Thanksgiving Table-scape: The Muted Browns

Let’s face it, nobody needs any new Thanksgiving recipes. This is one holiday meal that people expect tradition. I can attest to this after years upon years of hosting. We used to serve a variety of different meal offerings that strayed from the traditional since neither Juancarlos nor I are fans of the usual Thanksgiving fare. Our guests enjoyed it all but one year they asked if we could serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. In our deep desire to be good hosts we heard their pleas and provided just that: Roasted Turkey & gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry sauce and Candied Yams. And because it’s us, we also served some of the non traditional items too: Sauteéd Garlic Shrimp, Buttered Fettuccini, etc. Guess what? Everyone devoured all the non traditional items and we were left with tons of the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I probably don’t need to tell you that that was the last Thanksgiving we hosted.

So, after a long winded explanation as to why I’m not posting a recipe, the next best offering is table setting ideas. I recently picked up some new linens. And when I say new, I mean new to me as these were thrift store finds, of course. I pride myself at tracking down rare treasures. A perfect example are the three dishes below. Each one found in different thrift stores, in different years, in different towns. And yet, somehow they all work harmoniously together.

Plate of yesteryear gracefully finding a new home.

I decided to lean into the soft browns of Fall to create a quiet, more subtle toned table scape. Maybe it’s how my heart feels these days, soft, peaceful and in need of quiet calm. I had some mix and match ideas in mind, but instead of overwhelming you with too many options I will keep it to a few. Naturally, you can mix and match to your hearts content with the linens and dishes you have on hand. I had two tablecloths with several different napkin options, and one runner.

The above line up… pre-ironing.

When it came time for florals I had been scheming for weeks about creating a whimsical display using only a variety of wild grasses that grow on the side of the road. But every time I passed them, I was scissor-less, and then time just plum ran out. So I did the next best thing… walked around my yard - with scissors. Both centerpieces are made from stems I cut from our garden. Well, and maybe a few from a nearby park. Shhh, no one was looking. The most important thing was not that I clipped someone else’s branches, but that you don’t need to spend a dime to create something impactful. I created two centerpieces. One tall, while the other was long, and low.

Using a brown ceramic vase with 5 hydrangea blooms, several maple leaf branches and few grass sprigs created a burst of Fall.

The long wooden tray is one of my favorite pieces that I inherited from my mom.  My parents brought it back from their honeymoon in Mexico. So besides being old, it’s unique, versatile and has a tray load of meaning.  I placed the center candlestick in the middle, added a bark-less tree limb and then tucked in the tree branches and grasses to create a long, low centerpiece.

Let’s set the tables. That’s to say; one table but with two different looks. I promise I’m not going to drive you crazy with countless options. Sometimes, I even annoy myself.

The first table is truly soft brown tones with a long, low centerpiece. The line up:

1. Tablecloth of muted brown, soft orange, green tones

2. Table runner with black, beige and brown stripes

3. Brown cotton napkins

4. Plates: Gold trimmed dinner plates, floral salad plates, burgundy floral soup bowls

5. Glassware: stemless red wine, stemless white wine, green & gold water glasses

6. Brown iron candlesticks

7. Burlap wrap (not in below photo): to be used as an organic placemat

The line up of dishes, napkins, tablecloth, glassware and runner.

To start, just layer in the above items. Here’s how I laid out mine with one twist at the end for non conventional silverware placement. Note: after putting the plate down without a charger or placemat I felt the dishes needed a landing spot. So I grabbed some burlap wrap and laid it down in an organic bunch, then placed the dishes on top.

Then the runner, candlesticks, silverware atop a simple napkin fold. Fold it in half lengthwise, and then again. Place to the right of the plates letting the bottom 1/3 hang over the table. Line up your silverware, then fold the bottom 1/3 up to create a pouch. Add a single sprig of grass.

Place the red, white wine glasses with the water glass to the right, and the dessert spoon above the plate.

Add the centerpiece, and call it done.

The centerpiece mimics the tablecloth pattern which is a happy accident because when I was in the park cutting branches I just cut what drew me towards them.

Nature in all its beauty and glory.  This is nothing more than some random leaf branches and grasses.

And now for a few alternates. Push the soup bowl to the left and place the silverware directly on the plate. Place the napkin and grass sprig inside the wine glass. And lastly, you can swap the low centerpiece for the taller one.

