Welcome to the Thankful to bHome Blog Tour, I'm so excited to be part of this amazing group of twelve talented Home Bloggers who will inspire us with tips and ideas for your Thanksgiving Entertaining! I am going to share my French Country Thanksgiving table setting with you, usually I decorate in a more muted palette...but this year I fell in love with the deeper jewel colors of autumn. {visit my fall home tour here.}
I am sharing my French Country Thanksgiving Table and then I'd like to invite you to enjoy today's 4 other bloggers who are linked at the bottom of this post. AND....at the bottom is also the information for the FrenchGardenHouse Hostess Gift Give-Away. Just follow the easy directions and leave me a comment to enter!
If you've read my blog for a while, you know that while I'm probably a passable cook, my true love is setting a beautiful table!
I really look forward to the holiday season! Especially during this time I am more than thankful for all our blessings, and to be home to share them with my family and friends too.
Being an antique dealer I always use antiques in my table settings, dishes, of course, but also unexpected things to spark conversation and to add an element of personality, quirkiness and fun. This year I was inspired by this superb antique French wheel barrow, probably a child's toy, which was painted a deep French blue color. Isn't it divine?
For this visually exciting center piece, I added a few baby boo white pumpkins, one really BIG white pumpkin, little orange pumpkins and beautiful orange roses and then those bright green hydrangeas. I put the flowers in floral water tubes, but you could also stick them in wet florist foam inserted in a plastic bag. {See last year's centerpiece}
The combination of fresh lush flowers with fruit or vegetables is always a winning combination, don't you agree?
For this tablesetting, I started with a hand woven antique French homespun runner. It's a really long one, it fits the entire length of our 12 foot table. The woven raffia placemats add a big helping of texture, they also give each guest their "own" little space on the table.
The placemats really highlight the French Country Plates, too, and {oh! I love these!} our new Blue Linen Napkins.
I stacked the French Country blue check dinner size plate with an antique French plate, and topped that one with another French Country small plate.
Aren't these blue linen napkins to. die. for? sorry. I love them! I used mis-matched French flatware, silver-plated forks and spoons, and these great black bakelite or some other early plastic handled knives. They're not perfect, they've been used for decades by a French family, that's what makes them special.
Each guests has a small baguette on their plate which I placed in a parchment paper bag from the restaurant supply store, tied with a vintage rust colored velvet ribbon, a small tag that says "I'm thankful for ......{each guest's name}" In some of the shots you can see that the bags have the FrenchGardenHouse logo, those are see-through stickers...I haven't decided if I will use those or not.
Here is a close-up. For special dinners I think it's nice to have assigned seats, that way people aren't juggling seats and/or trying not to hurt anyone's feelings by not sitting with them. Plus, having some sort of placecard makes your guests feel like you really thought about your table, and did everything to make the meal special for them!
The other elements that add a festive glow to the table are some simple wine colored votives I found in my stash. I have a good collection of inexpensive votives to set on the table, and always have those little tea lights on hand. Even for tables that aren't as thought-out as my Thanksgiving table, a few votives sprinkled around your tabletop does wonders to bring a touch of magic!
A stack of other French antique plates elevate an antique French compotier, which holds a few apples. I like to offer fruit during a meal, most likely for the actual Thanksgiving meal I'll add those sweet little mandarins to the dish. With all the sweets served for dessert, it's always a grand idea to offer fruit. My grandchildren actually sometimes prefer that to a cake, or pie!
This is my serving station for dessert. For the table to work with a larger centerpiece like this, the food is served buffet style. Dinner can be set up on the kitchen counter, or sometimes outside {I live in California!} on the patio, which is adjacent to our kitchen dining room area.
These new Turkey Pillows are so great, aren't they? What I really love about them is that they are covers only, you buy the cover, and use your own insert. That way you can store them {there will be two designs for Christmas coming} flat in your linen cupboard, they take up very little space.
