A Fantasy Tea Party Celebration Interview Showcases How to Balance Family, Career, & Community, Plus Tablescape & Menu Ideas

 

It seems like almost yesterday that my dear Homegrown friend, Nancy Valarella, reached out to me to suggest that she and her culinary cohort, Myra Naseem, be interview guests on my recently-launched Ladies Who Lunch Conversations show on Facebook. 

She had me at Tea Party!

Nancy suggested our upcoming interview segment feature a Mother’s Day Tea Party theme. 

Oh the possibilities!  I was transported to visions of elegant Bridgerton, Barry Lyndon, and whimsical Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter for a fantasy tablescape and fashions ....

Meanwhile, Nancy was explaining that Myra is affectionately known as “Mama” Myra by her family and close friends. This prompted me to invite my own Mother, Virginia, to co-host the special Mother’s Day Ladies Who Lunch tea party with me. 

This was to be my first "Double Feature" interview, meaning two ladies to interview on the guest side, and in turn, two at my table: Me and Mother. Just to balance things out. And allow me to showcase my beautiful Mother :)

I know Nancy from my Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook. As you will see and hear in the Ladies Who Lunch interview, we have had a few Thelma & Louise adventures! 

From the start, Nancy was abuzz with the food and drink possibilities and ideas about their pretty table design to highlight the springtime tea party. See, Nancy possesses not only a culinary cachet but also a “look-book” styling talent that embellishes an entertaining composition, in every season. From the get-go, the stars were aligning portending this was going to be a truly elegant episode. 

From her first postings on social media, Nancy showcased the incredibly beautiful, antique china sets her father-in-law brought back from Japan where  he was stationed while in the service.  

 

I was gobsmacked. Not only for their delicate charm and macaron colors but also because they are still in pristine condition. Not a broken handle or chip in any of the pieces!  That’s surely tender loving care and respect for the entertaining tableware…

You can view Nancy’s china art sets on her Facebook page: @What’sCookinLongIslandLocavore and at her Instagram: @lilocavore495 to see her museum-worthy china art. 

We also owe deep gratitude to SerendipiTea   

Flavour Fields, and Hither Brook Floral & Gift Boutique. Nancy, Myra, and me thank you from the bottom of our homegrown hearts for sharing your exquisite products - the best ingredients ~ that elevated our cocktail and food recipes. We unabashedly recommend these tea blends. And don’t get me started about Flavour Fields’ microgreens, herbs, spices, and be-still-my-finishing-touches heart: edible flowers. Please check out these inspired growers and small business wonders. 

Speaking of wonders, during the Ladies Who Lunch episode, we learned how Myra acquired her “Mama Myra moniker.” (Wow. I always love a kind of alliteration but I think this is a first for me to showcase three!) and how her B.S. in Home Economics from SUNY and a master’s degree from NYU, and teaching job in Patchogue High School all continue to contribute to what is now her decades-on success in her catering and cooking classes career. Listen to how she describes her teaching and instructional pedigree… 

Along with her partner, Neil, Elegant Eating has been a catering gem in the Smithtown/Stony Brook area for over three decades. 

Nancy noted that “Elegant Eating food tastes as good as it looks. In addition to putting food in our bellies and smiles on our faces, both Neil and Myra have been actively supporting the community. In 2017, Myra and the team were honored by the Smithtown Children’s Foundation for their effort and support within the Smithtown community.”

This fall, 2021, the Smithtown Historical Society is honoring “Mama” Myra for her steadfast support and will be recognized with the “Rockwell Award.” 