Onto table number two. Here is the line up:

1. Burnt Orange/Brown tablecloth

2. Taupe Linen napkins with orange border

3. Gold rimmed plates, bowls

4. Stemmed red & white wine glasses and gold rimmed water glasses

5. Wooden board for centerpiece

6. Silverware

The line up for a table with more orange than brown.

Ok, you know the drill. Start the layering all the elements. The napkin isn’t a fold as much as a natural falling with folds. To achieve this look simply grab the center of the napkin allowing the natural folds to occur. Then place it on the soup plate and adjust as needed to create a natural 3 folded effect. If you need more napkin ideas check out my post 5 Folds - Countless Options

Once you place the florals on the center of the wooden board, fill in with candles and some pine cones. The wooden board not only plays into the brown theme but also makes it easy to remove if you prefer putting your food platters on the table.

Nothing store bought, just some fall foliage in a vase.

Pine cones and candles round out the centerpiece.

As i mentioned, my original centerpiece ideas was natural, beige grasses.  So this pop of color was unintended but ended up working well.

Now for the last swap out. Switch the taupe linen napkins for plaid ones swirled into a rosette. Change out the gold rimmed water glasses for golden yellow goblets, and the stemmed white wine glass replaced with stemless.

Plaid napkin in rosette bundle.  Gold rimmed water glass swapped for golden yellow goblet, and stemmed white wine glass replaced with stemless. To create the rosette effect, check out the video in my blog post about Table Settings - A Multitude of Options

I hope the browns were soothing. And as promised, I didn’t go nutty with variations, but hopeful gave enough for you to create your own festive table-scape. If more options are your jam, then check out a past post that offers variations on the variations! Thanksgiving Table Settings - Casual to Elegant

Happy Turkey Table Dressing!

Affordable Holiday Table Decor

This holiday season snuck up on me. Can’t say that I’m as prepared as my usual list making self. Maybe you find yourself in the same situation. So, when thinking about what I could offer you for this holiday I looked to see what have been the most frequently viewed posts. It’s no surprise that the various table setting and napkin folding posts take top billing. (I’ve included those links below). If you’ve utilized those you might be in need of a few new table decor ideas. Since my holiday season has been beyond busy for a litany of reasons, I don’t have time for super fussy decor. But does that mean my table should be bare? I think not. These ideas are intended to be simple, elegant and affordable. Time’s a wasting, so I’ll stop my yapping. Here we go.

These first two ideas are a bit more home grown, but add a sense of whimsy to a place setting. Typically I do not assign seats with place cards when I entertain. I let people choose where they want to sit. That said, I’ve always felt that having the host choose where guests sit elevates the dining experience. There is a certain sophistication to it. Plus, if the host is truly thinking about table conversation, careful placement encourages people to interact with other guests. For this holiday season, I subscribe to this thinking and will be telling people where to park themselves.

Wanting to keep it simple and organic, as well as something you all could easily re-create, I pulled out my scissors and scrolled through my garden looking for a hearty, long leaf. I cut Rhododendron leaves which were ideal in color, size and sturdiness. I found some decorative paint in my stash and painted the tips and stems gold . You can also use a Sharpie or one of those gold paint pens from an art store, such as Michaels or Target. Then I scripted the names on the leaf. That’s how simple this is.

The next little DYI project is for those of you who don’t have seasonal napkin rings. This one is right out of the creative crafts bucket. You’ll need:

• Toilet Paper Rolls

• Double sided tape, or regular tape rolled to double sided

• Snipped greens from the garden

• Scissors

Next:

• Cut the roll into 3/4” rounds (or whatever thickness you prefer).

• Wrap the tape all the way around the roll, or you can try glue. I just didn’t want the sticky fingers that often times occurs when using glue.

• Trim the greens to small, manageable pieces and place them around the taped part. Add tape or glue to tack down the fronds or if you want to cover more of the roll.

Once you’re done playing, slide your holiday themed napkin through the ring. Then lay the leaf place card against white plates set on a gold charger with a deep green velvet placemat and you’re all set.

Cost: $0 since I had the paint, and the leaves and greens were from my garden, and the roll of toilet paper, well…

Now, onto centerpieces. I like when the table decor allows for guests to see across the table. A low profile centerpiece does just that. Bear in mind that this idea is for those who like to have a permanent centerpiece as it is not meant to be removed for dinner.