Right now you will have to pretend with me, I didn't have the pies and cakes we will serve on Thanksgiving, so this is a Pumpkin Pannetone from Trader Joe's.
I love the orange pomanders, I'll be sharing how to make and dry those soon. They are so festive, smell great, and since we have an orange tree in the back garden, a "gather from my own garden" project I love to do.
Since so many of you asked for this after seeing a sneak peek on instagram and/or FaceBook, I've included a source list.
Source List – Click on the items below for direct links to the products.
- French Country Check Dinner Plates
- French Country Check Salad Plates
- Blue Linen Ruffled Monogram Napkins
- French Wine Goblets
- Vintage French Flatware
- Antique French Blue & White Plates
- French Country Cake Pedestal
- Exclusive French Country Turkey Bucket
I am sponsoring this Thanksgiving Entertaining Tour by gifting a Hostess Set to one lucky winner.
You can mix and match these French Country Plates with any all white or blue & white dishes you already have to create a gorgeous table TO ENTER THE FrenchGardenHouse GIVEAWAY: Please click over to the shop at FrenchGardenHouse.com and let me know what is your very favorite piece, what would look amazing in your home? Or what would you give someone as a gift? Then come back here and let me know in a comment. You'll be entered to win the FrenchGardenHouse Hostess Gift Set, one lucky winner will get all the items shown above.
Thank you for visiting with me today! I hope that you're inspired for your own holiday tables and entertaining planning. Please enjoy the other blog posts by clicking on the links below, and come back again tomorrow for DAY 3 of the Thankful to bHOME Thanksgiving Entertaining Blog Tour.
Be sure to visit my friends, I personally can't wait to visit them and see what they are doing creatively for the holiday!
Day Two
French Garden House * Zevy Joy * Laura Trevey * Housepitality Designs * Lilacs and Longhorns
Day One
Designthusiasm * Duke Manor Farm * Celebrating Everyday Life * Cupcakes and Crinoline
40 comments
Theresa, thank you so much for your kind words. I agree, a simple meal can be an extravagant feast if we focus on what’s important! xo
As always so elegant. I never would have thought of using a child’s toy as part of the centerpiece. I am with you we eat with our eyes first. If it looks good everything will taste better. Family and friends are most important. Even the
Most simple meal can be an extravagant feast.
Thank you so much, Shirley, coming from you that is a high compliment! I hope that one day you will be sitting at my table! Can’t wait to visit your post, and take in all the inspiration you always provide.
Frances, thank you for your visit, and for the metal love of both the wheel barrow and the pots…I agree, I love it all!
Rita, I’m with you! Love styling tables, that’s so much fun. :)
Lidy, I absolutely am in step with you in terms of considering myself a passable cook, yet loving to style tables! I also love using my vintage and antique pieces, and serve buffet style too. Your dessert table is wonderful – all those items from your shop so perfectly compatible in the mix and match scheme. Whoever wins your giveaway will be one very lucky reader. Those monogrammed napkins are so beautiful! And I thought the Napoleonic Bee napkins were the bee’s knees! Oh dear….!
Love the blue wheel barrow. Adorable. I am torn between the different enamel coffee pots. I love them all.
Oh Lidy….your table and server are stunning!….I love every detail that you have created, right down to the baguettes wrapped with a ribbon! Now if I were sitting at the table, you would have to make certain that the wheelbarrow is anchored to the table, as it just may roll out the door with me!…..Great to party with you today and thanks so much for your sponsorship of this amazing giveaway!!!
your table is set so beautifully from your creative use of the wheelbarrow as a centerpiece to the thoughtfulness of your gifts for your guests.
I love the vintage French Market picnic storage basket with lid, it has a story, I can see that it has carried produce home carefully for many years, it has a character and charm about it, and I would keep it for myself, but I could see baby kittens playing in it too. Lidy, I love your tour…what a great idea! I always get so much inspiration from your blog, thank you.