Here’s a bit of context for the Rockwell Award: 

The Rockwell Award honors the memory of Charles Embree Rockwell, who through his generous donation of Roseneath Cottage and the surrounding property has enabled the Society to grow and become an integral part of the community. This year’s recipient Myra Naseem, co-owner of Elegant Eating demonstrates this same generous spirit through her contributions of goods and services to the Smithtown Historical Society’s many events. By donating numerous culinary creations and exquisite tablescapes as well as providing top level service, Myra has helped to make our events beautiful and successful. It was because of Myra’s generosity and talent for adapting during the pandemic, that the Historical Society was able to hold a compliant celebration of our 2020 honorees this past October. Myra has also generously provided delicious treats for other events such as our Honoree Breakfast and our Evening with a Star Interview series; garnering praise and appreciation from attendees. Additionally, Myra has brought many new sponsors to the Historical Society and it is for this generosity of spirit and willingness to work for the good of the Society that we wish to thank Myra.

Please view the Ladies Who Lunch episode to understand better Myra’s advice for female entrepreneurs looking to start and grow a burgeoning business…“If you are willing to put the time and effort into it, anything is possible” are some of Myra’s pearls of wisdom and inspiration.

Nancy, too, is an inspiring woman. After a career in technology, Nancy became a full-time Mother and caregiver to her three daughters. When the youngest entered middle school, the desire to re-enter the world was fulfilled by food writing and volunteer work.

While writing for hyper-local publications, she was asked to chair fundraising events for Stony Brook University’s Nutrition Department and the Smithtown Children’s Foundation. Nancy later became an Advisory Board Member and Public Relations contact for the Smithtown Children’s Foundation.

You can purchase Myra’s cookbook and help support this effective community Foundation. In 2015 Nancy was honored with the Inspirational Community Leader Award given by the Smithtown Children’s Foundation.

Nancy is proud to note that she has had the honor of cooking alongside regionally renowned Chefs Guy Reuge and Tom Schaudel, has rubbed elbows and has shared banter with culinary icons Martha Stewart, Chefs Bobby Flay, Tom Colicchio, Michael Symon and restaurateur extraordinaire, Danny Meyer.

Nancy’s foodie chops include: recipe development, cooking contests winner.  I regret that I only recently learned she had a recipe featured in the Wall Street Journal!  

Nancy also had a recipe featured in Newsday for her Spiralized Zucchini Noodles with Poached Chicken Tenders.  

I so love that Nancy wrote that she has stopped counting the number of cookbooks in her collection. We all need more cookbooks!

In fact, as you’ll hear on the Ladies Who Lunch Conversations I am going to strongly advocate that a smart publisher take on Nancy to create a Polish inspired cookbook, with a kind of deconstructed or derivative take on some classic dishes.  I think this style of ethnic recipes is ready for its moment! All good, healthy, traditional comfort food with a twist of updated elegance and style. 

Don’t you agree? 

Nancy has also been a catalyst for all things local in her environ as a Farmers’ Market Manager & Cooking Demonstrator at Long Island Greenmarkets. In addition to numerous local publications, Nancy’s writing has been published regionally in Edible Long Island and the Long Island Press. 

Nancy and Myra are truly inspirational: managing family, career, and community. We salute these great dames and I’m proud to have had the opportunity to explore their journeys.  Not to be outdone, my mother Virginia also shares her ability to balance a career as a registered nurse with raising a family.  

I’ve always admired that Ginger Rogers’ quote about “doing everything backwards in high heels” to emphasize that ladies make it look easy in spite of difficulty.  

I bow to you inspired ladies. I salute you.  And really ~ every day is Mother’s Day.   Thank you, Nancy, Myra, and Mother!  It is a lovely Tea Party indeed. And you not only inspired my early-May tablescape but you also prompted me to showcase my childhood tea party set! Girls love tea parties.

This episode fueled a unique, fun, Bridgerton meets Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter tea party tablescape! You all can see a video capture on my YouTube. (and subscribe too, please.) wink. 

Entertaining table decor and inspiring women is a potent combination for fun and fantasy and all good things…. Cheers. 