Simply place a neutral runner or fabric down the center of the table. This could be brown kraft paper, burlap or muslin. I used two rolls of natural burlap I purchased awhile ago at Michael’s Craft Store. The more earthy toned the better for this theme to keep the feeling of nature. I like to add the candles first in order to have a sense where to place the other decorative elements. From there you just start filling in the spaces using the greenery trying to tuck the end stems under other greens. Add some pine cones to fill in the gaps. I bought this whole bunch of greens which included a Quesnelia flower for $8 at Trader Joe’s. I had the pine cones from my garden. A beautiful, warm centerpiece for $8!

This next one is a variation on the above idea but using actual large leaves or large leaf placemats instead of the natural colored runner. I picked up these placemats years ago when I was hosting private events at Despaña in Soho, NY. I used them a multitude of ways back then, and they are still coming in handy. You can find these in various stores, but of course Amazon has everything under the sun. Thus you’ll be able find a fairly prolific selection of leaf types in the link above. Lay them down the center of the table, and as previous, place the candles first. Since the base is green, I suggest leaning into more white florals and pine cones for this version to create more contrast.

And because I’m a sucker for options, if you like the above two ideas but need them to be removable, then build the centerpiece on long wooden boards, or trays. This way the entire centerpiece can be lifted to create space for food platters.

I created all the centerpieces directly on top of my dining room table without a tablecloth. You can either use placemats for your place settings or lay down a neutral tone cloth first. Your choice.

The last, simple but elegant centerpiece is a trio of vases in varying heights of all white flowers. What I love about this design is how the monochromaticity elevates even the most common flower. By utilizing a single color, you create more impact, allowing you to use affordable, inexpensive florals to create something stunning. Sure, red & green are lovely for the holiday season, but they are visually abundant this time of year. Which is why I adore a Winter White theme. For me, it is elegant simplicity. The best part is that you can easily lift these off the table if you need the center space for food platters. Added bonus; when you don’t need them as a centerpiece, you now have three separate floral arrangements to spread throughout your home. I used the large leaf placemats to anchor the entire centerpiece, allowing for the candles to feel more integrated.
I used 4 types of flowers, all purchased at Trader Joe’s for a total of $24. For less than one of those multicolored, mulit-flower bouquets I was able to create a stunning, sophisticated and abundant centerpiece.

• Roses $10

• Carnations $5

• Veronica $5

• Alstroemeria $5

I hope these give you a few more holiday decor ideas for your table this season. Wishing you the happiest and healthy of holiday seasons. As you know, I love hearing from you in the comments. Let me know what you think and if you used any of these or other ideas. Thank you for your loyal readership.

For more table setting & holiday ideas, check out these posts:

Napkin Folding - 5 Basic Folds - Countless Options

Table Setting - A Multitude of Options

Napkin Folding - A Few Festive Ideas

Thanksgiving Table Settings - Casual to Elegant Although this post has a Thanksgiving/Fall feel there are elements that can inspire any holiday table.

Seasonal Summer Lunch with Lifetime Friend

Now, I know that this post is long over due with a title of Season Summer Lunch. But even though this menu features some seasonal items, you can still get most of them or swap them out for ones that are in season. I felt this post was important to share not just for the food but for the sentiment of friendship, and the enduring bonds built from long ago. One of life’s great gifts is having friends. Even better, is a lifelong friend. So as luck would have it one of mine happened to be passing through Westchester. Dianne and I have known each other since Junior High. We even went to the same college, Binghamton University. Without dating ourselves, trust me when I say that we have been friends for a very long time. Busy lives, crazy work schedules and distances have kept us from seeing one another but lifelong friendships are just that… forever. So, the only logical thing to entice her to not just drive past my house on her way to Connecticut was to offer up a summertime lunch. Some of my picks; Tomatoes (both from our garden & farm stand), yellow squash and other greens would be the feature. Thankfully Dianne is a foodie too and so the enticement worked as well as the timing. With initial menu ideas in the works, I moved on to setting a simple yet pretty table.

Flowers cut from my garden, casual placemats and purple napkins to brighten things up.

Once again I find myself hosting during the week, and with each visit I am loving this idea of “work week’ entertaining. As these last few blog posts have proven, I’ve been ‘week day entertaining’ of late. My schedule affords me the luxury of being flexible and available, so these moments aren’t stressful at all. On the contrary, they are a joy to break up the work week. (Which is an ironic and funny statement since the majority of work week is cooking. What I mean is that the break comes in the form of being social. And THAT is a great thing.) I do understand that even with the work from home scenario your schedule might not allow for this much flexibility. But if it does, here is a menu that might suit your needs. And if not, then serve it as a weekend lunch option, or a light dinner. Also, this meal doesn’t need to be summer only, which is why I don’t feel so badly posting it so late.

