off a flickering glow.  Infinitely better.

For the rest of the place setting I used gold chargers, gold flatware, and some amber glasses.  I’ve had them all for many years.  A sliver of sunlight highlights the crackle on the wine glass.

I would have loved an evening view with the candles lit, but the fur on the table runner is thick and uneven, and it looks pretty flammable to my eye.  Plus, the candle holders are light weight and a bit tippy.  Common sense prevailed.  A much heavier candle holder likely would have solved the problem.

A few more shots of the table.

Happy February everyone!  Comments are most welcome and much appreciated.

Sharing with Between Naps on the Porch.

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