 

 

Check This Out: New York Botanical Garden's Antique Garden Furniture 1st Dibs Preview Party is Virtual Tonight; Followed by Weeklong Events with Exhibitors & Superb Garden Programs

 

I love(d) this event in the "before times," where all The Who's Who in the garden and exterior design world gathered and hobnobbed for cocktails, conversations, and getting their first dibs on rare and unusual gotta' have plants for your collection, as well as the chance to discover and score a perfect antique and/or piece of exterior design for their garden rooms.

A few years back, one of my most delightful and favorite garden design clients set her eye for beauty on these charming, Four-Season Cherubs that nowgive sanctuary and grace her white marble parking courts.

  

Festivities for this year's show begin on Thursday, April 29, 2021, with a Preview Party Featuring the Collectors’ Plant Auction.

Public Access to the Fair Runs from Saturday, May 1 to Friday, May 7, 2021.

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will present its much-anticipated Antique Garden Furniture Fair virtually this year in a weeklong event from Thursday, April 29 to Friday, May 7, 2021, featuring unique offerings from leading antique dealers, including classic furniture and fine garden antiques—some with a modern twist, both elegant and inspiring—for the home and garden.

Festivities begin on Thursday, April 29, with an exclusive Preview Party Featuring the Collectors’ Plant Auction, from 4 to 7 p.m. Ticket holders will receive a special early access link that will allow them to purchase objects from the Fair exhibitors’ offerings and bid on a curated collection of exquisite and beautifully grown garden plants handpicked by NYBG’s horticultural staff. Proceeds support NYBG and its premier horticultural programs. 

For Preview Party tickets and information, please e-mail Thao Phan at tphan@nybg.org or call 718.817.8774.

The Antique Garden Furniture Fair is the ideal virtual venue for finding design inspiration for the home and garden, learning about garden antiques, and building personal collections. 

Public access to the Fair begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 1, when a link to the exhibitors’ offerings will be posted on the Fair’s webpage. The exhibitors’ online showcases will remain accessible for purchases until 12 p.m. on Friday, May 7.

During the Fair, a selection of virtual programs will be available on the Fair’s webpage, including short videos spotlighting some of this year’s exhibitors, lectures by leading designers, a special documentary screening, and a floral design demonstration. The lineup of programs, which will be available to Preview Party ticket holders on Thursday, April 29, and to the general public beginning Saturday, May 1, features the following:

•   Spotlight on Exhibitors videos, providing insight into the world of antiques through the perspectives of six exhibitors (Find Weatherly, Westport, Conn.; Barbara Israel Garden Antiques, Katonah, N.Y.; Milne’s At Home Antiques, New York, N.Y., and Kingston, N.Y.; New England Garden Company, Sudbury, Mass.; Pagoda Red, Chicago, Ill.; and Jeffrey Tillou Antiques, Litchfield, Conn.)

•   Cultivating a Creative Life, a lecture by potter, gardener, cook, and entrepreneur Frances Palmer, who centers her creative life—and daily photo shoots—in an airy studio inside her Connecticut barn with a focus on determination, routine, prioritization, perseverance, and perspective.

•   An Eye for Design, a lecture by Kathryn Herman, founding principal of Kathryn Herman Design in New Canaan, Conn., who brings a strong horticultural background and intense interest in architecture to her international residential and commercial landscape design work.

•   Beatrix Farrand’s American Landscapes, the 2019 documentary by director Stephen Ives and horticulturist Anne Cleves Symmes, which explores the life and innovative ideas of one of the most influential and creative garden designers of the early 20th century whose work includes NYBG’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden.

•   A floral demonstration video in which celebrated designers Michael and Darroch Putnam of Putnam & Putnam will create a centerpiece in keeping with their signature opulent and densely layered style, using color as the guiding principle.

  *Antique Garden Furniture Fair and Preview Party sponsored by Bartlett Tree Experts

ANTIQUE GARDEN FURNITURE FAIR 2021 EXHIBITOR LISTING (In formation)

David Bell Antiques
Brennan & Mouilleseaux Antiques Dinan & Chighine Ltd
Find Weatherly
Finnegan Gallery
Garvey Rita Art & Antiques
Hawthorne Fine Art
Barbara Israel Garden Antiques Richard Kazarian Antiques
Glen Leroux Antiques
Milne’s At Home Antiques
New England Garden Company Pagoda Red
Francis J. Purcell
Rayon Roskar
Red Fox Fine Art
Thistlethwaite Americana
Jeffrey Tillou Antiques
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge Inc. 

