Every once in a while I like to surprise my family with a ‘fancy’ dinner. The food isn’t necessarily anything different than what we typically have but I break out the good china, set the table, light candles and dim the lights. It’s special and the boys love it. Now that we have a dining light {Nevermind the fact that we don’t have proper dining chairs yet. We’re still using outdoor chairs as placeholders until we find what we want.}, I thought it would be fun to share a simple and sparkly tablescape that’s typical of these rare occasions.
I opted out of a tablecloth. With kids, it’s just one more thing I have to clean. And it always ends up being accidentally pulled around – along with everything else on it. The centerpiece is a round glass vase filled with store bought roses. I haphazardly arranged some votives and tea lights around the vase. The candles are the boys’ favorite part. Layne displays some pyro tendencies {you should see him at a bonfire!} so we have to keep a close eye on him.
The plates were a wedding gift. We don’t have upscale silverware. I just used our everyday utensils here. FYI – To remember which side of the plate the utensils go, years ago I came up with this helpful cheat: ‘fork’ has four letters in it and so does ‘left’ so forks go on the left. ‘Spoon’ and ‘knife’ have five letters in them and so does ‘right’ so spoons and knives go on the right. Anything beyond forks, spoons and knives…I have no idea. UPDATE: Apparently, I haven’t nailed down a good cheat about spoons going on the outside. Dulp. Good thing my family doesn’t notice.
Since we’re in full fledged holiday season, I placed capiz ornaments on top of the salad plates as a subtle nod to Christmas. Hmmmm. Now there’s an idea! Maybe we’ll have a ‘fancy’ dinner the night we decorate our Christmas tree {we usually buy a live one the first or second week in December} and I’ll put ornaments to be hung on the tree on the plates. That would be fun.
The boys get a kick out of sipping water from wine glasses. They turn into these dainty creatures and are sooooooo careful. That’s not to say the glasses shouldn’t be afraid. Everett is the most accident prone kid I know.
I think the roses are Leonidas. They’re the same flowers HH and I used in our fall wedding many, many moons ago. Good memories.
I try to bring in one warm wood element to tie into the oak table. This night it’s a woven votive holder.
I’m really wishing I had some gold glitter to toss into the vase’s water for a little more sparkle.
Can you spot the trellis shadows from the new pendant light? Uh. Maze. Balls.
So, yeah, we fake that we’re high society sometimes and make dinnertime fancy. But the dinner conversation still usually includes the words ‘poop’ and ‘booger.’ Do you ever have fancy dining night at your house?
Source list:
round glass vase – Goodwill
roses – local grocery store
two light green candleholders – West Elm found at a Pottery Barn outlet
woven candleholder – West Elm found at a Pottery Barn outlet
tea lights – IKEA
capiz ornaments – thrift find
wine glasses – vintage family heirloom
china – JCPenney
cloth napkins – Wayfair
silverware – wedding gift
Hoyne pendant – Crate & Barrel
Btw, check out the other purpose of our dining room {i.e., mudroom} over on Wayfair today! See the post here.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY, family life, kid-friendly