It's Tables and Templates at That Old House!

It's a casual supper table today, as I race to catch up to Tablescape Thursday
at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch blog.


I was distracted today.
The stone fabricator guy came by to make a template for the new counter top. Plus, you can tell by the book left lying around that daughter Alida is home from California for a whirlwind visit.

Yeah, she reads stuff like that. I read decorating books.

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But back to the matter at hand. Come for dinner!
How many more Autumn table settings I can inflict upon you?


It's crazy pumpkin time at That Old House!

We've got pumpkins on the plates, pumpkins on the table runner,
and lots of ceramic and glass pumpkins just pretty-ing up the landscape.

Details -- including martini glasses, green plates, candles, and napkins from
Dollar Tree, and a braided runner, round placemats, and a big new pumpkin from Kohl's:

Flatware is a mixed bag of very vintage silverplate, from various Ebay scores.
I love the soft glow of lightly polished old flatware.

Cute for a casual weeknight supper:

Those napkins are really tea towels from Dollar Tree.
Nice, big, absorbent, and cheap. Also washable and green.

Most of our dinners are at the big round oak table in our conservatory.
Did I ever tell the story of that table? It's got quite a history in our family. Another time. . . .
(And don't believe my brothers when they say it came from a home for unwed mothers in 1900s Brooklyn.
They are pretty much wrong.)

One thing -- when you buy candles at Dollar Tree, there is sometimes one that won't stay lit.
Yeah, the burgundy one. And the orange one leaked on me when I took the plastic off its little bottom.
I have no clue what that liquid was, but it inspired me to put a plate beneath the candles!

I probably won't be using Dollar Tree candles on Thanksgiving. One year I used bargain-basement candles, and halfway through the big dinner they collapsed in on themselves; they turned to liquid inside, and their wicks sank right down! Thank goodness they were in hurricane holders. But still, what a mess. Wax everywhere.

Don't forget to visit the other dish-crazed dames at Tablescape Thursday!

But keep reading -- a kitchen makeover begins at That Old House!

Today I dutifully cleared off all the clutter from the "L" shaped kitchen counter.

(That brightness to the right is our sunroom.)

I put all the counter clutter here for the time being:

Why am I sharing this mess with you? Yikes, it looks awful.
Have I no shame? Nope, guess not.

But the mess was worth it. Template man came and did this:

I never realized they actually made a wooden template, stapled together like a big frame.

Isn't this cool? It is like a giant puzzle. I took these pictures from the sunroom.

Ah, goodbye, smooth top cooking surface! It's not your fault I hated you,

and I hope we can find you a good new home.

We should hear in just a few days when our new soapstone counter will be delivered and installed. This is Step One in our kitchen re-do -- new countertop with a new sink and faucet, and a gas cooktop. It's a beginning, but a really good beginning!

It just started raining. I knew I should have taken this guy for a walk 10 minutes ago. . . .

Dion and I wish you a lovely Thursday -- what is left of it! We are about to get wet. -- Cass

P.S. Funny note: Template guy pointed out to me that some of my cabinets are not entirely level, and they will have to shim the counter. Not level? Cabinets in an 1880s kitchen not level? I told him I'd have been way more shocked if he'd told me they were level. :-)