Van Roÿen Antiques & Objects 

Withington & Company

The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10458. It is easy to reach by Metro-North Railroad, bus, or subway. NYBG is open year-round, Tuesday through Sunday and Monday federal holidays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, please call 718.817.8700 or visit nybg.org

FREE Floratopia Garden Book Autographed by Author Jan Johnsen, Plus My Floratopia Book Review

As the landscape designer, artist, and author, Jan Johnsen quotes in her latest book, Floratopia, “More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always.” And who am I to argue with that master of extraordinary flower paintings, Claude Monet?

In fact, I couldn’t agree more. Flowers are our muses, too.

I think it’s safe to say that flowers are the reason why we garden in the first place. We are irresistibly drawn to the color, the scent, the texture.

Never mind that all that beauty is meant to attract pollinators!

The fact is, flowers inspire so many artful craftspeople: jewelry designers, musicians, chef and cooks, painters, textile and fashion designers, interior designers, lighting designers, poets, writers, and of course, gardeners.

No matter who is doing the rendering, flowers symbolize beauty, and love…

Speaking of love, in reviewing Jan’s Floratopia, I couldn’t help but feel the love of her craft and her passion for designing landscapes featuring the allure of flowers ~ that connection to their seductive charm but also the respect for their role in “sustainable and eco-friendly gardens” that jumps off every page.

So it should come as no surprise that I, in turn, love this book! It’s so very inspiring.

The only difficult part was not re-reading the tips and looking at the great color photos from Jan’s portfolio of landscape designs that are featured on every page while I was writing this post! Ha. Like flowers, the book lures you; tempts you with its creativity, design compositions, and practical advice.

Recently, Jan was an honored guest on my Ladies Who Lunch Conversations Facebook event ~ thank you so very much Jan! We learned so much about your fascinating journey to becoming a leading landscape designer and garden author of so many successful books.

With regard to Floratopia, I commented how I especially loved that you use the first-person in the book. You seemed a wee bit surprised saying that no one else had noted that. I find this especially 5-star worthy, because when reading the tips and your “Green Thoughts” musings, your voice is authoritative; reassuring. It adds a level of intimacy and trust that so many other garden books lack. Thank you for that important detail.

Win a Free Floratopia book! A Floratopia Book Giveaway
For Garden Glamour readers and viewers of Ladies Who Lunch, Jan and her publisher, The Countryman Press, have generously and graciously agreed to gift a Floratopia book ~ autographed by Jan ~ to a lucky flower and garden enthusiast.

Please email me your answer to the questions:

1. What is your favorite flower? 
2. What is the flower combination you can’t live without? (e.g.: Dusty Miller soft grey, purple Angelonia, and pink Vinca or Siberian Bugloss and Purple Pansies; as Jan shows in Floratopia. The colors and textures are fabulous!)
3. Where do you garden? Planters? Window Boxes, Borders? Community Garden? 

Too busy gardening to answer? Please just email me. (smile)

Email to: Leeann@Duchess-Designs.com

I’ll review the entries and let you all know who the lucky flower-lover is! So exciting…

If you can’t wait for the Giveaway ~ and who could blame you ~ please order from the above link and share the good news about your Floratopia purchase. Whether looking for that hands-on, voice of experience or if you just want to pursue an aspirational garden lifestyle, you will embrace the artful looks and prose in Floratopia. It might not surprise you that, as Jan revealed on our Ladies Who Lunch Conversation, she was a painter and architectural student and enthusiast early in her career. Her artful approach to landscape design is evident throughout her book.