Here’s how it went down. Even for a simple lunch, it’s always nice to have a starter to offer when your guest(s) arrive.

Appetizer - The Ubiquitous Cheese/Charcuterie Platter
(There is a reason this platter is so popular. It just works. You don’t have to go crazy with a huge platter. A few nibbles is all that is needed to whet the appetite. I put out a few things that I had on hand: Mortadella, Humboldt Goat Cheese, Cucumber slices, Picos (Spanish Mini Breadsticks), G. F. crackers, olives, sliced fresh apricots)

Choose a platter size that is appropriate for the amount of people. That way you can fill it to fill abundant, even if it’s a small offering.

Main Lunch Meal

Arugula & Kale Caesar Salad

I used both baby Arugula & baby Kale for this salad. It’s fresh and crisp and the arugula adds a peppery bite.

Oven Roasted Herb Oil Cod with garden picked grape tomatoes & green olives

• Place the cod, grape tomatoes and green olives on a baking sheet.

• Season with oil, salt and pepper (you can add chopped parsley & thyme)

• Roast at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the cod.

This is easy to prep prior, covered and placed in fridge until ready to roast.

Plate it up and pour all those delicious juices over top.

Basmati Rice with Sautéed Red Onion

• Bring 1 cup of rice to 1.5 c water to a boil.

• Lower to simmer, cover and let cook for 13 minutes. Remove from heat and let steam with cover on for another 5-10 minutes.

• Meanwhile, in a cast iron pan sauté diced onions in olive oil, salt, pepper until caramelized. Then add the rice to onions and ‘fry’ it up.

This is such a simple way to enhance rice that makes it more than just a carb side dish.

Feta Stuffed Yellow Squash Bake

As far as prep, I could have done all this the morning of but I had an early morning meeting away from my home. So, I prepped the Yellow Squash dish the day before. Partly because this was a brand new creation which required a think through process along with time to set up for proper photos. The added benefit was that it proved to me that this new recipe could be made ahead of time and then finished before serving. Another disclosure; I already had the homemade Caesar dressing from a couple of days before from our dinner. But if you don’t have time to make fresh, then find the best, most natural dressing you can. I make most everything from scratch, especially dressings, but that doesn’t mean you have to. If this is an area where you can relieve the workload, then do so. However, if you have the time, there is nothing like fresh, homemade.

We finished by sitting outside enjoying homemade ice cream sandwiches. Dianne and I had the most lovely visit. Juancarlos was able to join us for lunch which was nice. We certainly missed, Lenny, Dianne’s husband, and hoping we can lure him for next time. I feel so grateful to have friends, and ones that have lasted decades. Spending time with people you care about enriches the soul. I believe we all are quite aware of just how true that is after spending almost 3 years in isolation.

If you can’t chisel out a weekday calendar slice, then do try to carve out a weekend moment to share it with old, and new friends alike.

Here we are.

Dianne, always so thoughtful and gracious brought me a hostess gift that was right up my alley. A lovely candle and napkins with beautiful friendship sayings. Besides her presence, these were the most perfect gifts.

Monday Lunch with the Cousins

So much has changed since the lock down days of the pandemic. Plenty not so good, but one decent aspect that has seemed to emerged from that dark time is that people’s schedules are a bit more fluid. Work from home or hybrid schedules allow for some unusual flexibility. And so it was that enabled us to host our cousins for lunch on a Monday. Yup, right at the start of a work week. If anything is going to shake the Monday blues out of you, hosting loved ones is a sure fire way. The main reason for their dropping by was to visit my parents. Yes, this on the heels of my cousins, Therese and Tom, visiting them the Friday before (as noted in my last post). Back to back visits for my parents meant the same for us.

Just a little side note. My dad vowed he would never move to Westchester due to narrow roads, cold weather and missing Long Island and all their neighbors. This idea always struck me as funny, as if the traffic on the LIE is so much more desirable than narrow roads. Or the weather is that much colder than Long Island’s wet winds coming off the water. Sure we are a tad bit north but not the North Pole! And missing people? HA, they have had more visitors in 6 months than they had in years.

Anyway, much like with my other cousins, we thought it would be nice if after their visit they could bring my parents over to our house for an outdoor lunch. As luck would have it, my imagined al fresco moment was dampened by rain. That said, I must admit that the indoor dining switch-aroo wound up being a better scenario for the group. We ate the appetizers and the meal all at the same table which was easier that shifting all over the place.

