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Apartment-B, bus rolls, collections, holiday centerpieces, Holiday decorating, holiday tablescapes, roller shades, Routemaster bus
Stemware. Flatware. Dishes. Chargers. Table linens. I love it all.
I’m a tabletop whore.
My affliction began as a child. I’d thumb through my mom’s magazines and ooh and ah at table settings. Although relegated to the children’s table, I’d always look forward to seeing the centerpiece on the adult table whenever my family was invited to other people’s homes for dinner.
My five-year stint at a well-known purveyor of kitchen accoutrements fed my addiction. I have a basement full of tabletop stuff. The holidays are the perfect occasion to dress a table.
Here’s a simple centerpiece from Thanksgiving dinner two years ago. Flowers from Trader Joe’s in gourd-shaped soup bowls. The narrow folding table didn’t allow for an elaborate centerpiece.
My intrepid CP Carrie Spencer told me about a holiday tablescape contest. I didn’t think I had time to enter because I was writing and revising like a mad woman, but I already had in mind what I wanted to do.
I call it my “London Transport Holiday” tablescape.
There were more than 175 entries. I didn’t make the final cut, but I sure had a good time putting it together. I’m an Anglophile. I love the Routemaster buses.
My friend Jenifer sent me a Routemaster scroll for my birthday. That inspired me to think about a bus roll as a table runner. I jumped on eBay to check them out. There were several available, but I didn’t want to cut up an original to put on the table.
That’s when I found a bus scroll roller shade on Etsy. Adam and Laura are the proprietors of Apartment-B. They were able to make a bus roll roller shade to my specifications. As you can see, it’s really cool!
Apartment-B also has other designs available. I love their graphic Romeo and Juliet shade, which contains the complete script of Shakespeare’s play.
This is one of last year’s tablescapes for a table I set up in the living room because we had a lot of guests. Woolly sheep (on sale at Crate and Barrel!) wearing thyme sprig wreaths leftover from my kitchen.
A vintage toy theme for the main table in the dining room.
I believe you can create a tablescape out of things you have around the house. Mismatched glassware filled with blooms, fruit and vegetables (every time I see the stalks of brussel sprouts at Trader Joe’s, I tell myself I should be able to make an interesting centerpiece with them), foilage from the yard, an old soda crate with bottles filled with flowers, succulents in small clay pots, a collection of cocktail shakers or even salt and pepper shakers, a tea set with blooms in teacups…the possibilities are endless.
If you’re interested, you can check out the winners of the holiday tablescape at: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/12/homegoods-contest-winners/
Are you like me? A tabletop whore, unable to resist the lure of dishes and stemware? What’s going to be on your holiday table other than turkey and mashed potatoes?
Jennifer Tanner 
I just love the vintage toys one. And the bus one is uber-spectacular! I’m afraid I am an exact opposite – I don’t set a table, I eat off of paper plates and my favorite glassware is the cool patterns of $1.99 acrylic cups at Wally World.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a pretty table!
We’ll kick their butts next year! =)
Carrie, thanks for the heads up on the tablescape contest! Still wondering if I should add beads. Hmm.
I think most people in my family think I’m nuts. They don’t care about the table looking good as long as I serve something edible. 🙂
How fun! I’m with Carrie, though, paper plates, and I rarely eat at the table. Lol. I sit in the living room and watch TV. My kitchen table is pretty cluttered though, mostly with vitamin and supplement bottles. Not very aesthetic.
I try to keep the dining room table clear at all times. Our dining room is big so you can’t see the other two tables in the room, which are cluttered with my projects and piles of stuff for care packages.
Hubster used to think we could get away with using paper plates, but he’s slowly evolving!
Ah, Jennifer, my mother would love to adopt you. 🙂
She has won several tablescape grand and first prizes and loves, loves, loves tableware.
Then, there’s me. Uh, I use whatever and have YET to set the table using the Waterford Lismore water goblets. (Although I have used the champagne saucers!)
Bridgette,
You just reminded me that I have Waterford goblets. Somewhere. I had to sit on my hands the other day when I saw sets of turquoise-blue water goblets. They weren’t expensive, but I couldn’t justify buying them unless I bought other stuff to go with them.
I would love to see some of your mom’s tablescapes. Got pics?
Ohmygosh! Those tables are so gorgeous! I really, really want to be a tabletop whore, and lord knows I have enough stuff to do it, but when it comes time to set the table, I’m usually so worn out I just throw stuff on. I need to schedule tabletop into the day way earlier than I do, so it will look good. Your tabletops are just amazing. So creative! I’m in serious tabletop envy right now.
You know how it is when you’re plotting the first threads of a story or character in your head? I look at objects and wonder what else I can do with them. Sometimes, they end up on the table. Whether they look good or not is the question, but they’re always a conversation starter!
I’m with you Jen. I love setting a special tabletop … I just wish someone else would prepare the meal! Thanks for sharing your great ideas. I think your London Transport setting should have made the cut!
Hi Patricia!
I like to entertain, and I don’t mind cooking, but I sure wish Santa would bring me a new kitchen. It doesn’t have to be bigger, but more practically configured. I just cleaned the oven. It’s got to be at least twenty years old, and I know it’s on its last leg.
Thanks for the kind words about my tablescape. Like I told Carrie…most folks think I’m nuts. But I do this mostly for me. I get a crazy idea in my head and I want to see if I can pull it off.
I’m printing this out and sending it to my mom. She’s going to love the blue toile tablecloth, but she’s going to go nuts over the London bus tablescape. You are so clever!!!
Hey Becke…
I was thinking about using some of the fab London magnets you sent me for the table. But they were too small to be photographed. Now, they’re on my fridge holding holiday cards.
Yours in toile,
Jen
Oh my gosh! I am a total tabletop whore too! To make matters worse, I used to be a manufacturer’s rep for tabletop lines. So I ordered tons of stuff and have so many samples. I have 14 sets of 8 or more place settings, more glassware than I know what to do with, but I sure have fun setting tables. I had to have a whole separate closet built in my house to keep all my dishes!!! Your tables look beautiful!! Enjoy the holidays!
Hi Jillian!
Storing all of my table stuff is an issue. I have glassware storage boxes stacked beneath one of the dining room tables. I remember when we were house hunting. There was an old house that had a laundry room with two walls of closets. I envisioned all of my tabletop stuff in there. But we got outbid. Unless we expand the basement, I have to be pretty selective about what I buy. The post-holiday sales don’t help matters. 🙂
Fabulous decor and ideas, Jen! I love how meticulous you are about the whole idea of making the holiday season festive. Thank you for sharing the link to Apartment-B and to the holiday tablescape 🙂
Ha!I’m only meticulous about certain things. At least you have your tree up already. I’m still on the fence about getting one.
Wow Jen! I love this. I used to work for a china importer in Canada and LOVED every second of it. Can you believe I haven’t attempted a tablescape yet? My daughter is getting married in October 2012 and I would love to do something special for the day after party for opening of the gifts and out of town guests. My daughter wants to do it in our barn ( no livestock live there, just my husband’s toys) so I’m going to see what I can come up with.
This was so much fun! Love your holiday tablescapes too. I think I might have a new hobby…
Hello, Kate!
I like your daughter’s idea of having a party in the barn. My mind is racing about tablescape ideas. I have a die cast toy tractor upstairs I can loan you! The first thing that comes to mind is flowers in chipped enamel jugs or old pottery crocks. Tiny bales of hay made from shredded wheat? Lol!
If I’d worked for a china importer, I’d end up like Jillian with tons of different dish patterns. That must have been a great job.