There’s another inspiring quote that touched my garden soul that Jan features as the head note on her Flowers are Living Things: “Flowers are the music of the ground from earth’s lips spoken without a sound.” Edwin Curran. She expresses the point that “artistic expression and growing healthy flowers are not mutually exclusive. They are one together. That is the essence of great flower garden design.” Indeed…

Floratopia is brimming with ideas and techniques. I can see these pretty cut flowers and more in a pretty cachepot.You can learn from the master about the importance of soil to become as she coins it, a “Rake Master'' in the Art of Raking; the need to weed, designing and working with Nature and your zone to achieve Drought-Resistant Gardens, or letting the lawn go and getting the flowers to come back (hello, clover, dandelions and wild violets. Oh, and I just read a great recipe for dandelion wine!) 

Jan even includes tips on planting annuals which I’ve rarely seen in horticultural or garden design books. Most “serious” garden experts pooh-pooh any mention of this leaving it the local nursery or … We love that pop of summer color and so appreciate Jan’s wise garden suggestions to using these “floral workhorses'' as she describes them in the chapter devoted to annual.

An entire chapter!

Floratopia is that rare combination of a garden book: serious and grounded in its advice yet a fun, joyful read ~ a real garden tour. Whether you have a green thumb or are all-thumbs.

We in the horticultural, garden design world revere Jan. You can see why…
As if you needed more convincing about Jan’s bonafides (what, you can’t take my word alone? ha), here is Jan’s bio, flush with her special garden design and plant pedigree.

Jan Johnsen began her professional life in Japan in a landscape architecture office. She has been a principal in a landscape design-and-build firm, Johnsen Landscapes & Pools, based in Westchester, New York, for more than 40 years.

Her natural design approach is evident in the landscapes that she shares in her books: Heaven Is a Garden, The Spirit of Stone, Floratopia and Gardentopia.

Jan Johnsen’s latest book, Floratopia: 110 Flower Garden Ideas for Your Yard, Patio, or Balcony showcases beautiful flower varieties and offers illustrated design ideas that will have you seeing the potential for colorful flowers, both annual and perennial, in all kinds of outdoor spaces, large or small.

Essential advice―such as "Hot Weather Flower Garden Tips," "Tiny Space, Tiny Garden," and "Tips for Layering with Flowers"―is accompanied by lush photos and informative captions. Selected growing tips―such as "Become a Rake Master" and "Should I Cut Back in Winter?"―answer common questions and ensure success for gardeners of all skill levels.

Floratopia both inspires and enlightens; it underscores the role of flowers as pollinator magnets and encourages the appreciation of flowers throughout their entire lifecycle.

Choice tips for butterfly gardens, combining grasses and flowers, and deer-resistant combinations also include recommended cultivars and suggested soil conditions. This engaging book is divided into six chapters:

1. Flowers in Pots and Planters
2. Flower Garden Planting Tips
3. Flower Garden Design Tips and Green Thoughts
4. Themes for Flower Gardens
5. A Few Choice Perennial Flowers to Try
6. A Selection of Favorite Annual Flowers.

Floratopia appeals to gardeners and flower lovers alike. Jan’s encouraging voice, experience, and contagious passion for flower garden designs will inspire you to plant joyful blossoms, wherever you live.

I recommend Floratopia as a true Garden Glamour guide to beautiful, flower-filled gardens.

* All photos courtesy of Jan Johnsen except for the Ladies Who Lunch Conversations screen shot

  

How I Bathed my Tablescape in Sunshine: Step-by-Step Instructions & Ideas for a Beautiful Spring Table Setting

 

Putting the Color Yellow in Context

While you can skip down to the step-by-step layering ingredients, I thought you might also enjoy some background about the color yellow, along with an anecdote or two…

Yellow can be a tricky color for some folks. Why is that?  

My husband Bill and I were in a conversation about home decor and design some years back and the woman was intent on describing how much she hates yellow walls.  Ahem… until we reminded her that our kitchen and part of our dining room is yellow. She stared back blinking incredulously. “No,” she claimed, having visited our home many times.  “Yes,” I replied.