The beauty of back to back entertaining is that I was able to repurpose part of the table from our Friday Night Dinner, with some minor tweaks to make it casual lunch style. I also had some food surplus, so a few items reappeared from Friday night’s event.

Kept the table setting simple by using big cotton napkins as placemats.

For the table, I simply removed one runner and flipped the other lengthwise down the table. The flowers were still holding on, so they made a repeat performance. Instead of regular placemats, I used cotton napkins and folded the top and bottom edges in to create an elongated shape. As you can see, I didn’t have time to iron. It kinda pisses me off looking at this photo and noticing the creasing but I’m getting over it. Our guests were appreciative of the effort, so I guess I can let the wrinkles go. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. Both sides, all sides, from every angle are full of loving, and thoughtful people. So spending the day together is not just a treat, it’s a blessing. And when you love people, you try to make food that reflects the same. As I said, I tried to repurpose as much as possible. That goes for the menu to. Here’s what I served:

Appetizers

• Marinated Artichoke Hearts (store bought but with homemade herb/garlic oil)

• Fennel with Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Course Salt/Pepper

• Smoked Salmon/Cream Cheese Rolls on Cucumber Rounds

• White Bean Dip with crudité (same as for the Friday night dinner)

• Marinated Wild Mushrooms (store bought from Italian Specialty shop)

Main Meal

• Oven Roasted Vegetables (Eggplant, Zucchini, Peppers, Onions, Tomatoes)

  • Cut vegetables into thick slices, season with salt/pepper and slight drizzle of olive oil (do not over oil them or they will be soggy instead of roasted.) Roast at 400 degrees flipping once.until browned.

• Marinated Feta

• Homemade Focaccia

  • I just started making my own. There are the two recipes I follow on Instagram. One is for overnight proving. The other is for same day, which is the one I used. Please be aware that the chef in the below link curses a lot, and I mean alot.

  • Tastelessbaker : same day foccaccia

• Summer Pasta Salad

  • Like me, these are pasta people. But it was summer so a salad versus a hot dish was called for. I just threw together what I had in the house and made an herb/garlic oil dressing. I used pasta shells, cucumber, chick peas, grape tomatoes, red onion and tossed it all together. Important part is to cut the vegetables to bite size pieces.

• Pork Belly Roast: This one is all Juancarlos. I will try to explain what he did best I can.

  • Skin side up score the skin through the fat but not into the meat. Flip it over to meat side to fill.

  • Create a filling of chopped herbs, garlic, oil and spread it onto the meat side.

  • Roll it up and tie with cooking string, and rub with oil, salt and pepper.

  • In a roasting pan, place onion halves and whole carrots for pork to sit on.

  • Roast at 425 degrees for 1/2 hour then turn oven down to 350 for another 2 hours, depending on the size of pork. Roughly, 20-25 minutes per pound.

    Here is another way of cooking Pork Belly that isn’t rolled.

Dessert

• Cream Puffs (exquisitely made by my cousin, Gina)

• Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

If you have ever had Monday-itis, and aren’t quite ready to start the work week, might I suggest that
you block off time on your google work calendar, rearrange your schedule and book in a lunch with family or friends that you love. I highly recommend it.

A Monday completely stirred with LOVE.

Creams & Greens - A Summer Table-scape of Calm

There is something so soothing about cream colors. Just the word puts me at ease. Which is why I choose it as the base palate for our most recent al fresco summer lunch/dinner. Full confession; I have so many tablecloths that sometimes I get overwhelmed with which to choose. The calming thought of cream put my restless mind at ease. My original goal was to go full on with the cream theme, but I do adore contrast and a pop of color. So pop it was in the shape of soft key lime green. So much for completely soothing but it still felt soft and perfect for a summer’s day.

From there it was time to start building. I’m sure I’ve walked you through the process of how I choose all the elements that make up a table setting. Sometimes, it’s an instantaneous knowing. Other times, like this one, I pull out options to see what moves me. Since my first thought was only cream tones I decided that the napkins should fulfill that goal and be soft and subtle in their tones, and not a screaming ‘look at me’ item.

This party was for our yearly gathering with our friends from Princeton. It’s an all day eating affair with lots of food, so the table needs to be simple with space for platters. This is an easy table-scape to replicate using what you have at home.

