Yes, I had an Ah-Ha! moment this week, and I'll share it with you.
I'm working on a tablesetting for the winter and calling it Snowy Forest Garden. There are two settings that have inspired me. The first is a table in the dining room of Carolyn Roehm's Ashcroft, Colorado home which she affectionately refers to as Westbury. The room itself replicates the design of a historic Swedish Hunting Lodge. The furniture style is Swedish Gustavian. I fell in love with her forest themed table setting, and hence embarked on a journey to create my own forest garden table for the coming winter. Here is her fabulous dining room and table which was featured in Architectural Digest, December 14, 2015.
Isn't this magical? Her exquisite table covering is a Bennison Lorenzo designer fabric at $144/yd. The fabric cost alone was probably $2,300+. The dishware is Wein Augarten, Heads of Game (Wiener Porzellan) (pattern 5939) and was sold at Gorsuch. It is a scalloped-edged plate with a hand-painted stag head. One 10 1/2" plate is $628.00, bringing the dishware total to about $7500. At least $3,700 to $4000 went into the other items for this table setting. My estimate for the entire table setting is $14 to $15,000 Those beautiful stags sitting and lying on the table were purchased in the New York flower district and shipped to Ashcroft, Colorado!
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| Wein Augarten, Heads of Game (Wiener Porzellan) (pattern 5939) |
Elements from this design will be used for my table setting (picture #3). The tankards on her table are possibly sterling silver with genuine elk horn handles. Mine are hammered stainless steel from eBay and I wrapped the handles in brown leather to give them a rustic look. Her elk horn flatware is beautiful, but not in my budget, so for $36 I purchased a set of flatware that has brown/grey handles and it's perfect with the dishware. The green stemware didn't appeal to me, so I found four pretty mercury water glasses in Home Goods for a song, and I found a set of pretty silver-rimmed goblets on Etsy for $20. Instead of the four very tall pewter candlestick holders, I purchased a pair of 10" candlesticks for $6 on Ebay, and they're beautiful! Understandably, the scale of her three stags wouldn't work on my table. I have 2 small deer from years ago and purchased a larger deer for the centerpiece from Wayfair, but I knocked it off a table and it broke beyond repair. I replaced the single-sitting stag with a pair of stags I purchased from ebay. The pair are white with embossed holly leaves. I removed the ugly garland collars from them and repaired (glued on) one of the antlers. The pine branches can be purchased in the winter, mixed with faux branches, and I already have tons of pine cones. In the article by Carolyne Roehm in AD, she shared that artificial snow was sprinkled over the centerpiece to give it extra charm and make it glisten! Thank you, Carolyne, for that tip! And finally, I needed a tablecloth. I found a table square on eBay which picked up the feel of Ms. Roehm's fabric. It was only $5, and when I put it on my dining room table with the dishware I intended to use, it just didn't work. The colors didn't work which were predominantly blue with a touch of green on a white background. I'll try to find a cloth that will work better with my idea.
The second inspiration came from a blog post in January 2016: Mary@homeiswheretheboatis. I loved the dishware in this setting and immediately ordered it on Amazon. It was $60 for four place settings. Her tablecloth was purchased from Home Goods a few years before 2016, so no hope of finding that! Missing from her setting is the deer. I'm not crazy about the log slice chargers. They're expensive and would only be used for this setting, so I'm not interested in them. Here is Mary's table:
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| I found this photo on Pinterest and bought this dinner set |
The pinecones and birch in the centerpiece and her dishes and napkins are my favorite points in this setting. I thought about making my own tablecloth with pine branch and snow flake stencils. The tablecloth, stencils and paint would cost at least $50. Having no experience with this type of project, I moved on from that idea and continued to search for a tablecloth.
Neither Carolyne Roehm's nor Mary's tablecloths fit my budget or availability, I didn't want to try to make one, and the blue colors in both the tablecloths aren't in the palette for my dining room.
These are the items I have so far. I won't be using the topiary, and this is my kitchen not the dining room. I had these candles which match the wallcolor in my dining room:
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| Snowflake dishware: Pfaltzgraff, Chateau |
I found this pair of deer and the deer plates on ebay. The lantern is from Amazon.
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The dining room. Inset is the tablecloth I selected for this project.
It was the tablecloth delima that led me to the Ah-Ha moment. This setting will be in my dining room with its own unique palette, furnishings and charasterics. A successful table design will pull together all the colors and elements in its surroundings. In Ms. Roehm's and Mary's settings, the tablecloths were key, so I focused on these three components:
1) Color 2) Size 3) Pattern
Sounds simple, but it isn't. I scoured eBay, Etsy and stalked Home Goods. eBay and Etsy were mostly Christmas themed, and Home Goods still has its summer stock, so no dice there.
I searched eBay one more time with a new mindset toward an interesting tablecloth that would work in my dining room, and I came across one that I had previosly checked out. It's a block print from India in browns and natural tones. Does it meet my three point criteria?
1) Color: The espresso brown (almost black) is key as my chairs are upholstered in black fabric. The chestnut brown in the floral area will blend with the room which is a deep redish/brown persimmon color, and pick up the room and furnishing's wood elements as well as the brown accents in the dishware, flatware and tankards. The crackled off-white area will provide a nice background for the place settings.
2) Size: My table is 46.5x79" The tablecloth is 59x94", so there are 7.5 inches overhang on each end, and 10 inches overhang on the sides. Not exactly generous, but it fits. I can place it over a large black tablecloth for a more luxurious feel.
3) Pattern: I wanted an intricate yet substantial pattern. I was thinking pine boughs, but the flowers are also reminescent of nature with their black and brown coloring as though they were left on the vine until winter. I may add a few of those beautiful large dried flowers you find in craft stores to the centerpiece. If you look at Ms. Roehm's table covering, it doesn't resinate pine boughs. She chose this fabric because the color reminded her of the Colorado Spruce and the design looks like foliage spilling out from the centerpiece. As you can see, it works perfectly in her room.
The pattern on my cloth gracefully twists and turns and looks somewhat asymmetrical which is exactly what I prefer. Finally, the crackle pattern on the stained, off-white background is perfect for that rustic look. Most importantly, it won't be a big deal if someone has a spill (that someone will probably be me). It'll add to it's already rustic character. One final thought on the pattern. It'll stand on it's own with or without place settings.
I am so excited to complete my Snowy Forest Garden. I will enjoy it through December and part of January and will share with you the final reveal!
