Thursday, August 21, 2014

A Tablescape of Collected Treasures

One of my favorite things to do is hunt treasures, not buried treasure of gold and silver but small objects of beauty. I especially enjoy hunting treasures while traveling. This table is set with many collected treasures.

collected tablescape 1

Here’s another view.

collected tablescape 3

collected tablescape 2

I love the printed tin plates. They are illustrations from vintage children’s books. I first saw them on this post at My French Country Home. When my daughter and I were planning our trip to Europe back in the spring, Au Bain Marie was at the top of my list for Paris! The store has so many beautiful things it was hard to choose something. Let’s take a closer look at the plates.

Parisian plate 1

Each of the six plates has a different design.

Parisian plate 2

Parisian Plate 3

Parisian Plate 4

Parisian Plate 5

Parisian plate 6

The wicker chargers were purchased online from Nell Hill’s.

The white service plates were purchased at Homegoods.

I made the linen napkins using this tutorial from Yvonne at Stone Gable.

The flatware is vintage silverplate. I bought it because it is almost identical to my sterling pattern and I can use them together when I need extra. I have a lot of silverware, possibly 100 place settings!! I have found that I can by vintage silver plated flatware that is a nice weight for much less than I can replace my stainless flatware. Often I have found pieces for less than $1 per piece whereas my stainless flatware is now $75 for a five piece place setting! Crazy!

The vintage pewter bread plates were bought from an antique store. Many of my best finds come from antique booths that are going out of business with drastically reduced prices!

The cranberry tumblers were purchased from a local shop a number of years ago. I wish that I had more than 4! They are a great accent for several of my sets of dinnerware.

Chinese roof tile -1

The fish are vintage ornamental roof tiles that I found at a market in China. You can read about one of my trips to China here. I bought a pair of these and wrapped them in clothes and carried them in my suitcase. They survived the long journey with just a chip or two.

Chinese roof tile -2

The mercury glass votives were purchased at Target several years ago.

pewter salt and pepper mills

The vintage pewter salt and pepper mills were bought at my favorite second hand store.

Bowl of orchids

This beautiful bowl of orchids was purchased at an estate sale! Another shopper was holding the bowl of orchids and I asked her if they were real. She answered that no, they were fake. About that time, the operator of the sale walked up and said “be careful with those. They are real and they will break.” The other shopper immediately put them back down and said “ Well I can’t take them if they’re real because they will die.”  Exercising a lot of restraint and self control, I said in my sweetest voice, “well I’ll take them if you can’t use them!!!” I have had great success with orchids and will do a post one day.

no centerpiece

I added the photo above to show the impact of a centerpiece. It makes a tremendous difference.

You can read about the dining table project here.

extra side chairs

The antique oak chairs  are used for extra seating when needed. You can read about them here. I enjoyed collecting these treasures and using them all together. I have so many posts to catch up on but I have about a dozen projects going on now! I hope you will visit again soon to read about them.

a signature

I’m linking to Grace at Home at Imparting Grace and to Tabletop Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

7 comments:

  1. What a lovely setting, Pat! Your dishes are beautiful. The orchids make such a pretty centerpiece! Love seeing all of your wonderful treasures!

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  2. I love your table-ful of treasures Pat! Those tin plates are super gorgeous, and since I've got nursery on my mind, those would be hanging up my wall if I had them! LOL!!!!!

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  3. The plates are very interesting, love the role reversal of animals and people. Your dining room is so beautiful and so is the table setting. Congrats to you and your green thumb with orchids. The fish roof tiles are a treasure, such a historic souvenir from China.

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  4. Beautiful table, I LOVE those plates!!! The orchids are exquisite, I love them too! You ahve some beautiful treasures. Thanks so much for your visit!!!

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  5. I love these dishes so unique not something you would normally pick up but what amazing pictures on each one love the cranberry glasses.Susie

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  6. Pat! Those plates! Oh, how adorable! I just love them and the whole tablescape. My oldest sister who is many years older than I had a series of children's books about Uncle Wiggley. He was a rabbit that had lots of adventures. The illustration on the plate with the rabbit remind me of the ones in that series. Oh, how I wish that shop was in the US!

    Have enjoyed reading your blog. You have a beautiful home. Love the colors.

    xo

    Sheila:-)

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  7. Such a beautiful table, Pat! I love it! Those plates are about the cutest thing I've ever seen...I love the illustrations! Such a wonderful treasure!

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