Life At Lydia's House: tabletop

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Spring Thyme Style Blog Hop Week 2

Welcome to week two of the Spring Thyme Style blog hop. If you are visiting from one of my blog friends, I am so glad you’re here. I hope that you will click the links at the bottom of the post to visit everyone on the “hop.” Special thanks to Tamyra at Positively Southern for organizing the tour.

Speaking of hop, I am sharing a “Hoppy Spring Table” today. I have quite a collection of rabbits and they hop all over our house in the spring!

I set the table in the sunroom where all of my orchids are blooming.

I kept it simple using a single orchid for the centerpiece. The plates are inexpensive metal picnic plates that I purchased in Paris. I’ve had the cranberry glasses for several years and love using them and the flatware is part of my ever growing collection of vintage silver plate.

The little green tea cups that are holding eggs are special treasures. My grandfather sent them to my grandmother when he was serving in the Pacific in World War II.

The pink flower in the corner of the picture above is a geranium that my mother gave me for Mother’s Day in 2015. I just deadheaded it before taking this picture. It blooms like crazy in this warm, sunny spot and it is still in the same pot that it came in.

I received this pewter salt and pepper set as a Christmas gift this past year. They are so cute!

The big orchid in the floor on the left is just getting ready to bloom. I have had that one for at least 18 years. I bought it on a trip to Hawaii but I can’t remember which trip I bought in on! All of my other orchids are blooming except for one.

Other rabbits are hopping around the room.

The small rabbit above sits at the base of a lamp and yes, that’s a rabbit tray too.

This terra cotta rabbit is about two feet tall and he sits at the base of my giant Norfolk Island Pine tree.

The two carved wooden rabbits above sit on the bookcases in the den.

The rabbit on the chest in the foyer is one of my favorites.

This rabbit tureen is another of my favorites. I’m telling you, rabbits do multiply quickly!

The last one is painted on a wood tray and it was also a gift several years ago. I know that’s a lot of rabbits but they are spread out so as not to be overwhelming.

I hope that you are having some nice spring weather this week. Now hop on over to the other blogs for more spring inspiration.

Clutter Cafe

Viva La Vintage for Your Home

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Reindeer Recipes Blog Tour Week 3

Today is the third and final week of the Reindeer Recipes blog tour. Today I’m sharing my snowman table that I leave up through January. Sometimes everything looks somewhat stark immediately after removing all of the Christmas decor so I leave this up to transition from Christmas to winter.

This table makes our sunroom feel cheerful even on a cold and gloomy day!

Those cute snowman mugs were gifted to us several years ago and they make me happy every time I pull them out. Even when you don’t have time to cook, this tablescape makes eating a sandwich fun.

The snowman tree centerpiece was made by my daughter in law. Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve seen lately‘

I’ve had the plaid ribbon that’s around his neck for years because it goes with the mugs so well so I added it to his scarf.

Just as a side note, that big pink geranium on the urn in the corner is 18 months old and still going strong. My mother gave it to me for mothers day in 2015. I plan to do a blog post soon on houseplants and keeping them alive!

Be sure to visit my friends who are also participatingin the blog tour. Their blogs are linked at the below.

Life At Lydia's House

Totally Tailgates

A very special thanks to Heather at Totally Tailgates for getting the tour together!

I hope that you are taking time to enjoy the season! Because I have been enjoying the season it has taken me a little longer but I have finally gotten the decorating done and the house will be clean today. Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Christmas in the Dining Room

Welcome to week 2 of the Reindeer Recipes blog tour! I am so glad you are here. If you’re new, I hope you will take some time to browse around a bit. The first few days of December are so busy for me that I don’t have time to do a lot of cooking so instead of sharing a recipe today I am sharing my dining room tablescape.

I tried to change things up just a little but it just didn’t feel right so my table decor this year is very similar to previous years.

For the centerpiece I’m using a favorite jewel tone nativity set and a few angels from my collection.

The mirror is decked with greenery, beaded fruit, and cherubs.

I have also used greenery and beaded fruit on the table. For added sparkle, I used silver trays instead of place mats. The dinnerware is one of my prized possesions. It is Bethlehem Christmas Dinnerware that I designed and had produced in 2003. I had searched for years for Christmas dinnerware that told the Biblical Christmas story and finally decided to design it myself. It took a tremendous amount of effort but I was finally able to pull it off. I have other Christmas dinnerware but this one is my favorite! There are eight different scenes that depict the Christmas story.

Setting a beautiful table for the holidays creates a big impact for a little effort. Since most of our meals are eaten in the breakfast room, this table will be decorated for the enitre holiday season. I hope that you are taking time to celebrate the season and you are making the most of the holidays!

Please stop by and visit my friends on the tour today. I have included links to their blogs and the bottom of this post.

As always, thanks for stopping by and especially for leaving a comment!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Blue and White Alfresco Dining

After I freshened up the furniture on the screened porch I was anxious to make a blue and white tablescape.

We eat supper out here most nights although we have had to eat inside several times lately because the heat has been unbearble even with the fans going.

My first thought was to use my blue willow but you can see from the photo below that the blue willow clashes with the blue and white cushions. Ugh!

I moved on to plan B.

I used square blue plates on top of round white dinner plates. Both of those were purchased at Homegoods several years ago.

The woven willow chargers were purchased online from Nell Hills some time ago and the bubble glasses were purchased from One Kings Lane. The flatware is another weakness of mine, vintage silver plate.

The vintage double hapiness ginger jar was purchased in a second hand store for $10.(FYI I am told by my resident Chinese major that while the double happines character is a Chinese character, it is never used in the Chinese language except for decorative purposes. You would never use that character in a sentence. You can file that under “fun facts to know and share” that cost me a lot of money to learn!)

The little pagodas were purchased separately even though they are just alike. I splurged on the first one for $59 at a beautiful design studio then I lucked up when I ran across the second one on a clearance rack at TJMaxx for $5!!! Yes, you read that right. They are identical except that the $5 is missing one of the tiny foo dogs on the front. You would never know unless you examine it very closely. Apparently I did not get that in one of the photos.