The Line Up:

• 1 cream (or white) tablecloth

• 1 table runner (or tablecloth folded) of an accent color of your choice

• Cream (or white) napkins

• Neutral Napkin rings or ties

• White Dishes

• Glassware & Silverware

• Florals of a contrasting color

• Long strip of an organic material (optional)

For me setting a table is just like cooking. Mise en place is equally important. The art of having everything ready. I pull out all the elements, gather them together, check that it all works and also have them handy to set up on the day of the event. Mise en place = everything in place.

The set up. Gather everything you need in one place and start building. It also helps you to visual the entire table.

Whenever I choose a color palate for the table my mind instantly goes to the color wheel for what the contrast should be for the florals. Once I steered from all creams and introduced the soft key lime color I knew violets/soft pinks were the exact perfect complement. And since my menu required a bit of work (not intentional), I opted out of putzing with a complicated floral design. Plus, know your audience. These were food people. Sure the flowers were nice but not the main attraction. Save time where you can.

Fuchsia, soft pinks and greens create such a pop of beauty.

From there it was just about layering of each elements to finish off the table.

Nothing too complicated here, but as you can see ironing the cloths makes a huge difference for creating a pristine base. I use the word runner, but truth is I didn’t have a green runner. (I know you are probably thinking, how it THAT possible?) When you don’t have but want, you create. So I triple folded a tablecloth to get the same effect. I added a strip of natural jute to provide an organic element and complete that landing strip feel down the center of the table. It’s not necessary but I like how it seemed to ground the look and provide an earthy feel.

Layers elevate a table from a simple table cloth to something a bit more visually interesting.

The flowers were next to help center where each place setting should land. The main vase consisted of fuchsia colored mini Calla Lilies & pink Veronica stems from Trader Joe’s along with Hosta leaves from my garden. Three small vases of mini roses in a pale pink/green hue provided a softer version of the palate. In order to not see all the stems in the main vase I wrapped Hosta leaves inside the vase. This little touch made the florals feel polished and more visually appealing than staring at the cut stems.

Looking at this photo, I wished I had wrapped hosta leaves in the small vases as well. Note to self: complete the look for all vases.

Vibrant colors of stark contrast = visual joy. I love the subtle nod of the petals, the napkin tips and design on the glasses (below).

When it came to the place setting I kept it simple, clean and straightforward with pure white plates, silverware in their traditional positions with napkins in the center on top of the salad plate.

The place setting

This was a garden party so I didn’t need an elaborate napkin fold but wanted to mimic the fleur de lis pattern of the glassware.
I achieved that by folding the napkin in a square, tucking under one corner, then pinching the bottom together and finally securing it with a cloth napkin holder. Not hard, not too fancy but just enough flare to tie in the floral notes.

I like collecting vintage glassware and then pairing them together to create whimsy. I added two types of glasses, one for lemon/mint water and the other for homemade Jasmine iced tea with rosemary simple syrup. Of course, we had wine glasses but those were filled and handed to the guests upon arrival. Keep ‘em smiling from the onset.

Floral swirls on the yellow glasses, gold floral swirls on the green glasses with floral napkin to match.

Lastly, I cut some rosemary from my garden and laid a sprig in front of every place setting. I mainly did this to help keep the mosquitos and flies away as they don’t dig the smell. But I also loved how it added another hue of green and played into the florals of the napkins and glassware. Such a simple touch that everyone noticed and commented on.

A sprig of rosemary finishes off the place setting with an added touch of green and natural element.

One final tip in the mise en place category, which I know I have mentioned before but bears repeating. Review the menu, then choose and have at the ready all the serving platters and utensils for each of the dishes. This may seem like an overly obsessive planning piece but I assure you it is a stress reliever. The last thing you want as you are about to serve up the food is to scramble around opening cabinets trying to figure which platter is big enough or deep enough or the right color. Trust me, it’s a small effort prior that pays off on the day of.

This was a simple table setting but I was pleased with how it turned out. It was low key yet still pulled together. And although not fully cream, it was calming just the same.

You can take this same set up and swap out the green runner for any other color and then just spin the color wheel to find your accents. Check out the link below with a major color wheel choices.

Color Wheel Fun

Opposites attract. This wheel gives a wide range of colors and tones that can be used when creating your table scape. If you want complementary colors, go opposite. If you want to stay in the same family go for an ombré effect. So many possibilities. Have fun.

Color Wheel

Keep it simple, keep it pretty. Keep your guests feeling welcome the moment they walk in. Happy al fresco entertaining.