Yes, it is. It’s a soft buttery yellow. At the time of our reconstruction, I might've been channeling Julia Child’s acknowledged passion for that ubiquitous, French-inspired ingredient… “Well, that’s a different yellow. A neutral,” she declared with Kissinger-like diplomacy. 

As I said, yellow can be tricky.

While yellow can be referred to as the color of caution and more; I found out that Yellow symbolizes happiness and warmth in almost all cultures. It's the color that grabs users' attention more than any other color. Major companies use yellow in their branding to give off the feeling of friendliness and positivity.

So you see it’s also true that Yellow is the happy color of sunshine; cheerfulness, happiness and full-on Spring! 

I say this because I’d never used yellow color in any of my tablescape designs except for perhaps an accessory or two.  Made sense that change - a harbinger of the season, would also be a change in look for my tablescape aesthetic. 

I was inspired by the hopeful energizing color of yellow and its ability to lend a charming earthiness to the entertaining tableau. 

So I made up my mad mind (madness is another of the dark attributes associated with the color yellow!) 

That happy, hopeful yellow would signal that breath of fresh air that April signals to us ~ (in zone 7 that is.) And, I daresay, in the minds of those in hotter locales.

Here, it’s yellow forsythia - long heralded as the official flower of Brooklyn, New Yorkm because it’s the first (to bloom) and is very strong: characteristics that Brooklyn citizens embrace as emblematic of themselves. 

Yellow daffodils almost seem ubiquitous this time of year: for sale at the bodegas, grocery stores, and sweeping our gardens and roadsides in broad swaths of sunshine.  Bear in mind there are seemingly just as many kinds of daffodils as you see blooming most everywhere. Including hybrids, there are over 13,000 distinct daffodil varieties, according to Gardening Know How. . 

Many are deer resistant too. I use “Cheerfulness” in my garden design clients’ gardens who are prey to these big rats.  

Did you know that daffodils signify “respect” in the language of flowers?

Respect for Mother Nature is my interpretation of this kind of floral rosetta stone

Yellow as homage to Mother Nature, to spring, to change. The daffodils shape even seem to “trumpet” the arrival of spring

 

And this tablescape was created as a kind of salute to Jan Johnsen, my first guest of April for my emerging Ladies Who Lunch Conversations interview platform on Facebook. Her new book, Floratopia has just recently been released. That pop of flower cover art is hard to look away from!  And do look to my next Garden Glamour post ~ we’re going to offer a free Floratopia book to a lucky recipient! 

While I was determined that yellow was the color theme of the new April tablescape, there now was the sticky situation that I didn’t really have any yellow elements to draw from to create this happy look. And I love to repurpose things from art to jewelry to “found” garden items, and employ them in the design.

But this was going to prove a wee bit thorny...

I still employed a layered look. I could use the green glass salad plates and those bright, floral placements I had stowed in the back of the linen closet were in my table-setting inventory, 

 

along with our crystal glasses and the green Spode ones, yet, I needed chargers, some plates! And that “something” that adds whimsy and charm. Especially for a spring tablescape.

On one of my “wellness walks”, I stopped into the local vintage shop and saw a perfectly sized yellow vase. 

A rather swooning, arabesque shape - the two ends dipped like, well, like weeping forsythia branches! 

The next day, I flexed a bit of bartering ~ just to stay in form!. And I walked home with the right-sized yellow, glass vase.

Floral Focus 

One of my favorite garden design clients who prefers her garden style is that of white purity, nevertheless had lots of yellow daffodils in various locations in her garden rooms from a previous owner. I asked if I could use them - a win/win for both of us. She could rid the gardens of yellow color, and I got oodles of happy daffodils to feature as the sunshine element ~ and to show “respect” for Mother Nature and our gardeners and gardens…

I couldn’t resist the gorgeous, diminutive tulips selling at our local gourmet market: Sickles.

