Tablescape Thrift in a Riot of Flowers

One cannot have too many flowers!


Too many flowers? No such thing!

That is an iron-clad, time-honored decorating dictum, that I just now made up.

It joins my short but growing list of classic, time-honored decorating rules that I made up:

1. Dust is a protective covering on fine antiques.
2. All greens go together.
3. All blues go together.
4. Duct tape, staples, push pins, Velcro and hot glue are essential decorating tools.
5. Paint covers a multitude of sins. ("Repaint, and thin no more!")
6. Dumpster diving is good exercise.
7. All-white works . . . but not for me.
8. One cannot have too many flowers.

So today, although I am late with posting because of having to travel to pick up a free chair for Annie's apartment, here goes . . . a Tablescape Thursday and Thrifty Thursday post. (Check below for easy links to more fanciful tablescapes, and beautiful thrifty finds!)

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Last week my mother-in-law packed up some old table linens and sent them to me. Did I mention I have a fabulous mother-in-law?

One of the pieces is a bridge cloth, old smooth linen, and embroidered with a complex and very fine cross-stitch design:

Yes, all that color and design are tiny, tiny stitches.

This was probably made by Howard's grandmother, great-grandmother, and their sisters. They used to pass around pieces of handwork, like a round-robin. Once upon a time, I taught embroidery and needlepoint at the old Gimbel's department store in NYC, and I am awed by this delicate work:


The piece needs a good soaking in Biz or Oxy-Clean, as it has some stains from long storage, but I couldn't resist putting together an old-fashioned table for two, with plenty of flowers!

Let's break it down . . . and at the end, there's a quiz.
What did I forget?

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The dinner plates are Mikasa Ribbon Pink; they are actually Anne's, and I got them on Ebay. Cheap.

On top of them, a couple of old flower-printed plates, 2 different designs, but both with lovely borders:

Clearly they are meant to be under-plates for something;

They were also gifts from my mother-in-law.

(She must have been awfully glad to have me take Howard off her hands.)

Topping that, little delicate French Limoges bouillon cups, part of a larger
collection I have of this pattern -- but no matching today:

The crystal flutes were gifts, nearly 30 years ago, from my in-laws, from the Chestnut Hill Bloomingdale's in Massachusetts. The wine glasses are Irish; don't remember the name. I bought them two years ago at Macy's in a shopping frenzy with my friend Betsy.

(We have matching dogs; we had to have matching wine glasses.)

We have fresh flowers, of course, in an old toothbrush holder
from an extensive printed ironstone toilette set of my Mom's.
And a candle in a floral cloisonne holder, with a little silver-and-transferware condiment set (garage sale!):

The old Georgian pattern flatware (Ebay) is called into play yet again, and the napkins are heavy ecru linen,
hand embroidered in taupe. They match a large banquet table cloth. Ebay also.
The little bread plates are Wedgwood, and belonged to my Mom.

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And about that free chair?
Would you have passed this up if you saw it on Craigslist and it needed a home?

Isn't it darling? Love the carved crest:

Dig those sexy legs:

It is in excellent condition, too. Clean, no funky stains or smells, always a good thing!

Anne found the apartment she will be living in this year, with another first-year graduate student.

Now, I get to cruise Craigslist and Ebay for more things for her first nest, and she gets to cruise the house asking, "Can I have this?"

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Thanks to Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for hosting the wildly popular Tablescape Thursday; we all do love playing with our dishes, don't we? Click here for more.

And thanks to Leigh of Tales From Bloggeritaville (love that blog name!), who hosts Thrifty Thursday, giving us the chance to brag about our favorite thrifty treasures. Click here for more from Leigh and friends!

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Happy Thursday! -- Cass
P.S. What did I forget? Did you notice?
I have put out bouillon cups. . . and no soup spoons! Ack. Too lazy to re-shoot the pictures.