Tablescape Tuesday – Dinner for Out-of-Town Guests

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

Today I thought I’d share photos of a tablesetting used when mmy sister and brother-in-law were my weekend guests in early spring. I had planned to use different dishes, but decided that since she lived all the way in Florida, and I never got to set the table for her with this bone china set, I would use my Spode "Consul Cobalt" dishes instead. I bought the tea set and some other dishes in 1979 while vacationing in London. I later sent for additional pieces after I returned home.
I like the simplicity of the cream and narrow cobalt blue band. I used a cream damask tablecloth with cream cloth napkins. The centerpiece was a pair of silverplated candlesticks by Oneida and a cobalt blue ginger jar with faux gardenias, set on a doily in one of the salad plates.

Dinner plates – Spode "Consul Cobalt" on brass chargers. For variety I use different pattern dessert plates – Mikasa "Crown Jewels," which has a wider cobalt blue band with gilt embellishment around a cream center.

The glasses are Lenox "Autumn" goblets and the flatware is gilt and cobalt enamel by Yamasaki.

The individual salt and pepper shakers are of pierced silverplate over cobalt glass

These photos were taken the evening before when I finished setting the table. As I looked at the photos the tablescape seems kind of skimpy. The dining table is very large scale – 48 inches wide by 70 inches long, without the two 22 inch leaves -- so it takes a lot of stuff to fill it out. The cream napkins needed the color of a napkin ring of some sort.

I had only four of the napkin rings that I wanted to use – gilt rings with a floral design and embedded with pearl studs in the center of each flower.




So, even though the photos do not show it, at the last minute I put them on the napkins for my mother, my visiting sister, my sister-in-law and my other sister.


At any rate, with lots of talk and laughter, we all enjoyed our meal together.

It's been great having you visit today. For more table settings please see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.