And for a touch of whimsy, I added fresh carrots with their green tops on to the tulip vase. 

Can you see the carrots? 

For even more whimsy ~ can’t have too much of this table ingredient that is meant to delight and surprise you, your family, and guests ~ I hallowed out two small cabbages (used the scooped-out cabbage for homemade coleslaw). 

I fit the potted yellow ranunculus inside. Perfect fit and spring pot!

You can also see the forsythia twigs in the small, horizontal glass vases. I placed the two next to the baby terrariums I created from butter dishes, placing some moss and a found twig or two inside.

I kept the green and yellow orchids in their classic, spring green cachepots that I featured in the green, March tablescape. I also retained the oxalis that I used in March, the variety of pots from sparkling green to painted green clay, still work. I especially like the way the oxalis leaves close up at night. And so does Bill and Mother. 

Plant Performance art!

That said, I also like to mix a few faux blooms in for lasting, easy care beauty. Here, these golden charmers grace a purple African Violet. 

To further accessorize, I placed a real but long-gone butterfly we found in our driveway a few years ago. It’s a nice surprise. 

The table runner is a faux grass that I purchased by the yard at a local Joanne’s fabric and craft store. The staff at our store are super nice and helpful. The faux green grass runner is a perfect canvas for the florals and the tablescape’s other elements.  

Layering in the Table Settings

I thought it would be an intriguing and memorable design look to feature yellow cabbage plates to better celebrate the season. 

I soon discovered the yellow ones are more difficult to find than the green cabbage plates; they are Portguese, and now considered Vintage. Which means more money. But my curiosity had kicked in and the hunt was on. I looked in Replacements, Etsy, and eBay, where I eventually purchased the four vintage Secla Portguese yellow ceramic plates. Not only was the look just perfect but cost, and most of all, no pronounced or visible damage . Understandably, some vintage items have cracks or chips… I was very careful, chose wisely, and in the end, was satisfied with my find.

  

Bill was tasked with locating the chargers. I wanted some graphic art look on them, vs. a monochrome color.

He outdid himself! The border is a kind of lattice look that complements the plates and matches the place card name tags!  They are a metal material with a French cabbage design so the theme works even when plating the food. And I’ll use them outside later in the summer when dining outdoors. 

 

You can see the layered plating and charger here, for each place setting. 

I double-dipped with the napkins (smile). I had the vintage green one’s with the loopy bow; layered in the crisp, white linen napkins.

I wanted a more relaxed Napkin “Ring” so I tied a gold-flecked ribbon around the base of the napkin and the bow amplified the napkins’ green one. Kismet.  The gold ribbon is the same as I wrapped around the twinkly light strands and the moss-covered twig I artfully placed on the grass runner, so the shimmery gold is even prettier in the evening. And it follows then, that gold cutlery works with this look. 

 

TableDecor Accessories

Here’s where the fun really gets going! Choose from any kind of tokens, trinkets, jewelry, or souvenirs to add personality and style to make the table design your own special creation.  

I placed two of the wind-up furry chics Mother gifted us one Easter several years ago. So cute! And I adore the fluffy white ducks and mini, bunny cake stands I purchased some years back at Sickles Market. 

I added the colored, blown out egg ornaments that I made for Bill, me, and my Father and Mother. I still place Dad’s at the table as a loving memory of my best guy… I place them in white chick soft egg holders 

The Lladro girl at the table center is also a lovely memory. It was my godmother’s ~ she collected the figurines. When she died, my other aunt who was her caretaker, gifted this garden girl to me. 

So you see how memories, whimsy, color, texture, balance, nature, seasonality, and imagination can transport your dining table into a pretty, romantic, and entertaining delight.

Hope you enjoy the happy, yellow, glowing tablescape. And Happy Earth Day!

I’ll leave you with two videos: showing the tablescape in the day and in the evening so that you can get an idea of how the layered vignette looks styled for every meal, in any light.