Fun with the Fall Table

There is no Place Setting Fairy who will magically assemble the perfect table setting while you sleep.  So if you have been snoozing, ever hopeful, with a saucer under your pillow, stop.  You must walk this lonely road alone — unless you visit Capers Emporium, where we’re always happy to help you pull together a stunning table.

Actually, it is one of the most fun things I get to do.  Perhaps I was playtime-deprived as a child, and I’m just now making up for lost time, but figuring out what flatware, napkins, plates, tablecloths or placemats (or both!), glasses, napkin rings I am going to use for a particular meal is the most delightful challenge.  Others can have their  Sudoku.  Gimme a tablescape puzzle any time!

Here’s what I started with (above).  After giving it the eye, I immediately decided to ditch the cream-colored wood charger for two reasons:  l) it covered up the placemat; and 2) it didn’t look Fall-ish enough.

Hmmm.  I have these leaf-shaped quilted satin placemats in four different colors, but they just didn’t enhance the plates I had chosen.  The look was, well, boring.

I thought a napkin might help, but it just made the obvious more so — the placemats were not large enough for dinner plates.  They would be best used for lunch or breakfast, where the plates would be smaller.

I auditioned four different napkin colors — two shades of green, one off-white, and a bronze.  It was easy to reject the off-white.  It wasn’t worthy.  The bronze wasn’t bad, but it didn’t “send me.”  It was down to the greens.  I had pulled out the wood-enhanced flatware.  Time to find a new placemat and make a final napkin decision.

The bronze napkin won the table war after all!  With the dark brown woven placemat, the wood flatware took on a bronze cast, so the napkin choice seemed obvious.

Go play!  Have fun with the fall table!